Eggs-treme sports: Men dressed as chickens break world record with homemade flying machine at Red Bull Flugtags US

The Chicken Whisperers won this year's Red Bull Flugtags in the US and earned themselves a place in the record books

A team in America have winged their way into the record books after their homemade contraption flew the furthest at the US Red Bull Flugtags.

The Chicken Whisperers set a new record when their flying machine glided 258ft over a stretch of water in Long Beach, California, beating the previous record of 228ft.

The Californian five-man team made up of aerospace and mechanical engineers were also crowned the winners of the competition.

This year 28 teams took part in the contest which involves people trying to fly man-made contraptions off a 30ft dock. The machines are judged not only on how far they can fly but also on their design and pre-flight entertainment from each team.

Whilst most machines plunge straight off the edge of the dock, The Chicken Whisperers' machine gracefully flew the distance before making a soft landing in the water.

It would appear that flugtags are no laughing matter with teams spending months crafting and perfecting their devices before flight day. All flying contraptions must be homemade, human-powered, less than 28ft wide and weigh around 181kgs.

Hundreds of thousands of spectators turned up to the event which took place over the weekend. The US flugtags were held in various locations across America, including Washington DC, Miami, Chicago, Dallas and California.

The Flugtag - German for 'flight day' - began in 1992 and has been attracting thousands of people across the world ever since.