OCR Text |
Show Airplanes and Boomerangs It seems a downright anomaly to go to the primitive inhabitants of Australia for points on an airplane, yet that is precisely what was done at one stage of the development of aviation. The fundamental principle of the airplane is both old and simple, having been discovered by the Bushmen Bush-men of the Antipodes and embodied by them in the boomerang, which, by meeting in its flight the air at a slight angle, got a "lift." The trajectory of the boomerang may be in part horizontal or may even rise as a result of this lift. Any surface sur-face that is more or less flat, which travels at a slight angle through the air, tends to lift If the section has a slight camber, or convex curve, the lift is increased. Better results are obtained if a body of appreciable thickness is used instead of a thin sheet Investigation will reveal little difference between the wing section of a boomerang made by the Bushmen or whittled by an American boy after he has visited the circus and has witnessed wit-nessed the "stunts" of the boomerang thrower. |