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Swindon Wide
Ambitious flight suit project has taken off like a rocket
Wiltshire’s Iron Man: Richard Browning prepares for lift off enthusiasts.
The innovative design was a process of trial and error and cruising at an altitude of a few
SE June 2017 Master Pages.indd
The dream of flying around thousand feet with a current flight
like a superhero has taken duration of around ten minutes.
Although Richard wears fire-
a giant leap forward - proof protective gear and tough
thanks to the single minded rattlesnake-proof boots that he
vision of an inventor from sourced from the US, he was
Wiltshire. surprised that being in such
Richard Browning, 38, has stunned proximity to the four small jets he
audiences around the world directs with his hands was entirely
after posting incredible footage painless.
of himself hovering above the “Given that you are looking
ground and manoeuvring around a at temperatures of 700 degrees
farmyard in a jet-powered Iron Man centigrade from the exhaust,
style flight suit. it’s remarkable that you don’t
And now he has been showcasing get burned. But the heat very
his startling invention around the quickly dissipates in the air - the
world. technology works.”
Former City oil trader Richard The project is being taken forward
explained: “I’m a believer in the under a startup company Gravity
genuine spirit of how innovation which has had huge interest
takes place. For me it is all about from commercial and military
spending less time arguing about representatives. The firm has had
whether something is possible and a lot of interest from investors,
more on working out how to make including a recent investment
something work.” of £600,000 from Tim Draper, an
Richard, who lives in Salisbury, American venture capitalist.
explained that his idea - dubbed the No stranger to danger, the Royal
Daedalus suit by his eight year old Marine Reservist threw himself
son Thomas - grew out of a series into getting into shape to meet the
of conversations with like-minded demands of human-guided flight
by embarking on a gruelling regime
He said that the exoskeleton suit of physical training alongside
had been developed over the past developing the design of the
couple of years in a careful step- Daedalus flight suit.
by-step evolution, with a series of “People ask me what’s the point
increasingly ambitious test flights in - and I reply that I’ve done this
a farm in Wiltshire. for exactly the same reason that
“We started out with just one you might look at a mountain and
thruster. I initially wanted to see decide to climb it. After all, what’s
if it was possible to stand there the point of a jet ski? There isn’t
and hold the thruster. Some people one, but they are great fun. I’m
said that it would be incredibly doing this for the journey and the
dangerous but it was absolutely challenge.”
fine, no shredded arms, no burns - it Most children think their dad is
was then that I knew we were onto a superhero, but for Richard’s two
something.” sons, Thomas, 8, and Oliver 10, their
Although safety is at the forefront claim is closer to the truth than
of his flight demonstrations, the most. When Oliver was asked what
suit is capable of flying at 200 mph he thinks about his dad, he just had
one word “Awesome”.
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