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In 1942, the Pratt-Read Piano Company was awarded a contract to build 100 two-place training gliders for the U.S. Navy. The glider was designated LNE-1 by the Navy and PR-G1 by the company. Despite initial manufacturing difficulties, PR-G1 was a robust glider, comprised of a fabric-covered steel tube fuselage and exquisitely crafted wooden wings and tail. It incorporated a unique side-by-side seating arrangement, which facilitated flight instruction.
The PR-G1s were sold as surplus after World War II, and in the early 1950s two of them were acquired for a daring investigation of high-altitude weather and mountain lee waves called the Sierra Wave Project, based near the Sierra Nevada mountains in Bishop, California. The inherent strength of the Pratt-Read made it an ideal platform in the high winds and extreme turbulence encountered in the program. In 1952, project pilots Larry Edgar and Harold Klieforth soared to 44,255 feet in a PR-G1, setting a new world altitude record for two-place gliders. The record endured for an incredible 54 years, until Steve Fossett and Einar Enevoldson flew over the Argentinean Andes to 50,727 feet in their modified DG-500, the Perlan I glider.
The Museum's Pratt-Read was accepted by the U.S. Navy on January 11, 1943 and then surplused in 1946. An early private owner was Dr. Paul MacReady, who became well-known for human-powered aircraft designs such as the Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross. It had several other private owners in the late 1940s and early 1950s. By 1953, it was owned by the South Jersey Soaring Society at Millville Airport, New Jersey. In 1972, it was sold to the Alaska Soaring Association (ASA) of Fairbanks, Alaska. By the mid-1990s, the aircraft was no longer listed in the FAA registry.
The Museum acquired the aircraft from the ASA in 1998. It is now painted to represent the U.S. Navy LNE-1 variant.
In 1942, the Pratt-Read Piano Company was awarded a contract to build 100 two-place training gliders for the U.S. Navy. The glider was designated LNE-1 by the Navy and PR-G1 by the company. Despite initial manufacturing difficulties, PR-G1 was a robust glider, comprised of a fabric-covered steel tube fuselage and exquisitely crafted wooden wings and tail. It incorporated a unique side-by-side seating arrangement, which facilitated flight instruction.
The PR-G1s were sold as surplus after World War II, and in the early 1950s two of them were acquired for a daring investigation of high-altitude weather and mountain lee waves called the Sierra Wave Project, based near the Sierra Nevada mountains in Bishop, California. The inherent strength of the Pratt-Read made it an ideal platform in the high winds and extreme turbulence encountered in the program. In 1952, project pilots Larry Edgar and Harold Klieforth soared to 44,255 feet in a PR-G1, setting a new world altitude record for two-place gliders. The record endured for an incredible 54 years, until Steve Fossett and Einar Enevoldson flew over the Argentinean Andes to 50,727 feet in their modified DG-500, the Perlan I glider.
The Museum's Pratt-Read was accepted by the U.S. Navy on January 11, 1943 and then surplused in 1946. An early private owner was Dr. Paul MacReady, who became well-known for human-powered aircraft designs such as the Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross. It had several other private owners in the late 1940s and early 1950s. By 1953, it was owned by the South Jersey Soaring Society at Millville Airport, New Jersey. In 1972, it was sold to the Alaska Soaring Association (ASA) of Fairbanks, Alaska. By the mid-1990s, the aircraft was no longer listed in the FAA registry.
The Museum acquired the aircraft from the ASA in 1998. It is now painted to represent the U.S. Navy LNE-1 variant.
Side Gallery / Tower
