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Leonardo da Vinci, who was a gifted engineer as well as an artist, devised a flying gear for man which shows some dynamic improvement over the mechanism of the old-time angels, flying gods, and hobgoblins. As shown in the accompanying sketch, it provided for gravitational balance by use of an expanding tail projecting well to the rear. Moreover, the propulsion was to employ both arms and legs. This design is considered very remarkable for the time in which it was produced, probably a few years before the discovery of America; and yet it is but one of Da Vinci’s quaint aëronautical inventions, as will appear later.

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Aërial Navigation
A Popular Treatise on the Growth of Air Craft and on Aëronautical Meteorology
By Albert Francis Zahm
Published in 1911
Available from gutenberg.org

Posted on

Saturday 1 January 2022

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• Technology / Transport / Air

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