Comments on: Insect Power

By: Chief

Chief — Sat, 13 Apr 2013 02:24:31 +0000

Still fascinated by flight as an adult these stories bring back memories of my youth. Seemed there was always one girl in class who had really long blond hair, after getting a single hair by whatever means worked my pals and I would catch a fly, those shiny greenish-blue ones were the best,we would then gently tie a knot/noose around the flies head,caution too tight and off goes the head,and instantly we had a control line airplane which were popular in those days,radio control was unheard of we still laugh about those carefree days….

By: Fly-Powered Planes and Other Oddities | The Daily Planet

Fly-Powered Planes and Other Oddities | The Daily Planet — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 18:26:06 +0000

[...] and built by Frank Ehling in the 1970s. Take a closer look — the models are powered by flies. As Kathy Hanser wrote for the National Air and Space Museum’s blog in 2009, “The one-fly design [on the right] has a wingspan of two inches, and the two-fly version, [...]

By: George Olson

George Olson — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 15:44:17 +0000

A friend Dwane Schnetler in Pullman Washington was in high school during WW2 and he was an active model airplane builder. He captured large horseflies in a bottle which was put in the refrigerator. Small microfilm covered models which would fit in a farmer match box where equipped with horsefly motors and kept cold then taken to high school and released during study hall. the beauty of this was that the erratic twisting and turning of the flight path gave the teacher no clue as to who had launched the plane. A good horsefly was a least 5 minutes of entertainment in the high ceiling room and some made it much longer before descending to where the teacher could could destroy the enemy aircraft.

By: Landlubber Leo

Landlubber Leo — Sun, 24 Jun 2012 18:16:14 +0000

It’s amazing to me that we cant just marvel at the way these little insects fly without having to end their normal life, short as it is, by gluing it permanently to some big man-made load. Don’t come hurling DDT styled responses about disease, etc. – I get it. But dooming insects like this for fun just seems wrong. And I used to love killing them when I was young. I am not being a hypocrite, I’ve just grown. I will still kill them, but I will not subject them to torture for my own entertainment. I have, however, strapped MYSELF to a wing, and hurled myself off a mountaintop to enjoy free flight first-hand. THERE’s the JOY! THERE’s the ENTERTAINMENT! Go hang glide.

By: Marcus Reilly

Marcus Reilly — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:25:37 +0000

I saw the same thing when I was a kid, and my brother and I built a larger sized model plane and glued a pigeon to the fuselage. It worked like a charm but the bird flew away and took our model. Then my dad found out what we did and we got in trouble for animal cruelty. We didn’t tell him about the cat powered tricyle.

By: TinyMiner

TinyMiner — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 05:10:44 +0000

I think larger insects such as dragonflies would have a much more spectacular effect when flying these miniature planes.

By: Brad

Brad — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:31:36 +0000

When I was a kid, I saw these on display and thought they were the best thing ever. I went home and made my own out of similar materials, and guess what: they worked!

That’s why I love the Air & Space.

By: Elilikeslingerie

Elilikeslingerie — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:06:34 +0000

Is this a riddle?