Fixed-wing aircraft
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A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using aerodynamic lift. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft, and ornithopte
A Boeing 737 airliner is an example of a fixed-wing aircraft
The fixed wings of a delta-shaped kite are not rigid
Children flying a kite in 1828 Bavaria, by Johann Michael Voltz
Le Bris and his glider, Albatros II, photographed by Nadar, 1868
Ornithopter
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An ornithopter is an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings. Designers sought to imitate the flapping-wing flight of birds, bats, and insects. The term covers a wide range of possible designs. Orni
Fixed-wing aircraft
…using aerodynamic lift. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft (in which a rotor mounted on a spinning shaft generates lift), and ornithopters (in which the wings oscillate to generate lift). The wings of a fixed-wing aircraft are not necessarily rigid; kites, hang gliders, variable-sweep wing…
Leonardo da Vinci's ornithopter design
E.P. Frost's 1902 ornithopter
Otto Lilienthal on August 16, 1894, with his kleiner Schlagflügelapparat
Schmid 1942 Ornithopter