- Design and development
- Production
- Operational history
- Variants
- Specifications (GY-20)
- See also
- References
| name= GY-20 Minicab | image=Gardan GY-201 Minicab G-BGMR Wroughton 04.07.93 edited-2.jpg | caption=GY-201 Amateur-built in the UK }}{{Infobox Aircraft Type | type=Utility aircraft | manufacturer=Constructions Aéronautiques du Béarn | designer=Yves Gardan | first flight=1 February 1949 | introduced= | retired= | status= | primary user= | more users= | produced= | number built=30 + ca. 130 homebuilt | variants with their own articles=
}} |
The CAB GY-20 Minicab is a two-seat light aircraft built in France in the years immediately following World War II. Design and developmentIt is a conventional, low-wing cantilever monoplane with fixed tailwheel undercarriage. Its design was a scaled-down version of the aircraft that Yves Gardan had designed for SIPA, the SIPA S.90. The pilot and passenger sit side by side and access to the cockpit is via a one-piece perspex canopy that hinges forwards. Gardan's intention was to produce a low-cost, easy-to-fly, easy-to-maintain aircraft with the possibility of homebuilding.[1][2] ProductionThe prototype Minicab first flew at Pau-Idron on 1 February 1949 with Max Fischl at the controls. CAB manufactured a total of 22 Minicabs. This was followed by a larger number completed by amateur builders in France and other countries around the world. Several Minicabs currently active in the United Kingdom have been rebuilt to the JB.01 standard developed by M. Jean Barritault. Falconar sold plans for a tricycle gear homebuilt model named the Minihawk.[3] Operational historyType certification was obtained in mid-April 1949. By the end of 1950, a Minicab had won the Coupe de Vitesse de Deauville (Deauville Cup for speed), and the Grand Prix Aérien de Vichy (Vichy Aerial Prize). The following year, a Minicab broke the world air distance record for its class (1,825 km, 1,138 miles) and in 1952 it attained the world airspeed record for its class over a 2,000 km circuit, with an average speed of (183 km/h, 114 mph). Variants- GY-20 Minicab
- production model.
- GY-201 Minicab
- refined version with strengthened undercarriage, split flaps, and castering tailwheel.
- Falconar Hawk
- Minicabs built to plans supplied by Falconar
- Falconar MiniHawk
- plans-built design from Falconar with tricycle undrcarriage.
- Barritault JB.01
- Minicabs rebuilt to the designs of Jean Barritault.
Specifications (GY-20) {{Aircraft specs
|ref=Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1956–57[4]
|prime units?=met
|genhide=
|crew=two
|capacity=
|length m=5.45
|length ft=
|length in=
|span m=8.14
|span ft=
|span in=
|height m=1.65
|height ft=
|height in=
|wing area sqm=10.15
|wing area sqft=
|empty weight kg=270
|empty weight lb=
|gross weight kg=485
|gross weight lb=
|fuel capacity={{convert|50|L|abbr=on}}
|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=Continental A65
|eng1 type=four-cylinder air-cooled horizontally-opposed piston engine
|eng1 kw=
|eng1 hp=65
|prop blade number=2
|prop name=Merville wooden
|prop dia m=1.64
|prop dia ft=
|prop dia in=
|max speed kmh=180
|max speed mph=
|max speed kts=
|cruise speed kmh=170
|cruise speed mph=
|cruise speed kts=
|range km=
|range miles=
|range nmi=
|ceiling m=4000
|ceiling ft=
|climb rate ms=
|climb rate ftmin=590
|more performance=*Take-off run to 20 m (66 ft): {{convert|370|m|ft|abbr=on}}
- Landing run from 20 m (66 ft): {{convert|343|m|ft|abbr=on}}
|avionics=
}}See also{{aircontent
|related=
|similar aircraft=
|sequence=
|lists=
|see also=
}}References1. ^{{cite journal|magazine=Air Trails|date=Winter 1971|page=78}}
2. ^{{cite journal|magazine=Sport Aviation|date=November 1969|page=23}}
3. ^{{cite web|title=Falconar Plans|accessdate=2 September 2013|url=http://www.falconaravia.com/}}
4. ^Bridgman 1956, pp. 132–133.
- {{cite book|last=Bridgman|first=Leonard|title=Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1956–57|year=1956|publisher=The McGraw-Hill Book Company|location=New York}}
- {{cite book |last= Simpson |first= R. W. |title=Airlife's General Aviation |year=1995 |publisher=Airlife Publishing |location=Shrewsbury |pages=409 }}
- {{cite book |last= Taylor |first= Michael J. H. |title=Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation |year=1989 |publisher=Studio Editions |location=London |pages=123 }}
- aviafrance.com
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20070919185644/http://www.veterano.ch/minicab.htm Oldtimer-Homepage der Segel- und Motorfluggruppe Veterano, Birrfeld]
- Musée Régional de l'Air d'Angers-Marcé
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20041210072457/http://www.gardanhorizon.flyer.co.uk/gy80type.htm The Rochester GYAT Flying Group]
{{commons category|Gardan GY-20 Minicab}}{{Gardan aircraft}} 6 : French civil utility aircraft 1940–1949|Homebuilt aircraft|CAB aircraft|Low-wing aircraft|Single-engined tractor aircraft|Aircraft first flown in 1949 |