| Gossamer Condor | |
|---|---|
 |
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| The Gossamer Condor at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum | |
| Role | experimental aircraft |
| National origin | United States |
| Manufacturer | AeroVironment |
| First flight | 1977 |
| Status | museum piece |
| Number built | 1 |
The Gossamer Condor was the first human-powered aircraft capable of controlled and sustained flight, able to win the Kremer prize.
Contents |
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). The course also included a ten-foot pole that the aircraft had to fly over at the start and end. 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-eight course specified by the Royal Aeronautical Society, at Minter Field in Shafter, California. It was capable of taking off under human power, whereas earlier attempts – notably the HV-1 Mufli (de) and Pedaliante – both used catapult launches.[2]
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 1979 short documentary film
References
- ^ a b "SOLAR-POWERED UAVS: HALSOL & SOLAR HAPP", The Prehistory Of Endurance UAVs, by Greg Goebel, in the Public Domain
- ^ Grosser, Morton (1981). Gossamer Odyssey: The Triumph of Human-Powered Flight. Houghton Mifflin. ISBN 0-7603-2051-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=OsRAxz0D-GUC&pg=RA1-PA192&dq=intitle:Gossamer+intitle:Odyssey+pilot+endurance&lr=&as_brr=0&ei=xIYgSdbYEITOlQTXk5WnBQ#PPA8,M1.
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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