MacCready Gossamer Condor: Difference between revisions
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In the early 1970s, [[Paul MacCready|Dr Paul B. MacCready]] and Dr Peter B. S. Lissaman, both of [[AeroVironment]] Inc., took a fresh look at the challenge and came up with an unorthodox aircraft, the Gossamer Condor. |
In the early 1970s, [[Paul MacCready|Dr Paul B. MacCready]] and Dr Peter B. S. Lissaman, both of [[AeroVironment]] Inc., took a fresh look at the challenge and came up with an unorthodox aircraft, the Gossamer Condor. |
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The Gossamer Condor |
The Gossamer Condor is basically a [[flying wing]], modified with the addition of a gondola for the pilot underneath and a [[Canard (aeronautics)|canard control surface]] extended in front, and is mostly built of lightweight plastics.<ref name="vector1">[http://www.vectorsite.net/twuav_12.html#m3 "SOLAR-POWERED UAVS: HALSOL & SOLAR HAPP", The Prehistory Of Endurance UAVs, by Greg Goebel, in the Public Domain]</ref> |
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The aircraft, piloted by amateur cyclist and hang-glider pilot [[Bryan Allen (cyclist)|Bryan Allen]], won the first [[Kremer prize]] on [[August 23]], [[1977]] by completing a figure '8' course specified by the [[Royal Aeronautical Society]], at [[Minter Field]] in [[Shafter, California]]. |
The aircraft, piloted by amateur cyclist and hang-glider pilot [[Bryan Allen (cyclist)|Bryan Allen]], won the first [[Kremer prize]] on [[August 23]], [[1977]] by completing a figure '8' course specified by the [[Royal Aeronautical Society]], at [[Minter Field]] in [[Shafter, California]]. |
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The aircraft |
The aircraft is preserved at the Smithsonian [[National Air and Space Museum]]. |
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The success led Paul MacCready and AeroVironment to carry on with experimental aircraft: |
The success led Paul MacCready and AeroVironment to carry on with experimental aircraft: |
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Revision as of 17:14, 30 September 2008
The Gossamer Condor is the first successful human-powered aircraft. It was the first human powered airplane capable of controlled and sustained flight, able to win the Kremer Prize.
History
The Kremer Prize had been set up in 1959 by Henry Kremer, a British industrialist, and offered 50,000 pounds ($85,000) in prize money to the first group that could fly a human-powered aircraft over a figure-eight course covering a total of a mile (1.6 kilometers). Early attempts to build human-powered aircraft had focused on wooden designs, which proved too heavy.
In the early 1970s, Dr Paul B. MacCready and Dr Peter B. S. Lissaman, both of AeroVironment Inc., took a fresh look at the challenge and came up with an unorthodox aircraft, the Gossamer Condor.
The Gossamer Condor is basically a flying wing, modified with the addition of a gondola for the pilot underneath and a canard control surface extended in front, and is mostly built of lightweight plastics.[1]
The aircraft, piloted by amateur cyclist and hang-glider pilot Bryan Allen, won the first Kremer prize on August 23, 1977 by completing a figure '8' course specified by the Royal Aeronautical Society, at Minter Field in Shafter, California.
The aircraft is preserved at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.
The success led Paul MacCready and AeroVironment to carry on with experimental aircraft:
- the Gossamer Albatross, which crossed the English Channel,
- the Solar Challenger, a solar electric-powered version that also made an English Channel crossing,
- NASA's Pathfinder/Helios series of unmanned solar-powered aircraft.[1]
Specifications
- Wingspan: 29.25m (96 ft)
- Length: 9.14 m (30 ft)
- Height: 5.49 m (18 ft)
- Weight: 31.75 kg (70 lb.)
See also
- The Flight of the Gossamer Condor, a 1978 short documentary film
References
External links
- Condor at the Smithsonian
- Site with an expanding photo archive of Gossamer-series aircraft, by the Gossamer Albatross team photographer
- THE FLIGHT OF THE GOSSAMER CONDOR DVD. Re-mastered & digitally restored in 2007 from a new Academy Film Archive preservation print. Won the Academy Award in 1978 for best Documentary Short Subject.
- Paul MacCready talking at TED
Further reading
- Morton Grosser. Gossamer Odyssey: The Triumph of Human-Powered Flight. MBI Press, 2004; Dover Publications, Inc., 1991; Houghton Mifflin Co., 1981
- Morton Grosser. On Gossamer Wings. York Custom Graphics, 1982
- Gosnell, Mariana. Zero Three Bravo. Alfred A. Knopf, Inc., 1993. (see chapter entitled Shafter)
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