British Human Powered Aircraft

[Stargazer]

The Hertfordshire Pedal Aeronauts Toucan I man-powered two-seat monoplane, which flew in 1973.

More photos and information in the source document:

The Structural Design and Construction of Man Powered Aircraft
by M. S. Pressnell, Hatfield Polytechnic
Man Powered Aircraft Group, Royal Aeronautical Society

Paper Presented at the Royal Aeronautical Society Symposium on "Man Powered Flight - The Way Ahead" held on 7 February 1977.

 

[Stargazer]

And now the Hertfordshire Pedal Aeronauts Puffin and Puffin II.

Source:
Man Powered Aircraft Group Symposium – 10th February 1975, Royal Aeronautical Society

 

[Jemiba]

Thanks for pointing us to those reports, I was unaware of the attempts, to build even
two-seater hp aircraft.
What I've read about hp helicopters, increasing the number of crew in hp aircraft, actually
should worsen the problems, as they are mainly based in the bad power-to-wait ration of men.
That's the reason, too, that in the future we probably will have to fight for "proportion of
males" in relation to hp flight records, instead of the much debated "proportion of females" !

 

[Stargazer]

An interesting article on British man-powered aircraft taken from the American Flying magazine dated June 1963:

 

[Jemiba]

Two older human powewerd british prototypes/concepts, I've found in "Der Flieger" magazine, February 1960.
The first, designed and actually built by the british sculptor Emil Hartmann, was a glider like type, but fitted
with flapping wings. It was flown successfully up to a height of about 6 m, but only after it was towed by
a car (the second picture shows details of the aircraft).
The tandem seat pusher prop design, drawn by T.R.F. Nonweiler from the university Belfast remained a project.

 

[Bill Walker]

Thanks for pointing us to those reports, I was unaware of the attempts, to build even
two-seater hp aircraft.

Back in my undergrad days I was part of a project at Northrop Tech working on a 2 "person" human powered aircraft. We did extensive power output measurements as part of the transmission design and crew selection, and discovered a considerable variation in power output with the person's mental work load. You could fly the airplane, or pedal like hell, but not both at the same time. We determined our best bet was two persons: one pedalling like hell, one flying and pedalling as much as they could.

Purely by accident, I think, we assembled a team consisting of a female competion glider pilot and bicycle racer in the front, and a scrawny little 19 year old US Marine in the back who had the highest power to weight ratio we measured, but no piloting experience.

Sadly, the project never flew, as far as I know.

 

[Jemiba]

In "Der Flieger", August 1961 an human powered aircraft designed and constructed by the University
of Southampton is presented, which made its first flight on the 9. November 1961. Actually I'm not quite
sure if it really qualify as a HPA, as it is mentioned, that an 8 ccm model engine is installed to support
the pilot.

 

[Jemiba]

Another British attempt to build a human powered flying vehicle: W.L. Manuel from Chertsey/GB
chose the "traditional" way around 1962/63, obviously using a bicycle, adding a propeller at the front.
He succeeded in short hops at a speed of around 50 km/h with is "Skybike"

 

[hesham]

Hi,


here is a British MPA concepts with a suggested design.


http://arc.aiaa.org/doi/abs/10.2514/3.44154

 

[hesham]

From L+K 17/1975.

 

[hesham]

From Ailes 14/11/1959,

here is an airplane designed by Mr. Dan Perkins;

1959 | 2797 | Flight Archive

454 FLIGHT, 30 October 1959 Two manpowered aircraft projects, the Hartman ornithoptet (left) and the Perkins inflatable-wing machine (minus propeller) THE MUSCLE-MEN EMERGE Aan incidental preliminary

www.flightglobal.com

 

[hesham]

From Aeroplane 1955.