Gossamer Condor

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The Gossamer Condor at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum

The Gossamer Condor was a human-powered aircraft built by Dr Paul B. MacCready's AeroVironment. 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. It was the first human powered aircraft capable of more than short uncontrolled hops.

1 History
2 Specifications
3 References
4 External links

[edit] History

The Kremer Prize had been set up in 1959 by Henry Kremer, a British industrialist, and offered 50,000 British pounds in prize money to the first group that could fly a human-powered aircraft over a figure-eight course covering a total of 1.6 kilometers (a mile). Early attempts to built human-powered aircraft had focused on wooden designs, which proved too heavy. In the early 1970s, Dr. Paul B. MacReady and Dr. Peter B. S. Lissaman, both of AeroVironment company, took a fresh look at the challenge, and came up with an unorthodox aircraft, the Gossammer Condor.

The Gossamer Condor was basically a flying wing, modified with the addition of a gondola for the pilot underneath and a canard control surface extended in front, and was mostly built of lightweight plastics.^[1] The aircraft has been preserved at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.

The success led to the Gossamer Albatross, which crossed the English Channel, as well as the Solar Challenger, a solar electric-powered version that also made an English Channel crossing, and later to NASA's Pathfinder/Helios series of unmanned solar-powered aircraft.^[1]