Gossamer Condor

Gossamer Condor
The Gossamer Condor at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
Role	experimental aircraft
National origin	United States
Manufacturer	AeroVironment
First flight	1977
Status	On display
Number built	1
Developed into	Gossamer Albatross

The MacCready Gossamer Condor was the first human-powered aircraft capable of controlled and sustained flight; as such, it won the Kremer prize in 1977. Its design was led by Paul MacCready of AeroVironment, Inc.

The Kremer prize had been set up in 1959 by Henry Kremer, a British industrialist, and offered £50,000 in prize money to the first group that could fly a human-powered aircraft over a figure-eight course covering a total of one mile (1.6 kilometers). The course also included a ten-foot pole that the aircraft had to fly over at the start and at the end. Early attempts to build human-powered aircraft had focused on wooden designs, which proved too heavy. Very early attempts – notably the ^(de) and Pedaliante – used catapult launches.

In 1961, Southampton University's Man Powered Aircraft SUMPAC took to the air at Lasham Airfield on 9 November, piloted by Derek Piggott, achieving a maximum flight of 650 metres. One week later, on 16 November, the Hatfield Puffin flew, and eventually managed a maximum flight of 908 metres but it was difficult to turn. The Jupiter managed 1,239 m in June 1972. The Nihon Stork B achieved over two kilometers in 1976.

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. He took his inspiration from hang gliders, increasing wing area so that the drag of the wire bracing needed would be reduced. The Gossamer Condor is built around a large wing with a gondola for the pilot underneath and a canard control surface on a fuselage extension in front, and is mostly built of lightweight plastics with aluminum spars.

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