Who Likes Aircraft ?

[65Bel]

 

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[Photon440]

Requiring no gasoline at all, the Gossamer Condor was the first human powered aircraft to successfully challenge and win the Kremer Prize in August 1977. Paul MacCready, an aeronautical engineer, designed the plane and had it piloted by Bryan Allen who was not only an avid cyclist but also a hang glider pilot. The conditions to meet were this: The human powered flight was a figure 8 course one mile long, with a ten foot pole at the start and finish that the plane had to be able to fly over. The prize was £50,000.

Two years later, MacCready improved the design with the Gossamer Albatross managed a greater feat, flying 22 miles across the English Channel. I hope he didn't have a head wind, the flight took 2 hours and 49 minutes.

 

[Richard Cranium]

Requiring no gasoline at all, the Gossamer Condor was the first human powered aircraft to successfully challenge and win the Kremer Prize in August 1977. Paul MacCready, an aeronautical engineer, designed the plane and had it piloted by Bryan Allen who was not only an avid cyclist but also a hang glider pilot. The conditions to meet were this: The human powered flight was a figure 8 course one mile long, with a ten foot pole at the start and finish that the plane had to be able to fly over. The prize was £50,000.

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Two years later, MacCready improved the design with the Gossamer Albatross managed a greater feat, flying 22 miles across the English Channel. I hope he didn't have a head wind, the flight took 2 hours and 49 minutes.

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No doubt that they were great athletic achievements, but here it is 45 years later and the idea of human powered flight is kaput.

 

[Photon440]

No doubt that they were great athletic achievements, but here it is 45 years later and the idea of human powered flight is kaput.

I wouldn't agree that it is "kaput", it just isn't widely talked about. Just like a runner breaking the four minute mile is no longer newsworthy. But there is still a lot of activity around the world, and still some Kremer prizes to be won, especially the £50,000 for completing a 26 mile course in one hour and a prize of £100,000 for a manoeuvrability challenge.

The Royal Aeronautical Society in Britain hosts the annual Icarus Cup challenge for the past ten years and has had as many as five contestants at a time.
Pedal power - the Icarus Cup

 

[Duckmanreno]

 

[Photon440]

An especially high flying bird, Great Britain's twin engined jet bomber was actually in design stages before WWII had ended. Planned as a successor to the Mosquito, the English Electric Canberra prototype had it's first flight in 1949.

Quickly proving to be a sound design, the 540 mph. bomber could carry up to 10,000 lbs. of weapons. It was suddenly thrust into greater popularity during the Korean War. The USAF deemed it a good replacement for the old B-26 Invader and ordered 403 of them. Or rather, licenses for them, as they were then built by Martin and called the Martin B-57.

Regularly flying as high as 63,000 feet, a world record was reached in 1957 when a modified Canberra with a booster rocket reached 70,308 feet.
You can read about the restoration of that aircraft here: The British jet that flew higher than any other plane

Staying in service for over fifty years, there are still three of the Martin varieties kept in use by NASA for high altitude experiments. Not too shabby for a 1940's design.

 

[Dave6T4]

Very sleek looking bomber for its day. A contemporary for Boeing's B-47, which did not have as long a service life.

 

[BearDodge67]

Very sleek looking bomber for its day. A contemporary for Boeing's B-47, which did not have as long a service life.

And the BUFF is still flying, 60+yrs after the last one was built... that's FAA mandatory retirement age for a pilot IIRC

 

[Photon440]

And the BUFF is still flying, 60+yrs after the last one was built... that's FAA mandatory retirement age for a pilot IIRC

Age was raised to 65 in 2007.

 

[BearDodge67]

Danke.. my friends dad was 60 when he had to retire... luckily he did, as the airline folded right after.

 

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[BearDodge67]

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These planes always gave me a chubby.