The flight of birds was observed by man for thousands
of years. For instance, Leonardo da Vinci was inspired by such observations to
evolve an "Ornithopter" (a mechanical device with swinging wings), which was
thought out quite well and might have been able to fly. The ideas around a
"Swinging Wing" were re-discorved again and tested during the early 20th
Century, when the art of powered flight was
developed.
One of the advocates of the Ornithopter was the
famous design engineer Dr. Alexander Lippisch (* 02.11.1894 in Munich, +
11.02.1976 at Cedar Rapids, Iowa), who presented his "Motorlibelle" (Motor
Dragonfly) to the public in 1938. It was a model of a glider monoplane with gull
wings and two bird-like pinions at the forward fuselage, which replaced the
airscrew. A Kratmo 4 ccm petrol engine provided the power for 280 up and down
movements of the pinions per minute. During flights in five meaters of height, a
duration four minutes were achieved. When started down hill, the model even flew
in 50 m of height for sixteen minutes, athough - according to eye witnesses-,
there were no thermal effects at this occasion.
Performance data were considered outstanding then.
The start of WW II stopped all further
developments.
Our model kit shows a hypothetical further
development into a piloted machine. It is likely that Dr. Lippisch would have
used an existing plane (Focke Wulf Fw 56 "Stösser") as a development and
modification basis. It remains unknown if the regular Argus As 10 C engine (8
cylinder aircooled Vee-engine, 200 hp, more than 28,000 built) would have had a
sufficient power output. Probably, the plane might have proved to be
underpowered.
After WW II the idea of an "Ornthopter" was picked up
in Germany again, but all tests showed quite unsatisfactory results and the idea
was dropped quietly. Since 2011 there are concepts for "Ornithopers" in Germany
and the US of A once again, which are deemed more
promising.