Croses Para-Cargo

Croses Para-Cargo

The Croses EC-9 Para-Cargo is a 1960s French six-seat tandem-wing cargo-carrying homebuilt aircraft designed by Emilien Croses. Developed from the earlier two-seat EC-6 Criquet and three-seat EC-8 Tourisme the Para-Cargo was a cargo-carrying aircraft with a tailwheel landing gear and a tandem wing similar to the Mignet Pou-du-Ciel family. It could carry up to six persons or 450 kg (990 lb) of freight and was intended especially with carrying skydivers in mind: the aircraft was equipped with a large side door that hinged inward and upward to facilitate skydiver egress. Another door at the rear of the fuselage was provided to allow oversize loads to be carried. Unlike other Croses tandem-wing designs, the Para-Cargo had a conventional three-axis flight control system.

At least two examples (F-ACVC and F-PYBC) had been built by 1965.