Adams Manpowered Plane

An interesting collection item that was built in an attempt to gain flight by man power only. Built of extremely light but strong materials such as aluminum and balsa wood, it is covered in a clear plastic flim which again is light but strong.

From the Motat website:

 The construction of this aircraft started during February 1966 when Ron Adams, based in England, attempted to build a human-powered aircraft which was light and strong enough to compete for the Kremer Prize. The Kremer Prize was a flying competition with award money of $10,000. The course was a figure-eight, and a one mile distance had to be completed to be in with a chance to win.

Two years later, Ron Adams had emigrated to New Zealand, bringing his Ornithopter. This aircraft was built initially as an Ornithopter (flapping wing) in 1966, and modified to its present form in 1972/73. Although it was never flown, an airspeed of nearly 30 kilometres per hour was attained with the variable pitch propeller during trials at Whenuapai mid-1973. Despite the trials sustained flight was not achieved and the project was abandoned when it became apparent that the wing area was insufficient and airfoil wrong for slow flying.

Photos
- aircraft on display in the main hanger 2007 (Richard Wesley)