The Brochet “Pipistrelle” was designed by Maurice Brochet before the War, but, as France was no place to be building sport planes during the Occupation, the design was not well known until the late 1940’s. Translated from French to English, the word Pipistrelle means “bat”, a name the airplane probably earned from its swept wings. Designed for the amateur builder, the single-place Bat is an all-wood airplane and can be powered by engines of the radial, opposed, or inline variety of up to 65 hp. With mostly flat surfaces, and straight edges all around, the Bat would seem rather simple to build, but the swept wings add some time and complexity to the project. The “Bat” was just one of the Brochet line, as there were two-place designs to follow, and even a three-place machine that was a production airplane. To the author’s knowledge, there were no Brochet products built in the U.S.
BROCHET PIPISTRELLE
