Gossamer Condor
The Gossamer Condor was the first of a series of successful, muscle power aircraft, which were built by a team under Paul McCready.
Herewith the first Kremer Prize for ongoing, controlled flight was won by human power on August 23, 1977. Condition was a flight in a human-powered aircraft in the form of a horizontal figure eight around two 800-meter -spaced piles within eight minutes.
In the development of the aircraft several problems had to be overcome. On the one hand of a trained athlete for an extended period of maximum applied power of 400 watts could not be exceeded. To be able to fly at such low power, the aircraft needed a wingspan of 29 meters, more than a DC - ninth It was not allowed to weigh more than a third of a glider.
On the other hand showed the profile of the main wing, like almost all profiles, a torque about the transverse axis, which would have resulted without compensation to a lowering of the nose, and thus to a crash.
Normal planes to compensate this torque by the tailplane. Flying wing either need a profile with strong S-bend, or how the hang glider a marked arrow angle that can act like a dick the outer part of the wing. In Duck Flüglern the ducks wings serve to compensate for the torque. The efficiency advantage of the canard over a conventional design is that it itself generates lift. The conventional horizontal tail must be set to output it.
Next there was a control problem in the huge space. Aileron or movable flaps on the ends of the wings appeared as control over long too problematic. This problem was solved in that the surfaces could be twist during turns.
Paul B. MacCready and Peter Lissaman, both from Pasadena, California, designed the Gossamer Condor, whose hull was constructed of thin aluminum tubes. The front consisted of corrugated cardboard and polystyrene foam. The whole framework was provided with a paper-thin coating of Mylar. The pilot sat in a half-lying position in the cab. Both hands were free to guide the aircraft. The aircraft, with its extra-long wing was in no way a conventional type of aircraft but was designed exclusively for a flight with human " muscle power ". This relatively primitive and fragile Gossamer Condor was the first truly successful powered, maneuverable, driven by human power aircraft.
- Wingspan 29,25 m (96 ft. )
- Length of 9.14 m (30 ft. )
- Height 5.49 m (18 ft. )
- Mass 31.75 kg (70 lb ).
For winning the first Kremer prize on August 23, 1977, the cyclist and ultralight pilot Bryan Allen picked up at 7:30 clock from Shafter Airport, Shafter, California, and landed the lead 7 minutes and 27.5 seconds. He flew a figure eight around two pylons, which stood half a mile apart, at a height of three meters at the beginning and at the end. The Gossamer Condor put it back a total distance of 1.35 miles ( 2.16 km ) at a speed of ten to eleven mph (16 to 17.6 km / h ). It was an effort of ⅓ hp needed.
The aircraft is after winning the first Kremer prize in the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC.
The development and construction of the flier was created in 1978 in an Oscar-winning short documentary ( The Flight of the Gossamer Condor ) produced in a film.