--- title: "Mankind's Strangest Attempts at Flight" description: "Since the ancient tale of Icarus soaring too close to the sun, mankind has dreamed of the ability to take to the skies. Dreams are all well and good, but actually figuring out how to make that dream a reality took thousands of years. It was a long road to get where we are today, with plenty of attempts that border on the ridiculous.\n\nBut what is perhaps even more ridiculous is that not all of these attempts were unsuccessful. From humans flapping their arms to strapping wings onto a tank, today we'll be looking at some of mankind's strangest attempts at flight.\n\n## Ornithopters\n\nAn ornithopter is a flying machine that produces both lift and thrust by flapping its wings like a bird. And on the surface, it's a pretty logical idea. Birds flap their wings to fly, as do bats and insects. Why, then, couldn't we strap a pair of wings onto a human and do the same thing? Seeing as this idea has existed for thousands of years with the earliest known ornithopter designs dating back to 400 BC, it's safe to say that there's something preventing this from ever working.\n\nTwo things, really.\n\nHumans are too heavy and too weak to fly. We weigh much more than birds relative to our size, and the energy output required is more than a human could manage. Our bodies also lack the aerodynamic qualities possessed by birds. Simply put, a human powered ornithopter should be impossible.\n\nBut saying something is impossible has never stopped anybody before, and Leonardo da Vinci famously created intricate blueprints for a human-powered ornithopter. These designs have been put to the test on numerous occasions, and the conclusion has always been that his design would be far too heavy to get off the ground.\n\nHowever, ornithopters were eventually built successfully. The first ornithopters capable of flight were constructed in France in the 1870s, though this was not human flight. They were essentially toy birds that maintained flight by using rubber bands to power their wings flapping. Most ornithopters are the size of the animals they are mimicking, but some people refused to give up on the dream of a crewed ornithopter powered by a human. Even after airplanes were invented, there were still plenty of people that demanded the ability to flap their arms and soar into the sky.\n\nOf course, these attempts have been almost entirely unsuccessful. Even those that claimed success were gliders that were not capable of true flight. They utilized tow launches, essentially being dragged up to speed and lifting into the air like a kite so they could glide back down to the ground. Measurements have shown that none of these machines were capable of flight on their own.\n\nNone until the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies unveiled their human-powered ornithopter Snowbird in 2010. The aircraft was built from carbon fiber, foam, and balsa wood. It featured a small cockpit for the pilot who pumped a bar with his feet to flap the 105 ft wide wings suspended above the cockpit.\n\nLike other attempts, the Snowbird was towed to give it initial speed, but it was able to flap its wings and lift off the ground. According to the measurements taken, the Snowbird was able to maintain flight using its own power rather than just gliding like the previous attempts. However, it only flew 476 feet. Snowbird flapped its wings 16 times during the flight, with 15-20 flaps being the believed limit of human endurance. It's also been disputed whether the readings taken are even indicative of true flight as was claimed, or if the Snowbird was also just a glorified and overcomplicated glider.\n\nWhile the idea of an ornithopter may have originally made sense, it's certainly strange that over 100 years after the invention of the airplane, people are still trying to make these work. The most successful attempt thus far has all but proven that, even if very technically possible, human-powered ornithopters are completely impractical. But if history is any indication, people are going to continue to try to flap their arms to fly just to say that they did.\n\n## Phillips's Multiplanes\n\nA multiplane is a plane with multiple wings stacked on top of one another. While biplanes were once relatively common, triplanes and quadruplanes have always seemed a bit silly. They did work, but the designs just looked ridiculous. At least that's what you might have thought if you never laid eyes on one of Horatio Phillips's multiplanes.\n\nPhillips is famous for his work with aerofoils, streamlined wing shapes designed to generate lift. His work with aerofoils was instrumental in the advancement of aeronautics, creating a lasting legacy for the brilliant pioneer of aviation. And it's a good thing, too, otherwise all he would be remembered for were his ludicrous flying contraptions.