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or F.E. To
or Fred To
His person and works have had interface with hang gliding interests. However, his strong suit was in man-powered and solar-powered aircraft; but such work and the associated spirit flow has had effect into hang gliding; the effect has yet to be fully spent. ARP teased a fresh look at Fred To with a given link to a video that highly holds many of Fred To's interests:
Solar One - Solar powered airplane - Race to the Sun 46 min Battery assist.
True maiden flight on December 19 of 1978 in morning, cold, ice on wing, pilot David Williams and observer Derek Piggott. The Solar One's maiden flight was Inhabited by the pilot David Williams at Lasham Airfield, Hampshire.
The next year: Maiden "press" flight: 13 June 1979 with pilot Ken Stewart.
Solar-Powered_Aircraft_Developments_Solar_One
Fred To said that flying under sun's power is "peanuts" compared to what the Wright Brothers did; solar-power flying just takes "patience" and "money."
Frederick To. Frederick E. To, Fred To, F.E. To
http://aerosociety.com/Assets/Docs/About_us/HPAG/Papers/HP_phoenix.pdf
Clip from that PDF: "Frederick To, AMRAeS was born in Hong Kong in 1938, came to the UK in 1952 to study, and qualified as an architect. He joined the RAeS in the early 70s, his main interest then was man-powered flight. In 1974 he made a documentary film on the subject called "The Last Challenge". He started building Solar One with the help and advice of David Williams in 1977. The next year Solar One made its first short hop at Lasham and it is believed it then became the world's first solar powered aircraft. By the middle of 1978 Fred To was making structural tests on the use of polyester film structures for an inflatable wing. He designed and built 'Phoenix,' the success of which is illustrated in this paper. He also tried unsuccessfully to produce an inflatable microlight, a project which was hampered in mid-life by the introduction of CAA regulations. In 1980 he formed his own company, The Air-Plane Co to undertake inflatable aircraft powered by a 22 hp engine. He still practises as an architect."
http://www.google.com/patents/US6499420
http://www.google.com/patents/US6347769
Extensive HPA gallery: http://www.pictures.propdesigner.co.uk/index.html
Fred To was in the Solar One project with David Williams.
A witness of the December 1978 flight success of Solar One was Derek Piggott. ARP noted to me today: "Derek Piggott who flew the SUMPAC HPA who I met at last years Icarus event and still flys gliders at at 90 years of age. He is a well known glider pilot having written a number of books on the subject and has done stunt flying for films such as the Blue Max, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines etc." And ARP gave a neat link to a video showing young Derek Piggott:
