Even More Paper Airplane History
for Easy Paper Airplanes
A point of view...
The history of paper airplanes probably goes back to the first pages of papyrus which were thrown at the trash can. The first flying devices to use paper were kites in China about 2000 years ago.
Early hot air balloons, such as the first balloons made by the Montgofier Brothers in France in the late 1700s, also used paper in their construction. Their early model balloons were all paper, and their first human-carrying balloons of 1783 were cloth lined with paper.
The origin of paper airplanes is somewhat a mystery. The earliest reference to paper airplanes known is that Jack Northrop used paper airplanes in the 1930s to help in his ideas for flying wing airplanes. In a sense, those paper airplanes helped shape a corporation and lead to the B-2 stealth bomber. I have also had email from people who remembered making paper airplanes in their youth 60 years ago. Apparently paper airplanes were common then, so paper airplanes could likely have even inspired the Wright Brothers.
More interesting ideas...
A brief history of paper models by Philip Koopman, Sr.
Paper models of all types are popular in many countries. Called Paper-Card Modeling in Europe, it spans the range from simple folded-paper darts, to complex three-dimensional models of airplanes, ships and buildings.
During WWII, all materials were in short supply. Those that were available had restricted use. Obviously, toys were at the bottom of the list. These restrictions ruled out metal toys – wood and paper were about all that was available. The U.S. toymakers switched to toys and games that used paper and other nonstrategic materials. Even here, shortages of printing ink lead to some rather bizarre-colored paper models.
One style of paper-model construction used was developed by Wallis Rigby, an Englishman, who had moved his company to the U.S. in the late 1930s. Rigby was internationally know for his paper models of airplanes, boats and trains prior to WWII. These books featured Tab-and-Slot construction. He is generally credited with this method of paper-model construction.
Rigby’s realistic models gained much publicity during WWII. The wartime demand for toys had to be met with nonstrategic materials. Paper models filled the void. Rigby's models were published as individual books and boxed sets. And, individual aircraft models, like the Douglas Dauntless, were published in newspapers as part of the colored Sunday Comic Section. This product popularity even led to Newsreel coverage of Rigby, showing the steps used to design, build and fly one of his paper-model airplanes.
Cereal makers, too, felt the material-shortage pinch for premiums. Simplified paper-airplane models, similar to those of Rigby, were used as cereal premiums for General Mills in 1944. Mail in two box tops from Wheaties cereal and you received a pair of paper airplanes. General Mills gave away thousands of these models as part of a nation-wide contest. Backing this was a publicity campaign, showing Veterans in hospitals building the models. A contest held at Nebraska’s Boy’s Town garnered national Newsreel coverage, too. In all, paper-airplane models gave thousands of kids and adults their first try at model building.
After the end of WWII, material restrictions lifted and toy companies returned to making toys and models of metal, balsa wood and even some of the new plastics. Paper models rapidly disappeared from the U.S. Market. The now-common plastic models replaced the paper airplanes. Only a few publishers continued to print paper models.
Find out more at www.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/airplanes/history.htm.
For more interesting facts and tidbits of paper airplane history, check out a few more of our other history pages.
Even More Paper Airplane History
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