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1000 BC: Ancient Assyrians depicted God in a winged chariot
or ornithopter. |
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700 BC: The Hindu epic Ramayana describes an ornithopter using
biofuels. |
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875 AD: Abbas ibn Firnas built an ornithopter that made a
successful gliding flight. |
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c. 1500: Leonardo da Vinci sketched some ornithopter ideas
but didn't build one. |
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1929: Alexander Lippisch manned ornithopter. Short flight
using pilot's muscles. |
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1942: Adalbert Schmid manned ornithopter. Extended flights
with motorcycle engine. |
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1947: Second manned, engine-powered ornithopter by Adalbert
Schmid. |
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1995: Vladimir Toporov manned, muscle-driven ornithopter with
four wings. |
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2006: James DeLaurier jet-assisted takeoff of manned ornithopter. |
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2010: Todd Reichert ornithopter powered by muscles of pilot. |
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1890: Lawrence Hargrave used small flappers, avoiding the
need for gear reduction. |
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1938: Alexander Lippisch perfected the small-flapper concept. |
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1871: Jobert's monoplane and biplane, the first known rubber-powered
ornithopters.
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1872: Alphonse Penaud built this ornithopter with a slightly
more modern design. |
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1884: Tatin introduced a system for mechanically driving the
torsion of the wings. |
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1889: Pichancourt in Paris apparently was the first to sell
mechanical birds commercially. |
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1890: Gustav Trouvé. Gunpowder charges fired into a
bourdon tube flap the wings. |
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1935: Vincenz Chalupsky used compressed air for power. |
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1958: Percival Spencer built a series of bird-shaped, engine-powered
ornithopters. |
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1961: Percival Spencer's Orniplane was the first radio-controlled
ornithopter. |
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1984: Valentin Kiselev's RC tandem ornithopter powered byinternal
combustion engine. |
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1986: Aerovironment's QN pterosaur, first to use active computer
stabilization. |
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1990: Horst Raebiger's EV7 used thick-airfoil wings with mechanically
driven torsion. |
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1991: James DeLaurier's ornithopter looked like the EV7 but
used passive wing twist. |
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1998: Albert Kempf's Truefly had foam wings & mechanically
driven wing torsion. |
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1998: Sean Kinkade's Skybird began a series of models in small-scale
production. |
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2000: Ornithopter applications: bird control, wildlife study,
onboard camera. |
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2000: Caltech's MicroBat was among the 1st micro air vehicle(MAV)
type ornithopters. |
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2003: Cybird P2 was the first mass-produced ornithopter for
radio-control hobbyists. |
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2007: Robert Musters further developed the mechanically twisted
foam concept. |
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2013: Servo-driven wings mimic the brain and muscles of a
real bird. |
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1937: Chicago Aeronuts advanced the freeflight design and
held the 1st competition. |
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1984: Patrick Deshaye founded the Orithopter Society to share
info and advance the field. |
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1995: Roy White set the indoor ornithopter duration record
at 21 min 44 sec. |
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1993: Nathan Chronister's Freebird plans made it easy to start
building ornithopters. |
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1994: Luna scissor-wing design simplified construction of
four-winged ornithopters. |
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2005: Yusuke Takahashi converted Luna to remote control, allowing
it to hover. |
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2006: 1st International Micro Air Vehicle (IMAV) competition.
Utah entry shown. |
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2006: Delfly ornithopter (TU Delft) combined hovering with
camera payload. |
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2007: Nathan Chronister 3 gram ornithopter, the size of a
real hummingbird and hovers. |
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2007: Peter Muren's is the world's smallest RC ornithopter
at 1 gram. |
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2010: Aerovironment's Nano Hummingbird combines hover &
active stabilization. |
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