Patent ID: 8113459

Claim:
An aircraft comprising an elongated framework provided with propelling means and direction-control planes and anchored to a wing-contoured member, wherein said wing-contoured member consists of: a pneumatic chamber made of a flexible sheet and filled with a pressurized, lighter-than-air gas to assume a self-sustaining configuration consisting of two tubular branches joined to form a V-shaped profile, an aerodynamic-lift surface with an upper sail and a lower sail, both said upper sail and said lower sail extending between the tubular branches of the chamber and shaped to match the inner profile of the tubular branches from the vertex of the V-shaped profile to a delivery edge defined between the diverging ends of the tubular branches, said upper sail and said lower sail being arranged mutually distally at the vertex of the V-shaped profile and said upper sail and said lower sail mutually converging progressively from said vertex of the V-shaped profile to mutually meet into said delivery edge, and two pneumatic balloons housed at respective opposite ends of the tubular branches, whereby a self trim effect of pitch down is obtained at high altitude, which is suitable for high speed flight, as well as of pitch UP at low altitude, which is suitable for landing attitude, said pneumatic balloons being air-filled and connected to a normally closed valve leading to the atmosphere and in pressure equilibrium with the pneumatic chamber, whereby opening the valve during ascent bleeds the balloons to reduce the volume thereof, and said pneumatic balloons being also connected to an air pump operable to feed air from the atmosphere into the balloons to increase the volume of the balloons during descent.