Comments by "Big Blue" (@bigblue6917) on "The Riout 102T Alérion Ornithopter; Frank Herbert’s Inspiration?" video.

It is somewhat ironic how WW2 advanced some aircraft designs such as jets. while others like this one came to an end. I think we'd all like to have seen it fly. Without the wings collapsing. A couple of insect related aircraft stories for you. There is a story that Dr. Ernst Heinkel, the German aircraft designer, once told Hitler that the it was impossible for the bee to fly, but because as the bee did not know this it could fly. When I first came across this my thoughts were that the fact that the bee flies would suggest the Heikel was wrong. Turns out Heinkel was wrong, yes there's a surpise. High speed video has shown that not only does the bee fly but that it's method of flying is so advanced that we are not likely to replicate it anytime soon. Story number two. And here's one you may be able to make a video on. Post WW2 Britain built a research aircraft using something taken from some flying insects. In the past some insects had four wings but today only have two. A short stub of the original wing is still there and acts as a counterbalance to the remaining wing. So when the remaining wings beats down the wing stubs move up as a counter balance. This helped that insect with stability. So with the idea in mind it was thought that this could help with keeping aircraft stable when they fly. So they tried it out. The aircraft took off and once in the air the test pilot switch them on. Now it has been some time since a read about this so some of it is a bit sketchy. But as I remember it the stabilisers immediately cause great difficulties for the test pilot which left him struggling to fly the aircraft as the stabiliser was causing a lot of vibration. What's more he could not switch the stabiliser off so all he could do was extremely carefully fly the aircraft in a circuit until he could land it. He said it was the most terrifying experience he's ever had in his life. And no it was never flown again.
2