Man-Powered Flight
Sir,—ln reply to J. F. Williams, I have a keen and reasonably intelligent interest in aviation through experiences in that field. If Mr Williams will read my letter again he will realise that I was referring specifically to the weight figures in relation to the drawing in the article which he obviously has not read. To construct an airframe of such a configuration for the weight stated is hopelessly impractical. Phillip Wills, a former world gliding champion, shows in his book, “On Being a Bird,** that a
high-efficiency sailplane weighing 8251 b extracts the equivalent of three horse power from rising air currents to maintain altitude. It is obvious, therefore, that an aircraft which is expected to increase altitude on less than one horsepower is, of necessity, going to be most efficient and very refined aerodynamically—more refined than Nonweiler’s fat, lumbering, monstrosity of a brain-child.—Yours etc. G. O. MOODY. Kikiwa, August 20, 1959.
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Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28981, 24 August 1959, Page 3
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155Man-Powered Flight Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28981, 24 August 1959, Page 3
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