"patrick timony" wrote
That makes sense. I trust Leonardo. I have a feeling that he didn't
think any wrong thoughts. He wasn't a speculator as much as an
instrument that allows you to see possibilities. And his designs and
Otto Leilenthal's are so beautiful compared to anything since, they
must be right.

Functional and useful has a beauty all its own.
Beauty plus useless is still useless =D

Remember, Leo never got off the ground and Otto provided incorrect
coefficients of lift (which is why the Wrights had to build a wind tunnel)
AND he died in a crash after too few (very short) gliding flights.

As someone else recently quoted Igor Sikorsky here on RAH: "There are good
designers with bad designs and bad designers with good designs. If we all
flew our own designs, there would soon be only good designers with good
designs." Survival of the fittest with a vengeance!

BTW did anyone else catch the First in Flight special showing (and still
being re-shown) on the Discovery Channel?
Apparently the Wrights' propellers were 80% efficient in converting engine
HP into thrust compared to the 40% of their contemporaries.
Meanwhile, modern propellers are only 85% efficient. I find that to be
absolutely mind-blowing.

Eric