\n\nHis first plane, which he simply called the Flying Machine, was constructed in 1893. It was an unmanned machine meant as a proof of concept, and it utilized 50 wings stacked on top of one another like a venetian blind. The machine was powered by a 6 horsepower coal-fired engine steam engine. Because the Flying Machine had been designed to maximize lift at the cost of stability, Phillips tethered it to a pole it could fly circles around. Because it was tethered just a couple feet off the ground it's unclear exactly how high it would have flown, but the Flying Machine was able to sustain flight for 2,000 ft.\n\nIn 1904, Phillips was ready to try again. This time, he was going to be riding the multiplane instead of having it tethered. The new design basically looked like a bicycle with 20 wooden wings stacked on top of it. He had decreased the number of wings and also added a tail to increase stability. He had also upgraded to a 22 horsepower in-line engine of his own construction.\n\nHowever, because of the reduced number of wings, his contraption didn't have the same lift as the original flying machine. After several attempts, the farthest Phillips was able to fly his multiplane was a mere 50 feet. It was back to the drawing board to try again in 1907. And this time, it was go big or go home.\n\nIf 50 wings had been better for a plane than 20 wings, then what would be better than 50 wings? To that, Phillip knew that surely the answer must be 200 wings.\n\nHis 1907 multiplane was just a wooden cube of wings, four columns of 50 wings each. It was over 500 pounds of wood before adding the pilot, but Phillips was confident that it would work. And it did.\n\nAfter reaching its liftoff speed of 30 mph, Phillips took flight in his multiplane and covered a distance of approximately 500 feet. It was the first successful flight by a powered heavier-than-air aircraft in the United Kingdom. But it simply wasn't good enough.\n\nBy this point it had been four years since the Wright brothers' initial flight. Though that initial flight was only 120 feet, airplane designs by Phillips's contemporaries were already dramatically outperforming his multiplane. Had he been able to accomplish his 500 foot flight just a few years earlier, perhaps airplanes with hundreds of wings would have become the norm rather than being a ridiculous relic of the past.\n\n## Gerhardt Cycleplane\n\nPerhaps inspired by Phillips's multiplane, Dr. William Gerhardt created a somewhat similar device known as the Cycleplane. Unlike the previous entry which used a motor, the Cycleplane was literally just a bicycle with wings, powered by a human. The bike pedals were connected to the propeller, and there was a stack of seven wings nearly 15 feet tall.\n\nGerhardt was head of the Aeronautical Engineering Department at the University of Michigan, though he designed the Cycleplane in his spare time rather than as part of his official work with the university. The aircraft was completed in 1923, and in July of that year it made its first flight. Surprisingly, it was a success.\n\nThe Cycleplane continued making numerous successful test flights, though in nearly all cases it was towed by a car until it could achieve flight. Once the Cycleplane was in the air and untethered from the car, it was able to maintain flight for as long as Gerhardt was able to keep pedaling. It was stable and relatively maneuverable, and since it was human-powered it would be much cheaper to produce than traditional planes.\n\nOf course, the Cycleplane only experienced one completely human-powered takeoff, though that's one more than most other human-powered aircrafts ever accomplished. In that instance, the Cycleplane flew only 20 feet at an elevation of two feet, but it was better than nothing. Gerhardt was confident in his new invention, and he was ready to show it to the world.\n\nAnd this is what the Cycleplane is most known for. In fact, you might have even seen the news reel footage before, as it frequently showed up in blooper videos. The footage was less than a minute long, and it showed three men pushing the Cycleplane to help get it up to speed while the pilot was inside pedaling. As the men pushing the plane along started to release the plane for takeoff, the seven wings suddenly collapsed in on themselves and crashed down onto the fuselage which then tipped over. Fortunately, the pilot emerged uninjured.\n\nThe silent news reel opened with the following caption: \"Novel Cycleplane makes its first - and last - appearance, but undaunted inventor says 'experiments will be resumed'.\" They were not resumed, and the Cycleplane faded into infamy. Airplanes had been around for a couple decades by this point, so there was no real need to continue.