"patrick timony" wrote in message
om...
Can anyone tell me how far back military experiments with Flapping
Flight go?

All the way back to the Wright flyer. The original F-18 had a small wing
for the Navy's additional loading and was a twisty wing. I have heard that
the "small wing" will be tried as a beginning to the flex wing program at
Dryden.

I am interested in why Soaring flight is so rare in nature
but so popular with us? I've heard that the Wright Brothers patented
Wing Warping (Flapping) and never let anyone develop planes using Wing
Warping flight. Is that true?

The Wright brother's design was inferior to aileron designs, so the
technology was dead ended. With the F-18 "small wing" twisting resulted in
aileron reversal and was deemed undesirable. with modern FBW capabilities
it is hoped that the Wright's idea might be once again practical.

Does that explain why the designs up
until the time of the Wright Brothers were all Bird-like flapping
designs and after were all fixed wing soaring designs? Did the
military pursue Wing Warping on their own?

Wing warping is a very undesirable condition for current technology
aircraft.

What are the most current
developments in flexible wing flight and where are they being
developed. Thanks for your help.

http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers.../may/i_pw.html