Fouga CM.8 explained

The Fouga CM.8 or Castel-Mauboussin CM.8 was a French sailplane of the 1950s, most notable in retrospect due to its place in the development of the Fouga CM.170 Magister jet trainer.

Design and development

The CM.8 was a single-seat aircraft of conventional sailplane design and designed for aerobatics. Two prototypes were built: the CM.8/13, with a 13-metre wingspan and a conventional empennage, and the CM.8/15 with a 15-metre wingspan and a V-tail.

The pleasing performance of these aircraft led to experiments with mounting a small turbojet on the dorsal fuselage, exhausting between the tail fins. The first of these flew on 14 July 1949, powered by a Turbomeca Piméné. Designated the CM.8R this combined the 13-metre wing of the CM.8/13 with the tail of the CM.8/15. Two examples were built, and as experiments progressed in the 1950s, they were fitted with increasingly powerful engines, and increasingly shorter wingspans. A twin-fuselage example was also built as the CM.88 as an engine testbed.

Variants

Fouga CM.8
  • Fouga CM.8 Acro
  • Fouga CM.8/13
  • Fouga CM.8/15
  • Fouga CM.8/13 Sylphe démotorisé
  • Fouga CM.8 R13 Cyclone
  • Fouga CM.8 R13 Sylphe II
  • Fouga CM.8 R13 Sylphe III
  • Fouga CM.8 R9.8 Cyclope I
  • Fouga CM.8 R9.8 Cyclope II
  • Fouga CM.8 R8.3 Midget: Version intended for air racing, powered by 264lbf Turbomeca Palas engine, with fuselage of Cyclope, and wings of reduced span (7.07m (23.2feet)) and area 8.3m2. Small production series (eight – twelve) built.

    • Bibliography

    . Leonard Bridgman . Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1951–52 . 1951 . London . Sampson Low, Marston & Company, Ltd. .

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