\n\nGerhardt and his colleagues had wanted to show that human-powered stable flight was possible, and they showed that technically it was. It just wasn't particularly worth pursuing.\n\n## Helicopter Backpacks\n\nBy the 1940s, humans had conquered the skies. We had already invented airplanes, helicopters, and zeppelins. But these were generally designed for carrying cargo, large numbers of passengers, or were for military applications. What about all of those ambitious go getters that didn't have the space or money to buy their own plane but still needed to get where they were going quickly? For those people, there was the helicopter backpack. And also for the military as well, as individuals being able to quickly take to the skies without a runway would be highly beneficial.\n\nThat all was the theory, anyway, and it was such a good idea that helicopter backpacks were independently developed in Germany, the United States, Japan, and even Mexico. The Heliofly was first produced in Germany in 1941, with the American made Hoppi-Copter appearing in 1945. The designs were simple, but there were some obvious problems.\n\nA typical helicopter backpack featured a helicopter motor and two rotors attached to a person's back with harnesses like a parachute. There was also a strap that would go in between the legs to prevent the pilot from falling out of the backpack. Some later iterations included a chair rather than just relying on the straps.\n\nBecause there was no tail rotor, the main rotors had to spin in opposite directions. In order to steer left or right, highly sensitive controls would change the speed of the two rotors. With one spinning faster than the other, it would cause the whole system to rotate to either the left or right.\n\nTechnically, these machines did work as intended, but they were deemed stupid and impractical so they were never adopted by any military nor made commercially available. One problem was how heavy they were. The Hoppi-Copter weighed 173 lbs (78 kg), which is a lot of weight to strap to someone's back. Though that weight wouldn't be a concern while the person was in flight, the bulk of the machine still limited how much other gear a person could carry.\n\nThe pilot would also need their hands to control the helicopter backpack, which would leave them unable to use a weapon during a military operation until they landed. If they weren't going to be used for surprise aerial assaults, there were already better methods for transporting troops and conducting reconnaissance. Of course, the biggest problem was that the backpacks were damn near impossible to control. They also weren't particularly safe, either.\n\nYaw was controlled by adjusting the rotational speed of the rotors, but the rotors were fixed pitched. In a normal helicopter, the rotors can turn through the use of autorotation, a process by which air passes through the rotors and causes them to spin without using the engine. This isn't possible with the fixed pitch rotors, so in the event of engine failure, the pilot would immediately start to plummet out of the sky. Parachutes were included in the design to account for this, but the vast number of problems outweighed any potential advantage a backpack helicopter could have provided. Which, as far as we can tell, is none.\n\n## Flying Tanks\n\nThis final example wasn't an attempt at flying per se, it was more an attempt at gliding. Beginning in the 1930s and continuing past World War II, the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Japan all worked on projects to create winged tanks.\n\nIt was common in war for militaries to deploy paratroopers to important locations, often behind enemy lines. It was the job of these paratroopers to hold the location until more heavily armed troops could arrive to assist them. But what if there was a better way? What if heavy armaments could be deployed directly to the location as well?\n\nThis did happen in real combat, but the results were never ideal. Crews and gear usually had to be airdropped separately. This would result in delays getting the heavy armaments into action, assuming they were able to at all. The situation on the ground may not have given troops the time needed to get the gear operational.\n\nTo solve this problem, militaries began looking at ways to deploy tanks directly into battle from the air. The idea was that tanks would be fitted with winged gliders, then the tanks would either be towed or carried by aircraft which would deploy them directly to the battlefield. It was believed that this would provide numerous advantages.\n\nFirst, the crews and their tanks could be deployed at the same time; tanks could even be deployed with the crew inside. All they would have to do is remove the detachable wings and the tanks could be ready for combat in mere minutes from hitting the ground. Another huge advantage was that the tanks could be deployed from farther away. Instead of trying to drop armaments directly over the battlefield, the tanks would glide into battle from a distance, protecting the valuable aircraft that towed them.