The Hennion was a two-seat

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

training and touring aircraft, completed just before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

began. It was flown again post-war and later fitted with a new engine; it survived into the early 1960s.

Design and development

Emile Hennion was the chief pilot at the

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

Aero Club in the 1930s. Just before the outbreak of World War II he designed, built and flew a side-by-side seat two seat aircraft, powered by a Train 4A 01 inverted four cylinder air-cooled engine which produced only . His goals were safety in the hands of a beginner, economy, comfort and true touring ability. The first two features made it of some interest as an ''ab initio'' trainer after France had gone to war. In this pre-war form it was known as the Hennion 01. It was a low wing,

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

, its wings straight tapered with blunt tips and of quite high aspect ratio (10). The wings were built around a single spar and fabric covered, though the

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

s were

plywood Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured ...

skinned. The

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

was flat sided and ply skinned, except behind the

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

where rounded, raised decking was fabric covered. The Hennion's cockpit was fully enclosed under a two piece canopy with a sliding rear component. Its two seats were equipped with dual controls. Behind them there were luggage and light baggage/chart spaces, respectively and . The inverted Train engine in the nose drove a two blade propeller and its fuel tank held . At the rear the vertical tail was tall, with an unbalanced rudder which reached down to the keel and a fuselage mounted

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplane ...

ahead of it. The Hennion had a tail wheel undercarriage with a track of , its spatted main wheels on vertical, streamlined legs. The Hennion 01 flew for the first time on 28 September 1939 at Casablanca. Despite the low power, it had a maximum speed of and cruised at . Cruising, it used about per hour, giving it a range around . Landing speed was . The Hennion 01 survived the war and was flown again in 1949, now on the French civil register as ''F-WFOY''. After a period of disuse, it was re-engined in 1956 with a Continental A65 air-cooled flat-four in a revised nose and redesignated the Hennion II. The extra power gave a useful increase in speed despite an increase in empty weight of about 17%. On 4 February 1962 it was destroyed at

Meknes Meknes ( ar, مكناس, maknās, ; ber, ⴰⵎⴽⵏⴰⵙ, amknas; french: Meknès) is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco, located in northern central Morocco and the sixth largest city by population in the kingdom. Founded in the 11th c ...

Variants

;Hennion 01: pre-war version with Train engine ;Hennion II: 1956 revision with a more powerful Continental engine

Specifications (Hennion II)

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite book , title=Fox Papa - Registre des avions Français amateur, last=Chillon , first=Jacques, edition=2009, year=, publisher=Ver Luisant, location= Brive, isbn=978-2-3555-1-066-3, page=54 {{cite book , title=Les Avions Francais de 1944 à 1964, last=Gaillard, first=Pierre, year=1990, publisher=Éditions EPA, location=Paris, isbn=2 85120 350 9, page=179 {{cite journal , title=L'avion léger d'Emile Hennion , journal=Les Ailes, volume=1939, issue=961, date=28 December 1939 , page=12, url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6554721m/f5.image {{cite journal , title=Ne peut-en utiliser le biplace de 40CV comme avion de début? , journal=Les Ailes, volume=1940, issue=966, date=1 February 1940 , page=12, url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6554726p/f5.image 1930s French sport aircraft Low-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1939