Flapping wings - kashuk.jpg (1/1) [43K]

As a result of the recent thread here about a French ornithopter, I picked up
on these pictures of the Manuzkow Kashuk, a sailplane based on the Antonov
A-9 glider and tested in the Soviet Union in the mid-1950s. The pictures
aren't of great quality but I doubt many people here have seen them before so
I thought it worth posting them. Come to that, I doubt many people here have
seen an aircraft with flapping wings.

Reportedly, the "relative airstream ... lifts the moving wing, thereby
compressing air in a cylinder; with the help of this compressed air the wing
is returned to its normal position".

The tips of the wings moved up and down about 6 feet whilst the frequency
with which the wings flapped could be varied. The pilot could also lock the
wings down for normal flight.

Flight testing was apparently quite successful, initially at least, but I
have no idea what the longer-term outcome was.