The ''BURD'' was a two-place
human-powered biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
, designed and built by graduates and undergraduates of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with Professors Eugene Covert and James Mar acting as project advisers. It was developed with the specific goal of winning the £50,000
Kremer prize then on offer.
[
BURD is an acronym for "Biplane Ultralight Research Device", reflecting the aircraft's configuration. The project was notable for it involving computational analysis as well as wind-tunnel tests of a scale model.][ The two-person option was adopted, as that allowed for a better power-to-weight ratio. The ]canard
Canard is French for duck, a type of aquatic bird.
Canard may also refer to:
Aviation
*Canard (aeronautics), a small wing in front of an aircraft's main wing
* Aviafiber Canard 2FL, a single seat recreational aircraft of canard design
* Blé ...
configuration was selected due that giving a beneficial increase in lift. The biplane configuration, fitted with endplates, was adopted due to the aerodynamic and structural benefits from using that arrangement.[
The primary structure for the fuselage was made from aluminum tubing, while the primary structure for the flying surfaces were box-beam spars made from sheet balsa.][ The secondary structure was made primarily from balsa, with aluminum tubing and sheets used in high-stress areas. The entire airframe was covered in transparent film.][ The undercarriage consisted of two bicycle wheels, arranged in tandem. As originally built, the front wheel was fixed, and not able to be steered. The two-person crew sat in a tandem arrangement, and powered a chain drive which connected to both the rear undercarriage wheel and the rear-mounted pusher propeller.][ Pitch control was to be achieved by pivoting the foreplane in its entirety. Lateral and directional control was to be attained by spoilers mounted on the lower wing, with the spoilers producing a yawing force in the direction of the turn that the aircraft was being banked towards. In addition, a vertical fin was located above the upper wing.][
The ''BURD'' was completed in May 1973. Taxiing tests conducted at Hanscom Field airport in Bedford, Massachusetts, revealed significant design and construction issues. Alterations were made to the undercarriage, the drive system, and to the controls for both the foreplane and the spoilers.][ In 1975, the first flight attempt took place, but ended with an almost complete structural collapse of the aircraft.][
In 1976, a new iteration of the design, named the MIT ''BURD II'', was built, with this craft incorporating a number of detail changes from the original.][
]
Specifications
See also
References
{{reflist, refs=
[{{cite book , last=Dorsey , first=Gary, date=1990 , title=The Fullness of Wings: The Making Of A New Daedalus , location=New York, NY , publisher=Viking , pages=40–47 , isbn=0670824445]
[{{cite book , last=Dwiggins , first=Don , author-link=Don Dwiggins , date=1977 , title=Man-powered aircraft , location=Blue Ridge Summit, PA , publisher=Tab Books , pages=165–167 , isbn=0830622543]
[{{cite book , editor-last1=Taylor , editor-first1=John W. R. , date=1976 , title=Jane's all the world's aircraft 1976-77 , location=London , publisher=Macdonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd , pages=521–522, isbn=0354005383, url=https://archive.org/details/janesallworldsai0000unse_a7n3/page/522/mode/2up, access-date=April 9, 2023]
[{{cite magazine, last1=Wahl , first1=Paul, date=February 1974, title=Who Will Take Aviation's Richest Prize?, magazine=Popular Science , location=New York, NY, publisher=Times Mirror Magazines, Inc, Inc, volume=204 , number=2, pages=90–92, 136–137 , issn=0148-7191 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VWTF3my04Q0C&dq=who%20will%20take%20aviation's%20richest%20prize%3F&pg=PA90 , access-date=9 April 2023]
[{{cite book , last=Reay , first=D.A. , date=1977 , title=The history of man-powered flight , location=Oxford, England , publisher=Pergamon Press Ltd , pages=296–298 , isbn=0080217389]
[{{cite magazine, last=Hooper , first=Paul, date=1974, title=The M.I.T. Man-Powered Aircraft, magazine=SAE Technical Paper 740392 , location=New York, NY, publisher=Society of Automotive Engineers, Inc, issn=0148-7191]
}
Human-powered aircraft
Biplanes
Pusher aircraft
Twin-engined single-prop pusher aircraft
1970s United States experimental aircraft
Canard aircraft
Biplanes with negative stagger
MIT aircraft
Unflown aircraft