From the June 28, 1930, issue
By Science News
MULTIPLE AILERONS
When men first began to dream of flying like birds (which they have done ever since the legendary Daedalus), they watched the flight of birds, hoping to catch their trick and learn to imitate them. The many-faceted Leonardo used to spend hours and days watching and sketching pigeons. And when at last the Wrights led the way into the air, they avoided the tragic fate of Icarus and kept their balance on their unstable supporting medium because they had seen how birds use their flexible wing tips in coordination with their tails to maintain themselves on an even keel or to turn and bank as they will. The flexing wing tips of the early Wright models, succeeded by the little auxiliary hinged planes we call ailerons, are man’s efforts to build himself wings that are really like those of the birds.