Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research Volume 21 Number 1 JAAER Fall 2011 Article 8 Fall 2011 Tracing the History of the Ornithopter: Past, Present, and Future Benjamin J. Goodheart Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.erau.edu/jaaer Scholarly Commons Citation Goodheart, B. J. (2011). Tracing the History of the Ornithopter: Past, Present, and Future. Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research, 21(1). https://doi.org/10.15394/jaaer.2011.1344 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Goodheart: Tracing the History of the Ornithopter: Past, Present, and Future Ornithopter TRACING THE HISTORY OF THE ORNITHOPTER: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE Benjamin J. Goodheart Since the earliest recorded history, humans have shared a nearly universal desire for the freedom of flight. This obsession with escaping gravity's unblinking gaze to somehow slip aloft, even for a fleeting moment, has inspired many to wax poetic about the dream of flight. Looking to nature's design, man for years attempted to replicate the flight of the bird, and even its predecessor, the pteranodon, in many a bid to break free of his earthly bonds. Though science eventually shifted its focus to balloons, and then to fixed-wing flight, as a means of sustaining flight, the freedom and effortless grace of birds is as captivating now as it ever was. From the earliest days of man's dreams of launching himself skyward to today's advanced designs, flapping-wing craft, known generally as ornithopters, have held a constant place in the quest to achieve the flowing elegance of flight so easily mastered by nature's own aeronauts. In the past several years, aircraft which capitalize on the mechanics of bird flight have enjoyed a renaissance of sorts. From the recent first flight of a human-powered ornithopter, to flapping-wing designs incorporated in nano-scale unmanned vehicles, aviation design has in many ways come full circle. This paper examines the history of, and influences on, ornithopters and their design, and investigates developments and future trends of this uniquely inspired aircraft. A Storied History with a fate similar to his monastic predecessor when he too Infancy leapt fiom a tower to fly across the river Seine. His attempt The earliest of those to experiment with flapping wing fell short, and he had only covered half the distance across devices are often referred to by aviation historians as "tower the water when he fell to a passing boat below. jumpers" (Brady, 2000). In keeping with their title, these As early as the thirteenth century, the scientifically inclined aspiring aviators typically followed the approach of the Franciscan monk Roger Bacon suggested a flying machine mythical Daedalus, often building a set of wings from actual that was propelled by "artificial wings to beat the air," feathers. Though records of attempts to fly in this manner offering what is likely the first written record of an exist as early as A.D. 60, perhaps the first attempt to be met ornithopter (Wegener, 1997, p. 9). Bacon was probably the with some success was that of Eilmer, a Benedictine monk first to formally breach the subject of ornithopter flight; and who was seriously injured after gliding about 200 yards little else exists in the literature until around 1486, when fiom the tower of Malrnesbury Abbey in 1060 (Alexander, Leonardo da Vinci, the Florentine scientist and painter, 2009). Many years later, the art of flight had not advanced sketched in his notebook a device (Figure 1) designed to be appreciably, as in 1742, the Marquis de Bacqueville met powered by a man (Anderson, 1997). JAAER, Fall 201 1 Page 3 1 Published by Scholarly Commons, 2011 31 Journal of Aviation/Aerospace Education & Research, Vol. 21, No. 1 [2011], Art. 8 hVinci's idms set him apart hmhis mmsmmin that- iinve%tigationsofa flapping wing flying mechine, mPhm thaa t,simp1y $mmIng a set of wing$ $0s ma^% sms, I)mtX@pmeattfn fa[lind@e~tkC~tllafxuq they called for a rna~hinethat would csqy a msn whik Apart fkm a few ill-cajnceivcd and unsuccessfhf attempts at eecientiy harnessing his pawer, Da Vinoi's variety of flight, progrells in aviation remdncd hrge!y qtagnant stker omithoper d~i~af4~call& fi s piftng eithm pneor sondirtg da VSnsi until the hgi~niapoF the & 9t k centQy (Rcrget, tznd opmting the fi;%ppingwilags hy aItemately pushin? rrr 191 11- 'Thotrgh rbe popular image a flying macfiinr: pulfing c;rt several Icver5. fn each of his $k;katlhes, the pilot remained deeply ratoted in the flapping wing clecigns w;ls to provide the mofivc wwer hy which the machine e~emptifiedby da Vinci, m;my in avistictn were distri~cted