Site of the Flight of the Gossamer Condor

Paul MacCready guaranteed a relative's business loan, the business failed, and he was left owing about a hundred thousand dollars. The Kremer prize for human-powered flight had gone unclaimed for eighteen years and was worth fifty thousand pounds. As he put it later, the prize equalled the debt. What he built out of aluminium tubing, styrofoam, piano wire, bicycle parts and Mylar weighed seventy pounds. On August 23, 1977 Bryan Allen pedalled it around a figure eight over this field in six minutes and twenty-two seconds. It hangs in the Air and Space Museum now.

What the plaque says

Site of Gossamer Condor Flight This plaque at Shafter Airport commemorates the world's first man-powered flight to complete the Kremer Circuit, August 23, 1977. The circuit, a figure eight around two pylons one-half mile apart, was completed in six minutes, twenty-two seconds. The plane was designed by Dr. Paul MacCready, Jr. and flown by Bryan Allen. A cash prize of 50,000 pounds was awarded by the Royal Aeronautical Society, London, England. California Registered Historical Landmark No. 923 Plaque placed by the State Department of Parks and Recreation in cooperation with the Kern County Museum, Kern County Department of Airports, and Kern County Historical Society, February 24, 1979.

Where it stands

More markers nearby

• Shafter Cotton Research Station — 5.9 mi
• Garcés Circle — 12 mi
• Home of Elisha Stevens — 12 mi
• Posey Station — 13 mi