\n\nIt all certainly seemed good in theory, which is why many of the world's top militaries were all trying to make this work. However, few of these moved beyond models and prototypes. The idea seemed solid in theory, but in practice it was wholly unworkable. Tanks are massively heavy, and aircraft capable of carrying them were in short supply.\n\nThe first and possibly only test flight of a winged tank took place in the Soviet Union in 1943. A regular T-60 main battle tank was too heavy, so they used a special lightened version. The designers of the experiment removed most of the ammunition, armaments, fuel, and even the headlights in an attempt to lighten the load. But when the test flight began, the pilot had to drop the tank early and abort the mission. The tank was still too heavy and causing too much drag on the plane, making it unable to reach the necessary 99 mph (160 km/h) for a successful deployment of the tank.\n\nInterestingly enough, while the tank was returning to base, it was intercepted and captured by Soviet troops. They had been unaware of the experimental test flight, and because the winged tank looked like nothing they had seen before they assumed it to be an enemy vehicle.\n\nAttempts to create winged tanks were eventually abandoned, and the dream of dropping main battle tanks directly into battle died. Instead, militaries would have to settle for fitting light tanks with numerous parachutes as a means to deploy them from the air. But with light tanks declining in use and military drones becoming increasingly larger and more powerful, the idea of tanks raining down from the heavens onto a battlefield is likely a thing of the past.\n\n## Key Takeaways\n\n- Humans have long attempted to fly using ornithopters, but human-powered flight remains impractical.\n- Horatio Phillips's multiplanes, with numerous stacked wings, achieved limited success but were outpaced by conventional aircraft.\n- The Gerhardt Cycleplane demonstrated human-powered flight but was deemed impractical and was abandoned.\n- Helicopter backpacks, developed in multiple countries, were deemed too heavy and unsafe for practical use.\n- Winged tanks, attempted by several nations, were too heavy and impractical for real-world deployment.\n\n## Frequently Asked Questions\n\n### What is an ornithopter?\n\nAn ornithopter is a flying machine that produces both lift and thrust by flapping its wings like a bird.\n\n### Why are human-powered ornithopters impractical?\n\nHuman-powered ornithopters are impractical because humans are too heavy and too weak to fly, and our bodies lack the aerodynamic qualities possessed by birds.\n\n### Who created the first successful ornithopter?\n\nThe University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies unveiled their human-powered ornithopter Snowbird in 2010.\n\n### What is a multiplane?\n\nA multiplane is a plane with multiple wings stacked on top of one another.\n\n### Who is Horatio Phillips and what is he known for?\n\nHoratio Phillips is known for his work with aerofoils and his ludicrous flying contraptions, specifically his multiplanes.\n\n### What was the Cycleplane?\n\nThe Cycleplane was a human-powered aircraft designed by Dr. William Gerhardt, featuring a stack of seven wings nearly 15 feet tall.\n\n### What were helicopter backpacks and why were they deemed impractical?\n\nHelicopter backpacks were devices that allowed individuals to fly using a motor and rotors attached to their back. They were deemed impractical due to their weight, difficulty in control, and safety issues.\n\n### What were winged tanks and why were they abandoned?\n\nWinged tanks were tanks fitted with winged gliders to be deployed directly into battle from the air. They were abandoned because tanks are too heavy, and aircraft capable of carrying them were in short supply.\n\n### What was the first successful flight by a powered heavier-than-air aircraft in the United Kingdom?\n\nThe first successful flight by a powered heavier-than-air aircraft in the United Kingdom was Horatio Phillips' 1907 multiplane, which covered a distance of approximately 500 feet.\n\n### What was the Hoppi-Copter?\n\nThe Hoppi-Copter was an American-made helicopter backpack produced in 1945, featuring a helicopter motor and two rotors attached to a person’s back with harnesses.