Hawker Cygnet

The Hawker Cygnet was a British ultralight sesquiplane of the 1920s, designed by Sydney Camm for the Royal Aero Club Light Aircraft Competition held at Lympne in 1924, where a 3,000 pound prize fund was on offer. Two aircraft, G-EBMB and G-EBJH, were built and entered by Thomas Sopwith and Fred Sigrist; they placed third and fourth. In 1925 George Bulman won the 100 mile International Handicap Race in one at 75.6 mph, and in 1926 the two Cygnets took first and second places in the Daily Mail competition. The wood and fabric airframe weighed only 270 lb, and the original Anzani and ABC Scorpion engines were replaced in 1926 by Bristol Cherub III twin-cylinder engines. G-EBMB survives at the Royal Air Force Museum Cosford, and a flying replica is at the Shuttleworth Collection.