tvrjxi td setsieve f ift ar we1 t as propufsive energ fhders~)~, by Ehe enthusinsrra fbr bdflocnning that had ~nkenhold by the 19971. His desi3ns eves included a tmnsmission of $ofis t~ end atf the 1700.; (hndersrjn, 2002). hr a loss For a pri~cti~~lt coavePt a rowing motion into a vertical flapping movement means ui' gnc;mting propul~iveEi~rcc in hei4vier-thiffs-~i~ (Atexnnder, 20081, In ndditio~tto his dmaving oP flying cra41, halklctns provideti a simpler mcsns hy which the bitnd machines? dit Vinci alsn sketched ala elabawte devise of gravity could he overcnmt;, RikIlacms, howcver, avhcrehy an ornithr~pt~.wkg coufdbe tested. The aprator ct~ntribt~tediirtfe $0 the development OF hcavicr-than-$fir was to stand OR one pan of a scaIe, bafaaced hy weights, sad flight, and pmhahty delsyed advanecmcnt cta'lhe airpiane ac nap the wing. The resulting imbaIancc caused by the wing'^ well as the atnjrhoptrr (t%nderstjn,1 U93, lift ::voxsId catgse the asseigltt& part to fower fhnder%an, f3aflc,ons did irrspir~:Sir Cier~rgeCity fey, whose irrte~estin f 9Q'7"9fThe thnti8hrkI nattlre wit% which da Vinci pta~-sued flight was piqued by the invent ion of the hot air helloen by his st~udyorRight was Sinftherrevea:aIedin his examination of the %ontgolf:en. After concitfrting some experimentatirjn retrac&bfe landing gar and hinged valves by which nit avifh flying heQjcoptermodels, Caylcy shiAad his Ibcus tt) worr'ld flow eeefy through the wings dugng the t~pward fixed-wirrg designs (1.3,r&<iy,ZttOQ). In 1790, CsySy eectwrl stroke (Andesen, 2;flfE). '%ough da Vinci's drawings ROW his ideas on ona siiver disc, ctcarfydepicting for the first time seem ct719tm-y to modern scientific knowledge ahnut the an si~plallewith separate sources of li-ff and thrust, as aaieI1 mechanic5 offlight, tkey represent the fi~tserious, Iagicai n.: a tail that fo~eshad<twccdths cfccign used in nwst mcsdern https://commons.erau.edu/jaaer/vol21/iss1/8 DOI: https://doi.org/10.15394/jaaer.2011.1344 32 Goodheart: Tracing the History of the Ornithopter: Past, Present, and Future Ornithopter aircraft (Anderson, 1997). Cayley's research led him to ornithopters in the first half of the 19" century (Alexander, believe that many experimenters had been pursuing flight in 2009). By mid-century, ornithopter design had become ways unsupported by science. Writing on the subject, significantly more complex but not more successful. Jean- Cayley issued the following prophetic words that were to Marie le Bris, a French sea captain, built two ornithopters predict the future of aviation, and signal the eventual demise between 1855 and 1868. The sophisticated craft had boat of the ornithopter, and especially the human-powered like fuselages and large flannel-covered wings which were ornithopter, as the primary design on which aircraft were to flapped by a pilot through a series of levers and pulleys. be modeled: Neither of the machines flew, and both were eventually The idea of attaching wings to the arms of a man is damaged in crashes while being towed by horses in attempts ridiculous enough, as the pectoral muscles of a bird to gain the forward speed necessary for flight (Alexander, occupy more than two thirds of its whole muscular 2009). Looking to da Vinci's drawings for inspiration, strength whereas in man, the muscles that could Belgian Vincent de Groof built an ornithopter that operate upon the wings thus attached, would resembled some of da Vinci's designs, with the operator probably not exceed one tenth of the whole mass. standing below a set of flapping wings and pulling levers to There is no proof that, weight for weight a man is provide power to the machine. Unable to convince comparatively weaker than a bird; it is therefore authorities on the continent to let him attempt a flight there, probable, if he can be made to exert his whole he took the machine to England in 1874. Once there, he had strength advantageously upon a light surface the machine carried aloft by a balloon. When he cut the rope similarly proportioned to his weight as that of the tethering him to the balloon, the machine broke, and he fell wing to the bird, that he would fly like a bird .. I to his death. Another Belgian followed in de Groof s feel perfectly confident, however, that this noble footsteps, though with somewhat greater success. Adhemar art will soon be brought home to man's general de la Hault, an engineer by trade, built a complicated convenience, and that we shall be able to transport machine to imitate the flight of birds. It was well-researched ourselves and our families, and their goods and and widely admired for its mechanical ingenuity (Berget, chattels, more securely by air than by water, and 1911).