White Dwarf (dirigible)

Last updated
White Dwarf
White Dwarf-Single Person Blimp-02.jpg
RoleHuman powered dirigible
National originUnited States
DesignerWatson, Allen

The White Dwarf is a human-powered dirigible built in 1984 that set several world records.

Contents

Development

The White Dwarf was commissioned and funded by comedian Gallagher, whose interest in airships was sparked by a radio-controlled flying watermelon prop he used in his stage act. [1] It was constructed by Bill Watson, who was part of the team that built the Gossamer Albatross human-powered craft. [2]

Design

The dirigible features a teardrop-shaped lift bag. The aluminum fuselage is a truss design with a single pilot seat on top with a chain-driven pusher propeller, 64 inches in length, positioned in front of a rudder. It weighs 150 lb (68 kg). [3] [1]

Operational history

The White Dwarf set several world records with pilot (and engine) Bryan Allen. It was flown a distance of 58.08 mi (93 km) in 8 hours and 50 minutes. [4]

Specifications (White Dwarf)

Data from Air & Space

General characteristics

Performance

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aircraft</span> Vehicle or machine that is able to fly by gaining support from the air

An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, in a few cases, direct downward thrust from its engines. Common examples of aircraft include airplanes, helicopters, airships, gliders, paramotors, and hot air balloons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airship</span> Powered lighter-than-air aircraft

An airship is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air flying under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air to achieve the lift needed to stay airborne.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Autogyro</span> Rotorcraft with unpowered rotor

An autogyro, or gyroplane, is a class of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. While similar to a helicopter rotor in appearance, the autogyro's unpowered rotor disc must have air flowing upward across it to make it rotate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Model aircraft</span> Physical model of an aircraft for display, research, or amusement

A model aircraft is a physical model of an existing or imagined aircraft, and is built typically for display, research, or amusement. Model aircraft are divided into two basic groups: flying and non-flying. Non-flying models are also termed static, display, or shelf models.

MacCready <i>Gossamer Albatross</i> Human-powered aircraft developed by American aeronautics company AeroVironment

The Gossamer Albatross is a human-powered aircraft built by American aeronautical engineer Dr Paul B MacCready's company AeroVironment. On June 12, 1979, it completed a successful crossing of the English Channel to win the second Kremer prize worth £100,000.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rutan Voyager</span> American aircraft; first to fly around the world non-stop, unrefueled (1986)

The Rutan Model 76 Voyager was the first aircraft to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. It was piloted by Dick Rutan and Jeana Yeager. The flight took off from Edwards Air Force Base's 15,000 foot runway in the Mojave Desert on December 14, 1986, and ended 9 days, 3 minutes and 44 seconds later on December 23, setting a flight endurance record. The aircraft flew westbound 26,366 statute miles at an average altitude of 11,000 feet (3,350 m).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ERCO Ercoupe</span> American light aircraft

The ERCO Ercoupe is an American low-wing monoplane aircraft that was first flown in 1937. It was originally manufactured by the Engineering and Research Corporation (ERCO) shortly before World War II; several other manufacturers continued its production after the war. The final model, the Mooney M-10, first flew in 1968 and the last model year was 1970. It was designed to be the safest fixed-wing aircraft that aerospace engineering could provide at the time, and the type continues to enjoy a faithful following.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burt Rutan</span> American aerospace engineer

Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan is a retired American aerospace engineer and entrepreneur noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, and energy-efficient air and space craft. He designed the record-breaking Voyager, which in 1986 was the first plane to fly around the world without stopping or refueling. He also designed the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer, which in 2006 set the world record for the fastest and longest nonstop non-refueled circumnavigation flight in history. In 2004, Rutan's sub-orbital spaceplane design SpaceShipOne became the first privately funded spacecraft to enter the realm of space, winning the Ansari X-Prize that year for achieving the feat twice within a two-week period.

