Ornithopter contributor to the creative work or subject Alexander Lippisch
E. P. Frost made ornithopters starting in the 1870s; first models were powered by steam engines, then in the 1900s, an internal-combustion craft large enough for a person was built, though it did not fly.In the 1930s, Alexander Lippisch and the National Socialist Flyers Corps of Nazi Germany constructed and successfully flew a series of internal combustion-powered ornithopters, using Hargrave's concept of small flapping wings, but with aerodynamic improvements resulting from the methodical study.
Erich von Holst, also working in the 1930s, achieved great efficiency and realism in his work with ornithopters powered by rubber bands. He achieved perhaps the first success of an ornithopter with a bending wing, intended to imitate more closely the folding wing action of birds, although it was not a true variable-span wing-like those of birds.Around 1960, Percival Spencer successfully flew a series of uncrewed ornithopters using internal combustion engines ranging from 0.020-to-0.80-cubic-inch (0.33 to 13.11 cm3) displacement, and having wingspans up to 8 feet (2.4 m). In 1961, Percival Spencer and Jack Stephenson flew the first successful engine-powered, remotely piloted ornithopter, known as the Spencer Orniplane. The Orniplane had a 90.7-inch (2,300 mm) wingspan, weighed 7.5 pounds (3.4 kg), and was powered by a 0.35-cubic-inch (5.7 cm3)-displacement two-stroke engine. It had a biplane configuration, to reduce oscillation of the fuselage.
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