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EXPLANATORY NOTES
Aircraft are listed in order of first flight. An aircraft is included in this table if it has been successful in flying when powered solely by the crew. Mufli always had assisted launches. All others, unless mentioned otherwise have taken off under the onboard crew`s contemporaneous muscle-power alone. Machines which did not fly, but are of interest because they made a significant contribution to HPF by providing experience for those involved in the project or in other ways are mentioned in the main text. The most original available source is quoted. It would be much appreciated if any errors or omissions were reported to the author or webmaster for incorporation in any revision.
NAME
In many cases, e.g. Linnet I any modifications to the plane after the first flight were not such as to affect any of the parameters listed below, and Linnet II was a complete rebuild. However with Toucan for instance, the aircraft was modified, in this case mainly by an increase in wingspan, sufficient that it was felt that a change to the name was appropriate. There was only one Toucan fuselage. Both Monarchs had the same wing but a new fuselage was built and it became the "B". With the Condor series there were many modifications without a name-change. The choice of a name, is entered below in the style chosen by the designer, e.g. MiLan'82.
However, if a second version is built, an "I" or "A" is added to the name of the first version, e.g. Puffin I, was originally known as Puffin. In some cases the same aircraft has had different names or has been known by the name of the group responsible for its construction or operation, see previous page.
WINGSPAN
On some aircraft e.g. Velair 88 , shaped tips were added after the initial construction for improved performance. Span increase on Velair 88 was just over a foot. In the table below, the larger value of span is quoted, in feet. For a helicopter, the figure quoted in this column is the rotor diameter. Unless specified a two-blade rotor is implied. Bionic Bat figures shown in the main table refer to the Dec 1984 variant. Development from Aug 1983 altered wing and other areas, etc (see separate table in Bionic Bat above).
AREA
Square feet of wing area, or rotor area. For canard layouts, some authorities include the area of the foreplane.
SECTION
The cross-section of the wing. The choice, for a designer, is between using an existing published shape, (as Gottingen 535 was used on the Mufli), or deciding that nothing appropriate exists and designing one's own (as PF 25 was designed for for the Velair89). A possible compromise, as on SUMPAC, is to derive a section by extrapolating beyond the range of the published series. Stork A the section at the root of the wing differs from that at the tip, and both sections are quoted below. In this way it differs, for instance, from its predecessor Jupiter, where the effect of different sections along the wing was obtained by building the wing with wash-out. Dumbo/Mercury FX68-M-180 ~ FX68-M-160 ~ FX68-M-140 . Musculair II Wortmann FX76MP modified by Dieter Althaus.
EMPTY WEIGHT
The weight in lbs of the craft including any energy-storage equipment or refreshment containers.
STRUCTURE
The main structural material. Typically this will be the material or combination of materials used for the wing-spar. Abbreviations show the principle used.
WB = Wire-braced for Bending only. Usually this means a single wire below and a single wire above the wing. In this case the wing's torsional strength and stiffness will derive from internal structure.
WBT = Wire Braced for Torsion. This will involve a large number of wires.
Ca = Cantilever.
SS = Stressed Skin. On Musculair II, for instance, the wing-skin was stiff enough to withstand the torsional loads as well as provide an accurate shape. No HPA wing to date has been flown with a wing-structure where ALL the loads were carried by the skin.
IG = Internal Girder. The Puffin II wing spar was a rigid framework built up of lengths of Balsa and spruce, Balsa being predominant.
SQ = internal SQuare torsion-box. Balsa-plywood on Stork.
PT = Plywood Tube. Newbury Manflier, the first HPA with a tubular spar.
Musculair I wing torsion carried by the wing-nose-skin "C" completed into a "D" shaped box by diagonal rovings.
Bionic Bat incorporated a short wing-to-fuselage brace.
DRIVE
The transmission of power from the pilot to the propeller has always involved turning the drive at right angles. (So far no crew has sat sideways as on some HP boats). This column in the table indicates the engineering device employed for this purpose.
BGS = Bevel-Gear & Shaft. T = Twisted. Ch = Chain. S = Shaft. HVS transmission. See text relating to this aircraft.
CONFIGURATION
C = as Conventional engined aircraft or glider
B = as C except that rear fuselage is a tail-Boom.
* = see text referring to this aircraft and note below, Newbury Manflier, two fuselages spaced apart on one wing. Phoenix, wing with unfaired pilot frame below, no tail.
SEAT R = Recumbent. U = Upright.
propeller POSITION
pylon = propeller is mounted behind top of a pylon, except on the
Bliesner 4, where the prop was in front of the pylon.
fin = mounted behind fin.
pod = mounted behind pilot's pod.
Da Vinci helicopter. The rotor was above the pilot.
LATERAL CONTROL
The method of steering the plane. Because this has been a problem, and a wide variety of systems have been employed, this topic warrants its own column. Lateral Control has always been accomplished (or attempted) by changing the shape of one or more of the aerodynamic surfaces, or by swivelling all or part of such a surface. Shape-changing has been done by a hinged portion such as a rudder as on the Wright, or by warping the wing as on the Monarch A. Swivelling, which affects the angle relative to the oncoming stream and hence the aerodynamic force experienced by the whole surface, was used on the Dumbo/Mercury. Both entire 60 ft wing-panels were moved by the pilot. Many planes use all-moving fins. Airglow & others use rotating wing-tips. This item in the table does not refer to the various types of handle or control column or bar which the pilot uses, nor to the system which forms a link between the pilot's input and the surface.
SPECIAL FEATURES & INNOVATION
This column shows one of the novel or distinguishing characteristics of the type. See text for other innovative features of each type.
DATE FIRST FLIGHT First flight under muscle-power.
ACHIEVEMENTS one or two of its more notable flights.
DESIGNER
The size of design teams has varied enormously, and a table of this type cannot include the names of all those who have contributed to the design decisions. Where known, others responsible are mentioned in the text.
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE
The entries in this column do reflect the fact that success has come in the main to those groups where at least one of the members has had previous aircraft experience or formal aeronautical education. However people with a variety of skills are needed by a project. As Paul MacCready said when offering the benefit of his English Channel experience to the then still only hopeful Daedalus team "Building the plane will be easy; the logistics will be the hard part". The word "industry" here denotes aircraft industry.
PLACE of ORIGIN
This was the home of the project and not always where the flights were made. The identity of the parent-group may be mentioned in this column.
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