Marcel Jurca, (1921 – 19 October 2001) was a prolific designer of homebuilt aircraft in France. He is most well known for his Tempête and Sirocco designs.
Born in Romania, Jurca was impressed by the PZL fighters which often flew over him. He learned to fly in a Grunau 9 primary glider while studying engineering. Having joined the Royal Romanian Air Force in 1940, he flew the Henschel Hs 129 in 1943-1944.[1] He moved to France in 1948. After a period as a volunteer flying instructor on the Stampe et Vertongen SV.4, he worked in industry, including 15 years as a commercial director, and retired in 1983. He was naturalised French in 1965.
On moving to France, he missed having an aircraft to fly, so he created his own. His first attempt at aircraft design was the MJ-1, which he considered unsatisfactory. He then built a Jodel D-112 with the help of the Aéro-Club de Courbevoie at Saint-Cyr-l'École.[1] It flew in 1954. Then, inspired by the Piel CP-40 Donald, he designed, built and flew the MJ-2. This was very successful, and he started selling plans for homebuilders.
In 1965 a factory in Nancy produced an MJ-5, and Jurca started Constructions Aéronautiques Lorraines Francois-Jurca & Cie, based in Nancy, but apparently this was not a successful venture.[2] His designs have only ever been directly sold as plans for homebuilding. Most aircraft are designed for wood construction, but some builders have used other methods, for example steel tube and fabric, especially for fuselages. He considered all his designs to be fighters (except for the MJ-54), and all are taildraggers (with the exception of the MJ-6, MJ-66 and MJ-54).
In the mid 1960s, he considered that the American small P-51 Mustang replica homebuilt aircraft weren’t very realistic, and noticed that the Sirocco was about ⅔ the size of a Mustang. He set about designing that and other ⅔ scale warbirds, but he realised that he was having to make too many compromises, particularly in their overall appearance, and moved up to ¾ scale warbird replicas.[3]
Then his American agent encouraged him to design full-size versions, particularly for the American market. Initially reluctant, he measured a real Messerschmitt Bf 109 at the Friedrichshafen airshow and realised that it could accommodate 300 hp (224 kW) or 400 hp (298 kW) Lycoming engines. He went on to measure the Supermarine Spitfire at the Musée de l’air in Paris, and developed the 1/1 Spitfire plans, then the Bf 109 and Focke-Wulf Fw 190, followed by the Mustang, the design he was still developing on his death.[3]