The first flying paper items where probably kites which were flown in China over 2,000 years ago. The first reference to paper airplanes in the United States was when Jack Northrop used paper airplane gliders in the early 1930’s to assist him in designing wings for some of the early airplanes.
However, there was a lot of experimentation with flying machines in Europe before the Wright Brothers flew their Wright Flyer in 1903. Paper model airplanes were used at the start of the 1900’s as a common method for exploring the flight characteristics of wings.
DeVinci made reference in his writings to building a model plane out of parchment.
Later, the British engineer George Cayley identified the four aerodynamic forces of flight – lift, drag, weight and thrust, and is often known as the father of aerodynamics. He lived from 1773 to 1857, and designed the first successful glider to carry a human being aloft.
Which brings us to the inventor of the Whitewings paper airplanes, Dr. Y. Ninomiya. At the First International Paper Airplane Contest in San Francisco in 1967 his Whitewings paper airplanes took first place for both distance and flight time aloft.
This led to the development of the Whitewings Heritage series of paper airplane gliders and a reputation for being the world’s best paper airplanes.
Paper airplanes were everywhere when I was a kid, and the age of flight exploration was well underway. Paper airplane models flew around the classroom, down the hallways of school, and many a paper airplane glider could be seen flying around our home.
Today paper airplane models are a great gift for kids. These paper airplanes for kids teach them coordination, patience, aerodynamics and the characteristics of flight.
Later on kids discovered rubber bands which were first used to bundle newspapers and letters together, but served as great launchers for paper gliders. With the use of a paper clip on the nose, a rubber band pulled way back, and you could launch a paper airplane model which could fly great distances or perform aerobatic maneuvers.
Toy manufacturers quickly discovered that they could design rubber band powered paper airplanes, and later model airplanes made out of foam with propellers powered by strong rubber bands. These rubber band airplane kits became very popular, and we provide a great selection of rubber band airplanes on this website.
With the invention of foam it became possible to make foam airplanes, and to use foam to construct rubber band planes as well. Unique designs like the Space Shuttle, the Blue Angels F/A-18 Hornet and more became possible, thrilling youngsters of all ages and teaching the fine art of tuning model airplanes for the best performance possible.
Another great way for kids to learn about paper airplanes is to get a book full of different airplane models to make. Again, you can find a great selection of paper airplane books on this website.
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Real Paper Airplane Models With A Challenge!
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Check out these Real Paper Airplane Models! To the left is a picture of a Piper J-3 Cub paper airplane model. Paper airplane models, known in Europe as Card Model Airplanes, are very sophisticated models which, when finished, look so real most people can't tell the difference between them and painted wood model airplanes.
You have a number of models to choose from, including the famous Jenny JN-4 each a downloadable pdf file which can be printed in beautiful cover on your inkjet printer. Not for young children, these paper airplane models are a great winter or indoor project for anyone who likes airplanes and detail projects.
These paper airplane models are inexpensive to buy, fun to build and will keep you busy creating for hours! Don't delay, get the ones you like best today!
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The Most Advanced Rubber Band Powered Aircraft – The Giant Wright Flyer!
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As kids we first started folding some of our school papers into paper airplanes and then sending that paper airplane on a flight across the classroom. Next, we made another paper airplane to torment our teachers and class.
Then, some more creative souls decided that you could create a paper airplane like the one on the left with control surfaces you could change in order to make the paper airplane model do aerobatic maneuvers like loops, rolls and more.
