Since the very beginning, man has dreamt of flying. It is no surprise that mythologies the world around are full of stories of flying men, demons and machines. This longing for flying is even reflected in the comic books of yesteryears, where almost every superhero possesses the ability to fly.
This dream is now slowly turning into reality and how! Richard Browning, a British entrepreneur, not only invented a real-life Iron Man suit to fly but actually broke the Guinness World Record for speed along the way.
This dramatic event took place at Lagoona Park, Reading, England. Browning donned his flying suit that he has named Daedalus. It basically consists of a specially designed exoskeleton, and four arm-mounted and two hip-mounted gas turbine engines.
With the Guinness World Record adjudicator looking on, off zoomed Browning over the lake in his flying suit. However, he mistimed a turn and dropped into the lake in his first attempt. Something went wrong the second time too. But, it was his third attempt that fetched him the laurels.
He rocketed over the lake like Superman and clocked an impressive 32.02 miles per hour (51.53 kilometres per hour). This was enough for him to bag the Guinness World Records title for the fastest speed in a body-controlled jet engine power suit. Not only did he break the Guinness record, but also created a new Guinness Record category, being the first one to figure in it.
Browning’s company, Gravity, raised hundreds of thousands of pounds to develop Daedalus and is raising another $650,000 (£500,000) of funding. Being the first to create this flying suit, Gravity is intent on making it for commercial use and is developing protocols in line with the Civil Aviation Authority.
Browning is upbeat that he will eventually manage to fly at an unbelievable speed of 700 miles per hour (1,100 kilometres per hour) at an altitude of thousands of feet.
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More Info: Guinness World Records
