72341 CMC LEOPARD 1

The CMC Leopard was a British prototype tourist and passenger plane with a composite structure. The propulsion - in the Leopard 2 version - was provided by two jet engines Williams FJX-1. The prototype flight took place in December 1988 - the machine never entered mass production. The CMC Leopard was constructed at the private initiative of the former British Aerospace chief designer, Ian Chichester-Miles. The new plane could take four people on board, including the pilot, and was characterized by good performance, high maneuverability for a machine of this class, and was made almost entirely of composites, which was a rare solution at the end of the 1980s. The first prototype, built in 1988 and designated as Leopard 1, was not popular among buyers. In 1997, a second prototype (designation: Leopard 2) was created, but this machine also did not conquer the market. The project was finally canceled upon the death of the chief designer in 2009.