The Micron was the second of two human-powered aircraft designed and built by Peter Wright, an engineer from

Melton Mowbray Melton Mowbray () is a market town in the Borough of Melton, Melton district in Leicestershire, England, north-east of Leicester and south-east of Nottingham. It lies on the River Eye, Leicestershire, River Eye, known below Melton as the Rive ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Wright had previously designed and built the

Wright MPA Mk 1 The Wright MPA Mk 1 was the first of two human-powered aircraft designed and built by Peter Wright, an engineer from Melton Mowbray, England. Background Design of the aircraft began in October 1969, with construction itself beginning mid- ...

, which first flew in 1972. The low wing loading of that design affected the flight opportunities which could be made. The design of his second human-powered aircraft, the Micron, began in 1974 with the intent that it be robust and practical; to this end, it had a relatively high wing loading, thereby increasing flight opportunities. It was also intended to be easily assembled and transportable in a glider trailer. The Micron was of conventional configuration. It was a low-wing monoplane, with a very streamlined fuselage and a V-tail empennage. The pilot sat in a recumbent position, pedalling a set of bicycle pedals, and powering a pusher propeller mounted on a pylon located near the front of the fuselage. Power transmission was by a cable/roller drive. The craft made extensive use of plastics, expanded polystyrene, and

carbon fibre Carbon fiber-reinforced polymers (American English), carbon-fibre-reinforced polymers ( Commonwealth English), carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics, carbon-fiber reinforced-thermoplastic (CFRP, CRP, CFRTP), also known as carbon fiber, carbon comp ...

. The fuselage, tail, and upper wing surfaces were all produced using moulds. The craft was completed by February 1976, and involved 200 hours of construction time. A month later it was reported that the Micron was undergoing trials at

RAF Cranwell Royal Air Force Cranwell or more simply RAF Cranwell is a Royal Air Force List of Royal Air Force stations, station in Lincolnshire, England, close to the village of Cranwell, near Sleaford. Among other functions, it is home to the RAF Colleg ...

, and was being hangared there alongside the

Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the List of Solar System objects by size, largest in the Solar System. It is a gas giant with a Jupiter mass, mass more than 2.5 times that of all the other planets in the Solar System combined a ...

and Mercury human-powered aircraft. The websit
Human Powered Flight
reports that the craft was later converted into a single-place sailplane, which was based at the Buckminster Gliding Club.

Specifications

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite magazine, last=Moulton , first=Ron , author-link=Ron Moulton, date=May 1975, title=Progress with man powered flight, magazine=AeroModeller, location=Hemel Hempstead, Herts, UK, publisher=Model & Allied Publications Ltd, page=294 {{cite magazine, last=Moulton , first=Ron, date=March 1976, title=Man powered aircraft, magazine=AeroModeller, location=Hemel Hempstead, Herts, UK, publisher=Model & Allied Publications Ltd, pages=144–145 {{Cite book , last=Sherwin , first=Keith , author-link=Keith Sherwin , title=Man-powered flight , publisher=Model & Allied Publications Ltd , year=1971 , edition=revised reprint 1975 , isbn=0852424361 , location=Hemel Hempstead, Herts, UK , pages=177–178 , language=en {{cite book , editor-last1=Taylor , editor-first1=John W. R. , date=1975 , title=Jane's all the world's aircraft 1975-76 , location=London , publisher=Jane's Yearbooks , page=238 , isbn=0354005219 , url=https://archive.org/details/janesallworldsai0000unse_o5q7/page/238/mode/1up, access-date=April 15, 2023 {{cite web , title=Other 70s Planes - Micron , url=https://www.humanpoweredflight.co.uk/page/human-powered-flight-other-70s-planes , website=Human Powered Flight , access-date=18 March 2023} Human-powered aircraft Low-wing aircraft Pusher aircraft V-tail aircraft Single-engined pusher aircraft 1970s British experimental aircraft Unflown aircraft Aircraft with fixed bicycle landing gear

Specifications

See also

References