Solar Riser

The world’s first official flight in a solar powered, man carrying aircraft took place on April 29, 1979. The Mauro Solar Riser was
built by Larry Mauro and
was based on the UFM Easy Riser biplane hang glider . The aircraft used photovoltaic cells that produced 350 watts at 30 volts, which charged a Hughes 500 helicopter battery, which in turn powered the electric motor. The aircraft was capable of powering the motor for 3 to 5 minutes, following a 1.5-hour charge, enabling it to reach a gliding altitude

Solar One

The Solar-Powered Aircraft Developments Solar One was
designed by David Williams under the direction of Freddie To, an architect and member of the Kremer prize
committee
and produced by Solar-Powered Aircraft
Developments.
A motor-glider type aircraft originally built as a pedal powered airplane
to attempt the Channel crossing, the airplane proved too heavy to be
successfully powered by human power and was then converted to solar power,
[14]
using
an electric motor driven by batteries that were charged before flight by a
solar cell array on the
wing.[15]
The
maiden flight of Solar One took place at Lasham Airfield; Hampshire on June
13, 1979, one day after Brian Allen had successfully pedalled the Gossamer
Albatross across the English
Channel.[16]
[edit
]Gossamer Penguin and Solar Challenger

The Gossamer Penguin , a
smaller version of the human powered Gossamer
Albatross was
completely solar powered. A second prototype, the Solar
Challenger,
flew 262 km (163 mi) from Paris to
England.[17]
On
7 July 1981, the aircraft, under solar-power, flew 163 miles from
Cormeilles-en-Vexin Airport near Paris
across
the English Channel to RAF
Manston near
London,
flying for 5:23. Designed by Dr. Paul
MacCready the
Solar Challenger set an altitude record of 14,300 feet.

Sunseeker

In 1990 the solar powered airplane *Sunseeker* successfully flew across the
USA, piloted by Eric Raymond
.[22] It used
a small battery charged by solar cells on the wing to drive a
propeller for
takeoff, and then flew on direct solar power and took advantage of soaring
conditions when
possible.[23]

The *Sunseeker II*, built in 2002, was updated in 2005-2006 with a more
powerful motor, larger wing, lithium battery packs and updated control
electronics.[24]As
of Dec, 2008 it was the only manned solar powered airplane in flying
condition and is operated regularly by Solar
Flight.[23]
In
2009 it became the first solar-powered aircraft to cross the
Alps,
99 years after the first crossing of the Alps by an aircraft.

…

Solar Impulse

Main article: Solar Impulse
Project

The first short-hop (350m) test flight of the Solar
Impulse prototype
was made on 3 December
2009.[33]

In its present configuration it has a wingspan of 210 ft (64 m), weighs
3,500 lb (1,588 kg) and is powered by four 10-horsepower (7 kW) electric
motors. The aircraft has over 11,000 solar cells on its wings and
horizontal stabilizer. Power from the solar cells is stored in lithium
polymer batteries and used to drive 3.5-metre (11 ft) propellers turning at
a speed of 200–400 rpm. Take-off speed is 19 knots (35 km/h) and cruising
speed is 60 kn (111
km/h).[34]
[35]

The aircraft had its first high flight on 7 April 2010, when it flew to an
altitude of 1,200 meters (3,937 feet) in a 1.5-hour flight on battery power
alone. The Solar Impulse team is planning to use the aircraft to
circumnavigate the globe in
2014.[36]

The aircraft first flew on purely solar power, charging its batteries in
flight, on 28 May
2010[37]

On 8 July 2010 it completed the first manned 24-hour flight completely
powered by solar
power.[38]
[39] [40]

On 5 June 2012, the Solar Impulse successfully completed an
intercontinental flight, the first-ever by a solar plane, flying a 19-hour
trip from Madrid , Spain, to
Rabat,
Morocco.

and what is your country?

Years later, in an interview to the AeroRevue, Bertrand Piccard, the father of SolarImpulse, had the cheek to announce that he was going to build the first manned solar aircraft…

Noticing that the first and still biggest sponsor of SolarImpulse is Deutsche Bank with its 20 million CHF contribution, the Swiss PlanetSolar boat just back from its world tour in Monaco comes to our mind with its sole sponsor, a German psychiatrist, who put 25 million euros on the table to save the project after it got stuck in Switzerland with no more home support than SolarImpulse — because there is a complete ban of PV in my country.

The underlying message of SolarImpulse is: “Ladies and Gentlemen, as you can see, if you want to fly solar, you need an aircraft of such huge dimensions that you’d better forget about the idea of ever flying your personal solar aircraft. By the way, Piccard himself never has, and never will, speak of SolarImpulse as an aircraft project, but only as a promotion platform for PV.

Like PV solar technology, ultralight motorized aircraft (ULMs) and helicopters are banned from my country which, together with North Korea, stands alone worldwide in maintaining prohibition of these aircraft of the future…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wing_configuration#Wing_planform