Paul V. Cochrane
This book came about a result of a contest begun by
Scientific American’s
advertisement which appeared in
The New York Times
on December 11, 1966, which called for entries to the “1st International Paper Airplane Competition”. This goes into the history of the competition, and presents the entire affair in a witty manner. Included in this book are the plans and photographs of the “winner models”. There are winners in various categories, longest time in the air, origami, aerobatics, and distance winners, to name just a few.
Of what use will it be in the classroom? Aside from the inherent beauty of the photographs and designs, the students will get practice in following directions, and seeing some “impossible” models really fly. This will have a lot of social interaction, and “hands on activity”, in a “make it take it home” setting. Too many of today’s toys are all done in a plastic and are labeled with the words “no assembly required”. I will push for manual dexterity and reading skills to be sharpened. I will also try to foster some good old fashion competition among the students. Too many sit back for fear that they will be “stuck out” and “disrespected” by their peers and elders.
This first try at the paper airplane is designed to get the students involved. Its to be a “hook” to pull them in to doing things on their own. All lessons will be checked in the “book”, we are not here to waste time, all must participate. I will also do my best to expose the students to the rich humor of this book. I will read some of the contest letters to them including the one which is totally written in Japanese. I do have two favorite models which we as a class will do, they are #18, picked for its “far out” design and #8, which cries out “come fly me”.
(figure available in print form)
The Paper Air Force
In
The Great International Paper Airplane Book
there was no space given to the technical side of planes or flight. It was just a nice experience, a “hook”. With Michael Vogt’s
The Paper Air Force
we are introduced to some parts of basic aerodynamics. Wings, cross sections are examined. We discover things like AOA (angles of attack), factors which lead to stall, different types of wing design, camber and other ideas. We are now going to learn some of the technical vocabulary of aeroplanes. When we read about vortex I will want the students to know correct spelling and what it part it plays in flight. Aspect ratio and how it differs from a glide ratio is important to know if your going to carry on an intelligent discussion on planes and what makes them fly.
Michael Vogt’s work is a mild introduction to flight. On pages 54 to 57 we find a good trouble shooting guide. I intend to demonstrate with a bad plane and have the students trouble shoot its problems. If you want to have one of the worlds great fighter planes, fully “decked out” in war paint and wing tanks, and rockets then you will have to follow some elaborate instructions on cutting and pasting.
I have included a copy of one of Vogt’s peace planes for you to see. Michael Vogt encourages the owner of this text to photocopy his plans. In this day and age that is an offer you rarely ever get. My students had a chance to show off their manual dexterity with Vogt’s planes.
The Ultimate Paper Airplane
This text was chosen for the students because it had a different “angle”. Two men Richard Kline and Floyd Foglemana as young men were connected by the last flight of the Hindenburg dirigible. Richard saw it pass over his house the day before it exploded in a ball of flame at Lakehurst, New Jersey, and Floyd’s uncle brought the ship’s mascot (a German bulldog) to his house after the disaster, prior to shipping it back to Germany. Richard loved to make paper airplanes of his own design and had entered his model in “the great international paper airplane contest”. His entry did not win, but he had fun anyway. One day while showing off to a fellow worker (Floyd Fogleman), Richard tossed one of his paper planes down the hall and it performed beautifully. Fogleman an artist, model (powered) plane enthusiast and former pilot thought the basic design of this paper airplane was unique and worth investigating.
The text takes a good amount of time telling us about their efforts to patent the idea and then to market it. This is an interesting book for it shows that its possible to go from a paper model to a gas engine model plane, the pair wanted to extent this to real aircraft but to date have found no takers.
Whitewings
Whitewings
is a very sophisticated paper airplane book designed for the serious student or adult. This is really a package deal which contains a sixty page booklet and special paper on which you will find the patterns of 15 different paper airplanes. The designs are fairly light and do not zerox well. The zerox paper is not suitable for constructing these planes, something on the order of “bristol board” or “bristol paper” is. The kit is about $15.00 not a bad deal for an airplane club, which is just where I will use this it. Dr. Yasuaki Ninomiya designer of this package holds a doctorate in microwave measurement theory, was the grand prize winner in the categories of Duration flight and Distance flight in the 1st International Paper Plane Contest (Pacific Basin Division) 1967, has a pilot’s license, and has sold 13 million copies of his 7 volume publication
Collection Of High Performance Paper Planes
. This is a serious kit.
This kit requires the students to use exacto knives, duco cement, lacquer sprays and good sense. Such an experience should be as a reward for the students who have worked hard and who will be up to the challenge which this book presents. Gluing times for some phases of this work is over 6 hours, but the reward is, when done, your planes will stay aloft for as many as 60 seconds. Every phase is connected to mathematical formulas, graphs, sketches, and reading (without distraction). Formulas are employed to compute the best surface area for the horizontal stabilizer and a different one to find the best surface area for the vertical stabilizer. This book is a real challenge. I will try this first with a “club” arrangement, tools and plans will be in the class after or before school and those who want to may make these planes (under my supervision).
