Fire Destroys Hangar, 6 Planes
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SHAFTER, Calif. — Fire leveled the main hangar and destroyed six planes Friday at Shafter Airport, the site of man’s first human-powered flight more than a decade ago.
The planes, including one antique, were worth an estimated $2 million, Kern County Fire Capt. Geoff Willford said. The dollar amount of damage to the hangar itself had not been determined.
Shafter Airport, surrounded by farms in the fertile San Joaquin Valley 125 miles north of Los Angeles, was the scene in 1977 of the first successful attempt to fly a human-powered plane around a mile-long figure eight course.
The pedal-powered plane, dubbed the Gossamer Condor, was designed by Paul McCready of Pasadena and piloted by Bryan Allen of Tulare. Their effort won an $87,500 prize from the Royal Aeronautical Society of London.
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