\n\n## Sources\n\n- [Original Side Projects video: Mankind's Strangest Attempts at Flight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9tHEEgomM8)\n\n## Related Coverage" url: https://sideprojects.pub/article/mankinds-strangest-attempts-at-flight.md canonical: https://sideprojects.pub/article/mankinds-strangest-attempts-at-flight datePublished: 2024-06-16 dateModified: 2026-07-28 author: - name: Simon Whistler url: https://sideprojects.pub/author/simon-whistler publisher: Side Projects image: "https://media.sideprojects.pub/cdn-cgi/image/width=1600,height=900,fit=cover,quality=80,format=auto/articles/Y9tHEEgomM8/hero.jpg" type: NewsArticle contentHash: 43c4cca2a87083d6820726118e7d9e73e54d9681200eae2fdb95b059ad970ec1 tokens: 4756 summaryUrl: https://sideprojects.pub/article/mankinds-strangest-attempts-at-flight.md.summary.md --- Since the ancient tale of Icarus soaring too close to the sun, mankind has dreamed of the ability to take to the skies. Dreams are all well and good, but actually figuring out how to make that dream a reality took thousands of years. It was a long road to get where we are today, with plenty of attempts that border on the ridiculous. But what is perhaps even more ridiculous is that not all of these attempts were unsuccessful. From humans flapping their arms to strapping wings onto a tank, today we'll be looking at some of mankind's strangest attempts at flight. ## Ornithopters An ornithopter is a flying machine that produces both lift and thrust by flapping its wings like a bird. And on the surface, it's a pretty logical idea. Birds flap their wings to fly, as do bats and insects. Why, then, couldn't we strap a pair of wings onto a human and do the same thing? Seeing as this idea has existed for thousands of years with the earliest known ornithopter designs dating back to 400 BC, it's safe to say that there's something preventing this from ever working. Two things, really. Humans are too heavy and too weak to fly. We weigh much more than birds relative to our size, and the energy output required is more than a human could manage. Our bodies also lack the aerodynamic qualities possessed by birds. Simply put, a human powered ornithopter should be impossible. But saying something is impossible has never stopped anybody before, and Leonardo da Vinci famously created intricate blueprints for a human-powered ornithopter. These designs have been put to the test on numerous occasions, and the conclusion has always been that his design would be far too heavy to get off the ground. However, ornithopters were eventually built successfully. The first ornithopters capable of flight were constructed in France in the 1870s, though this was not human flight. They were essentially toy birds that maintained flight by using rubber bands to power their wings flapping. Most ornithopters are the size of the animals they are mimicking, but some people refused to give up on the dream of a crewed ornithopter powered by a human. Even after airplanes were invented, there were still plenty of people that demanded the ability to flap their arms and soar into the sky. Of course, these attempts have been almost entirely unsuccessful. Even those that claimed success were gliders that were not capable of true flight. They utilized tow launches, essentially being dragged up to speed and lifting into the air like a kite so they could glide back down to the ground. Measurements have shown that none of these machines were capable of flight on their own. None until the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies unveiled their human-powered ornithopter Snowbird in 2010. The aircraft was built from carbon fiber, foam, and balsa wood. It featured a small cockpit for the pilot who pumped a bar with his feet to flap the 105 ft wide wings suspended above the cockpit. Like other attempts, the Snowbird was towed to give it initial speed, but it was able to flap its wings and lift off the ground. According to the measurements taken, the Snowbird was able to maintain flight using its own power rather than just gliding like the previous attempts. However, it only flew 476 feet. Snowbird flapped its wings 16 times during the flight, with 15-20 flaps being the believed limit of human endurance. It's also been disputed whether the readings taken are even indicative of true flight as was claimed, or if the Snowbird was also just a glorified and overcomplicated glider. While the idea of an ornithopter may have originally made sense, it's certainly strange that over 100 years after the invention of the airplane, people are still trying to make these work. The most successful attempt thus far has all but proven that, even if very technically possible, human-powered ornithopters are completely impractical. But if history is any indication, people are going to continue to try to flap their arms to fly just to say that they did. ## Phillips's Multiplanes A multiplane is a plane with multiple wings stacked on top of one another. While biplanes were once relatively common, triplanes and quadruplanes have always seemed a bit silly. They did work, but the designs just looked ridiculous. At least that's what you might have thought if you never laid eyes on one of