Tuesday 19 August 2014

Is This The Weirdest Aircraft Ever?

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The Gyroptère - or monocopter - is even weirder than the beloved starfighter from Star Wars. It had a single blade - the long wing you can see in white - which rotated to lift it to the skies.

The Gyroptère was designed in 1913–1914 by Alphonse Papin and Didier Rouilly in France, inspired by a maple seed. Testing was delayed due to the outbreak of World War I and did not take place until 31 March 1915 on Lake Cercey on the Côte-d'Or. Unfortunately, the aircraft became unstable and the pilot had to abandon it, after which it sank.

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