MacCready <i>Gossamer Condor</i> American human-powered aircraft

The MacCready Gossamer Condor was the first human-powered aircraft capable of controlled and sustained flight; as such, it won the Kremer prize in 1977. Its design was led by Paul MacCready of AeroVironment, Inc.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scaled Composites Tier One</span> Suborbital human spaceflight program using the reusable spacecraft SpaceShipOne

Tier One was a Scaled Composites' 1990s–2004 program of suborbital human spaceflight using the reusable spacecraft SpaceShipOne and its launcher White Knight. The craft was designed by Burt Rutan, and the project was funded 20 million US Dollars by Paul Allen. In 2004 it made the first privately funded human spaceflight and won the 10 million US Dollars Ansari X Prize for the first non-governmental reusable crewed spacecraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Airplane</span> Powered, flying vehicle with wings

An airplane or aeroplane, informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and wing configurations. The broad spectrum of uses for airplanes includes recreation, transportation of goods and people, military, and research. Worldwide, commercial aviation transports more than four billion passengers annually on airliners and transports more than 200 billion tonne-kilometers of cargo annually, which is less than 1% of the world's cargo movement. Most airplanes are flown by a pilot on board the aircraft, but some are designed to be remotely or computer-controlled such as drones.

Bryan Lewis Allen is an American self-taught hang glider pilot and cyclist. He achieved fame when he piloted the two aircraft that won the first two Kremer prizes for human-powered flight: the Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross. He later set world distance and duration records in a small pedal-powered blimp named "White Dwarf."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Convair XFY Pogo</span> American experimental VTOL aircraft

The Convair XFY-1 Pogo was an experimental V/STOL aircraft developed during the early years of the Cold War. It was intended to be a high-performance fighter aircraft capable of operating from small warships. Lockheed and Convair were awarded contracts to build experimental VTOL fighters, with Convair producing the XFY-1, also known as the "Pogo." It was developed as an attempt to create a practical V/STOL aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas Scott Baldwin</span> US Army aviator and balloonist (1854–1923)

Thomas Scott Baldwin was a pioneer balloonist and U.S. Army major during World War I. He was the first American to descend from a balloon by parachute.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Powered hang glider</span> Foot-launched powered hang glider

A foot-launched powered hang glider (FLPHG), also called powered harness, nanolight, or hangmotor, is a powered hang glider harness with a motor and propeller often in pusher configuration, although some can be found in tractor configuration. An ordinary hang glider is used for its wing and control frame, and the pilot can foot-launch from a hill or from flat ground, needing a length of about a football field to get airborne, or much less if there is an oncoming breeze and no obstacles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Propeller (aeronautics)</span> Aircraft propulsion component

In aeronautics, an aircraft propeller, also called an airscrew, converts rotary motion from an engine or other power source into a swirling slipstream which pushes the propeller forwards or backwards. It comprises a rotating power-driven hub, to which are attached several radial airfoil-section blades such that the whole assembly rotates about a longitudinal axis. The blade pitch may be fixed, manually variable to a few set positions, or of the automatically variable "constant-speed" type.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum of New Jersey</span> Aviation museum in Teterboro, New Jersey

The Aviation Hall of Fame & Museum of New Jersey was founded in 1972 and preserves New Jersey's aviation and space heritage. The museum displays historic aircraft, space equipment, artifacts, photographs, art and an aircraft model collection. The library has more than 4,000 volumes and a collection of aviation video. It is located at Teterboro Airport, the oldest operating airport in the Tri-State Region, at 400 Fred Wehran Drive, Teterboro, New Jersey.

A white dwarf is a compact star that is no longer generating energy through nuclear fusion at its core.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fairey FB-1 Gyrodyne</span> Type of aircraft

The Fairey FB-1 Gyrodyne is an experimental British rotorcraft that used single lifting rotor and a tractor propeller mounted on the tip of the starboard stub wing to provide both propulsion and anti-torque reaction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human-powered aircraft</span>

A human-powered aircraft (HPA) is an aircraft belonging to the class of vehicles known as human-powered transport.

References

  1. 1 2 Cardoso, Bill (September 28, 1984). "Comic has gas of time pedaling White Dwarf". UPI.
  2. Medearis, John (February 27, 1990). "Radio-Controlled Blimp Uses Stealth Technology at 28 M.P.H." Los Angeles Times.
  3. Archived May 25, 2015, at the Wayback Machine The White Dwarf Flies Again
  4. Sugar, James & Stephan Wilkinson (June 1986). "Who Is Bryan Allen?". Air and Space Magazine: 53.

Further reading