JF Ptak Science Books  Quick Post

Another interesting bit as a result of scurrying around a 1934 volume of Popular Mechanics looking for something else:  a propeller-less aircraft moving through the air on bee-wing-like pulsating wings. The image of the aircraft certainly makes it appear fairly large for 1934, but it turns out to be 38′ long–we are told in the first sentence that it weighs only 2200 pounds and is powered by a ten-horsepower motor–I have no idea how this would work. This is the idea developed by Raymund Nimfuhr, “an Austrian scientist” about whom I can find nothing except for references to this article. The aircraft was supposed to have the capacity of forward and backward flight, in addition to being able to remain almost motionless while hovering.