Shape Changing Plane In Development

Eh-Wire writes "The University of Florida has a short article on the "morphing wing" drone they are developing for a small aircraft that can swoop through parking garages, dive into alleys and land on balconies. Close-up video of seagulls in flight was the inspiration for the design of the drone. A still image of the drone shows an aircraft that looks surprisingly gull-like. A video shows the "wing morphing" in action on a static mounted drone. There is also a link to quite a few more videos in the article but it's not real obvious. Some guys get all the phun jobs!"

Comments

The wing shape isn't new...

[Assmasher]

MAW (Mission Adaptive Wing) designs have been tested since the sixties at least (probably earlier.) Still cool though.

Re:The wing shape isn't new...

[LWATCDR]

Actually all modern wings change shape in flight. Between flap and movable leading edges all change the airfoil of the wing to a degree. The Mission Adaptive Wing was a more extreme version of this.

Coralized link to Mpeg

[Guano_Jim]

Here's the video

Coralized, so hopefully people will be able to view it.

I'm not sure if the file goes over Coral's size limit.

The wing warping patent battles

[PapayaSF]

As old as powered flight. The Wright Brothers patented a wing warping system that was used on the Wright Flier, which was of course, the first powered heavier than air craft to successfuly fly.

Very true, and Slashdot readers might be interested to know that wing warping was the subject of a huge patent battle between the Wrights and Glenn Curtiss. See here and here. The consensus is that the patent fight significantly inhibited US aircraft development at the time.