Description
This Czech-language book traces humanity’s age-old desire to rise into the air by its own strength and fly like birds, as reflected in drawings, written records, myths and legends. After briefly looking into the distant past, Ivo Hrubíšek focuses mainly on the 1960s to the 1980s, when efforts to achieve human-powered flight reached their peak. Several groups of enthusiasts in Great Britain worked on human-powered aircraft, or HPAs, before development moved to the United States, where modern “space-age” materials helped transform construction and flying from enthusiastic amateurism into a serious scientific endeavor. On 12 June 1979, cyclist-pilot Bryan Allen crossed the English Channel from Britain to France in the Gossamer Albatross under his own power, winning the Kremer Prize and its £100,000 reward. The MIT Daedalus later achieved a remarkable flight from Crete toward mainland Greece. These and other successes inspired overly optimistic visions for the future of pedal-powered aircraft and prompted the enduring question: what will come next?
Information
Author: Hrubíšek Ivo
Language: Czech
Publication date: November 26, 2010
Manufacturer: CYKLOKNIHY s.r.o.
Genres: Non-fiction literature, Books, History and facts
Type: Hardcover books
Pages: 160
ISBN/EAN: 9788087193112