Timeline for Can a medieval gyroplane be built?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
12 events
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| Mar 20, 2019 at 12:11 | history | edited | Graham | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Mar 20, 2019 at 11:58 | comment | added | Graham | @dot_Sp0T Bit of a shortage of successful steam-aeroplanes though! It also needs the engineering precision which was only available after development of the ICE, so the only steam-aeroplanes which actually sustained flight were built when the ICE was already a better solution. But you're right that some have existed, so I should improve the answer. | |
| Mar 19, 2019 at 20:35 | comment | added | dot_Sp0T | You might want to rework your claim on ICEs being the only thing powerful enough to make planes fly. There's been plenty of steam-airplanes, and at least one famous case of sustained flight in 1933: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_aircraft | |
| Mar 19, 2019 at 0:34 | comment | added | Graham | @Firemorfox Thanks. I still don't see it being very useful for the OP's scenario - a balloon would work much better, and wouldn't have the same problems of stalling and crashing. (Only at the speed a balloon usually impacts on landing, anyway. :) But if the OP wants options, it's a possibility. Hang-gliders take off at anything between 15mph and 25mph depending on the design, so horses should be able to manage that if there's a half-mile of flat surface. | |
| Mar 19, 2019 at 0:29 | comment | added | Graham | @ZeissIkon Also sailplanes weren't intended to train pilots for powered flight. The issue in the 20s was that Germany simply wasn't allowed aeroplanes, so civilians flew gliders because there was no alternative aviation. There are radical differences between powered and unpowered flight, which is why you train for your PPL on a powered aircraft and not a sailplane. | |
| Mar 19, 2019 at 0:20 | comment | added | Graham | @ZeissIkon That isn't really true. The difference is that hang-gliders are defined as being foot-launched, not something you sit in. Hang-gliders with control surfaces weren't widespread until the 1990s with the Swift. It took another 10 years before there were enough in the UK for there to be enough to consider including them in competitions. Weight shift hang-gliders are still very much the majority. | |
| Mar 18, 2019 at 23:25 | comment | added | Firemorfox | Very interesting idea with the fast horses replacing a car for the lift there. +1 for creativity. | |
| Mar 18, 2019 at 11:40 | comment | added | Zeiss Ikon | The main differences between a 1920s vintage German "primary glider" and a 1970s hang glider (or Lillienthal's versions, for that matter) is that the early hang gliders used weight shift for control, while primary gliders, built to train pilots for power airplanes, used conventional control surfaces. Of course, hang gliders used those too, after they'd advanced a little. | |
| Mar 18, 2019 at 9:07 | history | edited | Graham | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
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| Mar 18, 2019 at 8:54 | comment | added | Graham | @vsz For sailplanes, yes. The OP asked about hang-gliders though. | |
| Mar 18, 2019 at 5:28 | comment | added | vsz | 1970s is quite late. There was already a very active and professional gliding community even in the late 40s. | |
| Mar 18, 2019 at 0:06 | history | answered | Graham | CC BY-SA 4.0 |