Thus spake "David Mitchell" 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.