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Humans
have always envied birds' ability to fly and sought to
emulate them but human flight would not be achieved simply
by mimicry: nature tantalises us and keeps her secrets just
out of view.
Glasgow University’s Percy Pilcher made the first repeated
flights in a heavier than air machine, in his “Bat” glider
in the summer of 1895. It is just over one hundred years
since the Wright brothers succeeded in achieving sustained,
powered flight.
In
1809, Sir George Cayley, the father of aeronautics, put it
this way - “The whole problem is confined within these
limits, viz - to make a surface support a given weight by
the application of power to the resistance of air” Nearly
two hundred years later that is still largely ‘it’, though
dignified by the science of fluid dynamics.
What
is required for flight? How do we fly within a three
dimensional air space in a sustained and controlled manner?
There
is still a debate and clearly we still do know absolutely
how to do it and not entirely why!
Dugald
is well placed to discuss these issues. He has
published widely and having retired as Director of Glasgow
School of Art in 1999, is now a visiting Professor to the
Dept of Aerospace Engineering University of Glasgow and in
Design to the University of Strathclyde.
He
wishes to add a p.s:
What made Concorde so special? |
