Thus spake "David Mitchell" <davidmitchell...@btinternet.com> on 7/17/15 12:43 AM:
>I'm interested because I recall a conversation with David Lister about >this >subject in which he told me he could find no evidence that paper planes >pre-dated similar constructions of wood and cloth ... though it would, of >course, be nice to think they did! Speaking of David Lister and paper airplanes, here's what he had to say on this topic on the BOSmail list back in 2007. ----- Moniica Cortada asked yesterday if there was any evidence of paper airplanes before real airplanes. The first persons to achieve sustained powered flight were the Wright Brothers in December, 1903 and this is perhaps the crucial date that Monica is thinking of. However, The Wright bothers we preceded with very many earlier heavier than air machines. (see the Wikipedia article; "List of Early Flying Machines", which includes balloons, parachutes, rockets, kites and other contraptions). But the most effective heavier-than-air machines were first, unmanned, and later, manned gliders, some of which flew several hundred yards. The most famous example was by Sir George Cayley, who persuaded his coachman to tryout an unpowered manned glider that he had designed. This was in 1853. The glider flew about 200 yards before crashing, whereupon the terrified coachman promptly resigned, saying it wasn't part of his contract as a coachman to fly. Perhaps we should take Sir Richard's flight as the first successful one by a heavier-than-sr machine. There is also a paper helicopter known long before 1903. Leonardo certainly experimented with paper aircaft, but how much success he had with gliders is uncertain. Towards the end of the 19th century gliders were becoming quite common and there were attempts to apply power to them. However, the engines which were available were always too heavy until the Wright brothers tried a light internal combustion engine. They and also devised a system of twisting or "warping" the wings to give better control over flight. These innovations and an enormous amount of trial and experience with gliders brought them success. When I read Monica's posting, I immediately thought that the best candidate must be the paper dart. This was undoubtedly known in the 19th century and appears in English in Cassell's Book of Indoor Amusements of 1881 and probably in other books. I also thought of the paper glider or swallow. The way it is folded is shown, for example, in Robert Harbin's "Paper Magic" (1966) on page 72. But there are many variant forms of the glider. Iit is a well-known and greatly loved model which appears in many books in the early 20th century. It is made from a waterbomb base with a slip of paper for a tail. There are, however, several different varieties of this model. The best-known is folded with rabbit ears which make a point. This is one of those magical folds of traditional Paperfolding. When I looked for the earliest date of the glider, however, to my surprise, I couldn't find any instructions for it dating from before the Wright Brothers' flight of 1903. It is not, for instance in Cassell's Book of Indoor Amusements (1881), nor is it in the Book of Indoor Games by J.K.Benson, dated 1904. (This was the book from which Alfred Bestall learnt much of his folding.) Nor can I think of any appearance in books produced by the German Kindergarten movement, although I confess that have not yet had time to comb through the Froebelian literature. Very soon after 1903, publications for boys frequently included crude "flying machines" (although I cannot at present think of one). By the 1920s, after the Great War (when aeroplanes rapidly developed and became generally familiar) many books in English and German contain the glider. An example is in W. J. Blythe's "Paper Magic" of 1920, where it is called a Flying Aeroplane Clearly, there is lakmentable gap in my knowledge and I must find time to research both the paper dart and the glider. I am surprised that I haven't done this before! In his posting on the topic, David Petty suggests that Joan Sallas should be consulted. I wholly concur with this. I met Joan at the German Convention at Bonn three weeks ago and he presented an exhibition of Froebelian "Folds of Beauty" which he had collected from kindergarten books. He also showed me a scrapbook of "Folds of Life" which had also extracted from Froebelian books. Folds of Life, in Froebelian language are what we know as traditional children's models. I am not, myself, unfamiliar with Froebelian books, but I was surprised how many Folds of Life Joan had collected. He says they will be his next subject of study. So if anyone has found an early publciation of the glider, It will be Joan. I don't know whether he is subscribed to BOSmail, so I don't know whether he will be reading this. I know he is subscribed to Origami-L. I will write to Joan to see what he has found. He has built up an outstanding about paperfolding and has found that German books are more prolific than those in any other language. Indeed, it t is beginning to become apparent that Germany was the main centre of paperfolding in Europe. The history of paperfolding in Europe is having to be radically rewritten. I will search my own records snd also write to Joan Sallas. I will write another posting to BOS mail as soon as I have been able to discover more information. Meanwhile, we can certainly say that the Paper Dart preceded the Wright Brothers' flight of December 1903. But whether that counts as an "airplane" (or "aeroplane" as we usually have it in Britain) is a matter of opinion. A discovery of an early publication of the Glider may still clinch the matter. -----
