Meeting Abstract

34.6  Jan. 5  Mechanical and Bird Flight. LANDRY, S.O.; State University of New York, Binghamton slandry@binghamton.edu

The fathers of heavier than air flight from Leonardo Da Vinci down to the Wright Brothers gained many of their insights from observing the flight of birds. Is it possible that students of the evolution of flight, in return, might gain some valuable insights from the history of the development of aircraft? Air pioneers can be divided into two types: those primarily interested in perfection of airfoils, and those interested in means of powering flight, usually trying more powerful engines on the same airfoil. It turns out that airfoil is the key to flight. In airplanes it explains the action of the propeller as well as that of the wing. In bird flight, thrust is obtained, not by �rowing through the air� but by adjusting the angle of action of the airfoil of the outer wing. There is a correspondence bewteen the two types of aviation pioneers and the two approaches to the development of bird flight. The airfoil development aviators correspond to the �tree-down� theorists of flight development (both concerned with airfoils) while the aviation theorists concerned with motors, correspond with �ground up� bird flight supporters (both concerned with power.)