Horatio Phillips's multiplanes. Phillips is famous for his work with aerofoils, streamlined wing shapes designed to generate lift. His work with aerofoils was instrumental in the advancement of aeronautics, creating a lasting legacy for the brilliant pioneer of aviation. And it's a good thing, too, otherwise all he would be remembered for were his ludicrous flying contraptions. His first plane, which he simply called the Flying Machine, was constructed in 1893. It was an unmanned machine meant as a proof of concept, and it utilized 50 wings stacked on top of one another like a venetian blind. The machine was powered by a 6 horsepower coal-fired engine steam engine. Because the Flying Machine had been designed to maximize lift at the cost of stability, Phillips tethered it to a pole it could fly circles around. Because it was tethered just a couple feet off the ground it's unclear exactly how high it would have flown, but the Flying Machine was able to sustain flight for 2,000 ft. In 1904, Phillips was ready to try again. This time, he was going to be riding the multiplane instead of having it tethered. The new design basically looked like a bicycle with 20 wooden wings stacked on top of it. He had decreased the number of wings and also added a tail to increase stability. He had also upgraded to a 22 horsepower in-line engine of his own construction. However, because of the reduced number of wings, his contraption didn't have the same lift as the original flying machine. After several attempts, the farthest Phillips was able to fly his multiplane was a mere 50 feet. It was back to the drawing board to try again in 1907. And this time, it was go big or go home. If 50 wings had been better for a plane than 20 wings, then what would be better than 50 wings? To that, Phillip knew that surely the answer must be 200 wings. His 1907 multiplane was just a wooden cube of wings, four columns of 50 wings each. It was over 500 pounds of wood before adding the pilot, but Phillips was confident that it would work. And it did. After reaching its liftoff speed of 30 mph, Phillips took flight in his multiplane and covered a distance of approximately 500 feet. It was the first successful flight by a powered heavier-than-air aircraft in the United Kingdom. But it simply wasn't good enough. By this point it had been four years since the Wright brothers' initial flight. Though that initial flight was only 120 feet, airplane designs by Phillips's contemporaries were already dramatically outperforming his multiplane. Had he been able to accomplish his 500 foot flight just a few years earlier, perhaps airplanes with hundreds of wings would have become the norm rather than being a ridiculous relic of the past. ## Gerhardt Cycleplane Perhaps inspired by Phillips's multiplane, Dr. William Gerhardt created a somewhat similar device known as the Cycleplane. Unlike the previous entry which used a motor, the Cycleplane was literally just a bicycle with wings, powered by a human. The bike pedals were connected to the propeller, and there was a stack of seven wings nearly 15 feet tall. Gerhardt was head of the Aeronautical Engineering Department at the University of Michigan, though he designed the Cycleplane in his spare time rather than as part of his official work with the university. The aircraft was completed in 1923, and in July of that year it made its first flight. Surprisingly, it was a success. The Cycleplane continued making numerous successful test flights, though in nearly all cases it was towed by a car until it could achieve flight. Once the Cycleplane was in the air and untethered from the car, it was able to maintain flight for as long as Gerhardt was able to keep pedaling. It was stable and relatively maneuverable, and since it was human-powered it would be much cheaper to produce than traditional planes. Of course, the Cycleplane only experienced one completely human-powered takeoff, though that's one more than most other human-powered aircrafts ever accomplished. In that instance, the Cycleplane flew only 20 feet at an elevation of two feet, but it was better than nothing. Gerhardt was confident in his new invention, and he was ready to show it to the world. And this is what the Cycleplane is most known for. In fact, you might have even seen the news reel footage before, as it frequently showed up in blooper videos. The footage was less than a minute long, and it showed three men pushing the Cycleplane to help get it up to speed while the pilot was inside pedaling. As the men pushing the plane along started to release the plane for takeoff, the seven wings suddenly collapsed in on themselves and crashed down onto the fuselage which then tipped over. Fortunately, the pilot emerged uninjured. The silent news reel opened with the following caption: "Novel Cycleplane makes its first - and last - appearance, but undaunted inventor says 'experiments will be resumed'." They were not resumed, and the Cycleplane faded into infamy. Airplanes had been around for a couple decades by this point, so there was no real need to continue. Gerhardt and his colleagues had wanted to show that human-powered stable flight was possible, and they showed that technically it was. It just wasn't particularly worth pursuing. ## Helicopter Backpacks By the 1940s, humans had conquered the skies. We had already invented airplanes, helicopters, and zeppelins. But these were generally designed for carrying cargo, large numbers of passengers, or were for military applications. What about all of those ambitious go getters that didn't have the space or money to buy their own plane but still needed to get where they were going quickly? For those people, there was the helicopter backpack. And also for the military as well, as individuals being able to quickly take to the skies without a runway would be highly beneficial. That all was the theory, anyway, and it was such a good idea that helicopter backpacks were independently developed in Germany, the United States, Japan, and even Mexico. The Heliofly was first produced in Germany in 1941, with the American made Hoppi-Copter appearing in 1945. The designs were simple, but there were some obvious problems. A typical helicopter backpack featured a helicopter motor and two rotors attached to a person's back with harnesses like a parachute. There was also a strap that would go in between the legs to prevent the pilot from falling out of the backpack. Some later iterations included a chair rather than just relying on the straps. Because there was no tail rotor, the main rotors had to spin in opposite directions. In order to steer left or right, highly sensitive controls would change the speed of the two rotors. With one spinning faster than the other, it would cause the whole system to rotate to either the left or right. Technically, these machines did work as intended, but they were deemed stupid and impractical so they were never adopted by any military nor made commercially available. One problem was how heavy they were. The Hoppi-Copter weighed 173 lbs (78 kg), which is a lot of weight to strap to someone's back. Though that weight wouldn't be a concern while the person was in flight, the bulk of the machine still limited how much other gear a person could carry. The pilot would also need their hands to control the helicopter backpack, which would leave them unable to use a weapon during a military operation until they landed. If they weren't going to be used for surprise aerial assaults, there were already better methods for transporting troops and conducting reconnaissance. Of course, the biggest problem was that the backpacks were damn near impossible to control. They also weren't particularly safe, either. Yaw was controlled by adjusting the rotational speed of the rotors, but the rotors were fixed pitched. In a normal helicopter, the rotors can turn through the use of autorotation, a process by which air passes through the rotors and causes them to spin without using the engine. This isn't possible with the fixed pitch rotors, so in the event of engine failure, the pilot would immediately start to plummet out of the sky. Parachutes were included in the design to account for this, but the vast number of problems outweighed any potential advantage a backpack helicopter could have provided. Which, as far as we can tell, is none. ## Flying Tanks This final example wasn't an attempt at flying per se, it was more an attempt at gliding. Beginning in the 1930s and continuing past World War II, the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and Japan all worked on projects to create winged tanks. It was common in war for militaries to deploy paratroopers to important locations, often behind enemy lines. It was the job of these paratroopers to hold the location until more heavily armed troops could arrive to assist them. But what if there was a better way? What if heavy armaments could be deployed directly to the location as well? This did happen in real combat, but the results were never ideal. Crews and gear usually had to be airdropped separately. This would result in delays getting the heavy armaments into action, assuming they were able to at all. The situation on the ground may not have given troops the time needed to get the gear operational. To solve this problem, militaries began looking at ways to deploy tanks directly into battle from the air. The idea was that tanks would be fitted with winged gliders, then the tanks would either be towed or carried by aircraft which would deploy them directly to the battlefield. It was believed that this would provide numerous advantages. First, the crews and their tanks could be deployed at the same time; tanks