Stringfellow’s 1848 aeroplane
Discussion
I always looked on the Stringfellow project as a bit of a con - especially the promotion artwork that was used to try and elicit funding. Indeed, Stringfellow was like a 19th Century version of Elizabeth Holmes - making claims and promises wildly ahead of where the technology was at the time.
Eric Mc said:
Cayley is still the most likely.
Although I can't see why the ancient Egyptians couldn't have cobbled together some sort of hang glider.
Too busy building pyramids Although I can't see why the ancient Egyptians couldn't have cobbled together some sort of hang glider.
It's a novel thought that they might have had the materials to do it, but I don't think the ancients got further than the idea of gluing feathers to your arms like Icarus. I'm not sure they had the concept of 'air' as a thing.
Of course, Icarus is just a story.
The failure to build a man carrying winged device before the middle ages (the Chinese started using man carrying kites around that time) was as much down to a lack of imagination as much as a lack of knowledge.
Cayley based his wing design on that of a kite. As far as I know, it did not feature the camber associated with "proper" wings. I think Lillienthal was the first early pioneer to really appreciate that it was the shape of a bird's wing that gave lift - not the flapping. And that was in the 1880s/90s.
The failure to build a man carrying winged device before the middle ages (the Chinese started using man carrying kites around that time) was as much down to a lack of imagination as much as a lack of knowledge.
Cayley based his wing design on that of a kite. As far as I know, it did not feature the camber associated with "proper" wings. I think Lillienthal was the first early pioneer to really appreciate that it was the shape of a bird's wing that gave lift - not the flapping. And that was in the 1880s/90s.
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