More Paper Airplane History
for Easy Paper Airplanes
Did you know that some people believe that the first paper airplane was attributed to Leonardo Di Vinci? According to Cecil from The StraightDope.com Web site, Leonardo was given the honor of being the first to make a paper airplane. Is it true? Well, read on to make up your own mind about that!
“Credit for the first paper airplane is generally given to Leonardo da Vinci. This prompted Scientific American magazine to name the prize awarded in its 1967-68 paper airplane contest the Leonardo.
But while I do not want to take anything away from the ultimate Renaissance man, close examination suggests he may not deserve the honor.
Leonardo, or Len, as I like to think of him, was interested in flight and designed a parachute (square, perversely enough) and a primitive helicopter. (One of his model choppers, using feathers for rotors, is thought to have gotten airborne, although scoffers say it was simply based on a then-popular kid’s toy.)
He made reference in one of his notebooks to building a model airplane out of parchment, the paper of the day. There is a tradition, undoubtedly false, that he actually flew.
But it’s debatable whether Leonardo had any clue about airfoils, which of course are the heart and soul of paper airplanes and indeed of virtually all aircraft.
Paper airplane aficionados, no doubt hoping to drag in a big name and thus lend a cloak of respectability to their craft, say Leonardo did understand airfoils and so may legitimately be said to be the father of the fold-’em-and-fly-’em school of aeronautics.
But his notes and drawings make it pretty obvious that flying as he understood it, was a brute force proposition – the way you stayed aloft was by flapping your wings, forcing air down, and clawing your way into the sky.
This has little to do with the paper airplanes of today, whose charm lies in their ability to stay aloft simply by gliding, with minimal exertion on the part of the thrower.
One can argue that the true father of the paper airplane – at least the one true father of whom we have any detailed knowledge – was an English squire named George Cayley, who built Gliders around 1800.
Cayley constructed several of these from kites (linen rather than paper, but close enough) fastened to poles, which he flung like a javelin from a hillside near his home. After a little fine-tuning he found he could get up considerable distance, and a new form of recreation for sixth-grade recess was born.
Experimentalists by that time had a rough knowledge of airfoils, based in part on efforts to improve the efficiency of windmills. Cayley greatly expanded on this during his own research.
Later he wrote a detailed and fairly accurate treatise on aircraft design. It attracted little notice, but it’s not Cayley’s fault if he was surrounded by dopes.
As for who designed the classic paper “dart” (check out The ProFlier in this book) known to every school child – well, we don’t know for sure. We do know that in 1867 J.W. Butler and E. Edwards of Great Britain proposed a human-sized dart that was virtually identical in design to the modern paper variety. (The propellant was not to have been a giant hand, however, but rather a solid fuel.)
The plane was never built and it was a long time before practical delta-winged aircraft emerged. But some bored grade schooler either ripped off Butler-Edwards or had a remarkably similar inspiration, because the design has been the foundation of 90 percent of paper aircraft constructed since.”
- Cecil Adams
For more interesting facts and tidbits of paper airplane history, check out a few more of our other history pages.
More Paper Airplane History
Even More Paper Airplane History
Paper Airplane History Comments
More Paper Airplane History Comments
Want to learn how to make really easy paper airplanes? Sign up for my FREE
e-Newsletter and instantly download 10, (count 'em) TEN simple designs
TODAY. You'll soon be on your way to becoming a master paper airplane maker.
FREE
Easy-to-make
Paper Airplane Folds Right Here!Sign up for a Free e-Newsletter
all about Kids Crafts, Paper Airplanes and
fun things for kids to do and
instantly download a free ebook of
10 paper airplane folds!Service provided by
AWeber Communications
Privacy PolicySigning in with your email address gives us permission to send you a newsletter all about Paper Arts. It's full of great information about kids' crafts, games for kids and families, and fun activiies that teachers could use in the classroom.
For more resources for paper airplanes and great ideas for kids, check out these blogs and Web sites:
Interested in learning more about crafts for kids? Check out this blog:
Kids Crafts blogWould you like up-to-date info on paper airplanes? Then visit this blog:
Easy Paper Airplanes blogYou like food don't you? And I bet you like appetizers. Here's the perfect blog for you: Easy Appetizer Recipes blog
Is your child interested in collecting coins? Or at least learning how to do it? Here's a wonderful Web site called Easy Coin Collecting. Not only will your child have fun starting a coin collection, you might enjoy it too!
Want to know how Blogging got started? I did a little research for you...on the history of blogs.
Did you know there are all kinds of games you can play with paper airplanes? You can have a paper airplane birthday party or just a fun activity for the kids in the neighborhood.
Check out our page for having a Paper Airplane birthday party for your child. Loads of fun for every kid and every adult!
Web
www.easy-paper-airplanes.com
|
Looking for more books on paper airplanes? Or anything else that you might want to read up on? Simple, just type in your query in the Amazon.com box below. How easy is that?
Easy Paper Airplanes - For You and Your Kids!