could even be deployed with the crew inside. All they would have to do is remove the detachable wings and the tanks could be ready for combat in mere minutes from hitting the ground. Another huge advantage was that the tanks could be deployed from farther away. Instead of trying to drop armaments directly over the battlefield, the tanks would glide into battle from a distance, protecting the valuable aircraft that towed them. It all certainly seemed good in theory, which is why many of the world's top militaries were all trying to make this work. However, few of these moved beyond models and prototypes. The idea seemed solid in theory, but in practice it was wholly unworkable. Tanks are massively heavy, and aircraft capable of carrying them were in short supply. The first and possibly only test flight of a winged tank took place in the Soviet Union in 1943. A regular T-60 main battle tank was too heavy, so they used a special lightened version. The designers of the experiment removed most of the ammunition, armaments, fuel, and even the headlights in an attempt to lighten the load. But when the test flight began, the pilot had to drop the tank early and abort the mission. The tank was still too heavy and causing too much drag on the plane, making it unable to reach the necessary 99 mph (160 km/h) for a successful deployment of the tank. Interestingly enough, while the tank was returning to base, it was intercepted and captured by Soviet troops. They had been unaware of the experimental test flight, and because the winged tank looked like nothing they had seen before they assumed it to be an enemy vehicle. Attempts to create winged tanks were eventually abandoned, and the dream of dropping main battle tanks directly into battle died. Instead, militaries would have to settle for fitting light tanks with numerous parachutes as a means to deploy them from the air. But with light tanks declining in use and military drones becoming increasingly larger and more powerful, the idea of tanks raining down from the heavens onto a battlefield is likely a thing of the past. ## Key Takeaways - Humans have long attempted to fly using ornithopters, but human-powered flight remains impractical. - Horatio Phillips's multiplanes, with numerous stacked wings, achieved limited success but were outpaced by conventional aircraft. - The Gerhardt Cycleplane demonstrated human-powered flight but was deemed impractical and was abandoned. - Helicopter backpacks, developed in multiple countries, were deemed too heavy and unsafe for practical use. - Winged tanks, attempted by several nations, were too heavy and impractical for real-world deployment. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is an ornithopter? An ornithopter is a flying machine that produces both lift and thrust by flapping its wings like a bird. ### Why are human-powered ornithopters impractical? Human-powered ornithopters are impractical because humans are too heavy and too weak to fly, and our bodies lack the aerodynamic qualities possessed by birds. ### Who created the first successful ornithopter? The University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies unveiled their human-powered ornithopter Snowbird in 2010. ### What is a multiplane? A multiplane is a plane with multiple wings stacked on top of one another. ### Who is Horatio Phillips and what is he known for? Horatio Phillips is known for his work with aerofoils and his ludicrous flying contraptions, specifically his multiplanes. ### What was the Cycleplane? The Cycleplane was a human-powered aircraft designed by Dr. William Gerhardt, featuring a stack of seven wings nearly 15 feet tall. ### What were helicopter backpacks and why were they deemed impractical? Helicopter backpacks were devices that allowed individuals to fly using a motor and rotors attached to their back. They were deemed impractical due to their weight, difficulty in control, and safety issues. ### What were winged tanks and why were they abandoned? Winged tanks were tanks fitted with winged gliders to be deployed directly into battle from the air. They were abandoned because tanks are too heavy, and aircraft capable of carrying them were in short supply. ### What was the first successful flight by a powered heavier-than-air aircraft in the United Kingdom? The first successful flight by a powered heavier-than-air aircraft in the United Kingdom was Horatio Phillips' 1907 multiplane, which covered a distance of approximately 500 feet. ### What was the Hoppi-Copter? The Hoppi-Copter was an American-made helicopter backpack produced in 1945, featuring a helicopter motor and two rotors attached to a person’s back with harnesses. ## Sources - [Original Side Projects video: Mankind's Strangest Attempts at Flight](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9tHEEgomM8) ## Related Coverage