The ''Gossamer Penguin'' was a solar-powered experimental aircraft created by Paul MacCready's

AeroVironment AeroVironment, Inc. is an American Arms industry, defense contractor headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, that designs and manufactures unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). Paul MacCready, Paul B. MacCready Jr., a designer of human-powered aircraft, ...

. MacCready had built the '' Gossamer Condor'' in 1977 which won the Kremer prize for the first human-powered flight, and the '' Gossamer Albatross,'' a similar but larger aircraft. The ''Gossamer Penguin'' was developed from the ''Albatross'' and used that ultralight design to demonstrate solar flight at testing ground at Minter Field, outside of Shafter, California."Plane flies on sun power", by Terrance W. McGarry, United Press International report in the ''Spokane (WA) Chronicle'', June 5, 1980, p12 The ''Gossamer Penguin'' was the third solar-powered aircraft to fly, and the second crewed solar-powered aircraft. The ''Penguin'' was a three-quarter scale version of the '' Gossamer Albatross II''; it had a wingspan and a weight, without pilot, of . The propeller was driven by an AstroFlight Astro-40 electric motor, powered by a 541 watt solar panel, consisting of 3920 solar cells. Initial test flights were performed using a 28–cell, NiCad battery pack instead of a solar panel. The test pilot for these flights was MacCready's 13-year-old son Marshall, who weighed . The official pilot for the project was Janice Brown, a charter pilot with commercial, instrument, and glider ratings who weighed slightly less than . She flew the ''Penguin'' approximately 40 times before a public demonstration flight at

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

Dryden Flight Research Center The NASA Neil A. Armstrong Flight Research Center (AFRC) is an aeronautical research center operated by NASA. Its primary campus is located inside Edwards Air Force Base in California and is considered NASA's premier site for aeronautical rese ...

on August 7, 1980.

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{{Photovoltaics AeroVironment aircraft Canard aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft Solar-powered aircraft 1980s United States experimental aircraft Photovoltaics Aircraft first flown in 1979 High-wing aircraft

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