In 1985, Steven Winkworth made the first large scale flying model of Pteranodon, which he flew over the Dorset Coast. The model was used in the BBC television program - Pterodactylus flies. This event was published in New Scientist and in the national newspapers of the time, but outside of the world of pterosaur enthusiasts it is not a well known event.
This weekend I walked at Park Hall Country Park in Staffordshire. Having popped into the visitor centre for an ice cream I was confronted by a painting of the Steven Winkworth flying model on the wall in front of me.
The painting was done by Christopher Guest some 5 years ago, when he worked for the Community Art Team of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, run by Paul Bailey. The wall painting is quite a faithful representation of the model, as can be seen from the photographs. What an unusual find!
This small exhibit room boasts quite a few pterosaurs, like these Quetzalcoatlus soaring in the skies, perhaps over Stoke - who knows.
Park Hall is a site of special scientific interest for its glacial deposits and bedded gravels, as well as having a wide range of different biological habitats in close proximity. Not a place where you would expect to find Pterosaurs.Winkworth S., 1985, Pteranodon Flies Again, New Scientist, 3 Jan 1985: p32-33.
Winkworth S., 1985, Pteranodon, Flug und Modelltechnik, 359, p990-993. Verlag fur Technik und Handwerk, Baden-Baden.
http://www.steep-steep.blogspot.com/
The design of Flying model pterosaurs was taken a stage further in 1957 when Erich von Holst made a flying model of Rhamphorhynchus. This model was powered by a coiled elastic band which was connected to a rocker device which flapped the wings of the model. The tail sail had to be horizontal to stabilise the model in flight. From this experiment it was clear that the Rhamphorhynchus form had the potential to be a very good flying animal.
In the 1970's a bat expert (Cherrie Bramwell) and an engineer (R G Whitfield) teamed up to examine and analyse the joints of large pterosaurs. They defined the range of movement in the wing joints and proposed a postural model for Pteranodon. G R Whitfield had flown a fully controlled life size model in 1973, but that model was eventually destroyed in a crash landing. This work was an extension of the Hankin and Watson work and was to provide a basis for future flying models.
Stephen Winkworth was a model aeroplane builder who had an interest in anything that flies. In 1984 he designed a pterosaur flying model, based on the Bramwell and Whitfield work which was flown in January 1985 on the cliffs along the Dorset coast. The model was filmed for the BBC television production "Pteodactylus Flies". This 15 foot wingspan model was an excellent radio controlled glider, though to overcome some stability problems, additional stability fins had to be incorporated in the design.
The Quetzalcoatus Project was started in 1984 and in December1985 Paul MacCready flew a half size flying model of Quetzalcoatlus. This flying model was much more sophisticated than the balsa and fabric model of Stephen Winkworth and used aviation technology for its construction. It had an autopilot device and a recovery parachute which could be controlled from the ground. The project was used to produce an IMAX movie in 1986 for the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington D. C.
Up to this point, the flying models of Pterosaurs had all been gliders or simple flapping models, using aeroplane aerodynamic theory in their production. The Stanford Project, which was supported by National Geographic was intended to build a flying model that worked like a real animal. This was an ambitious project and had an extensive team headed by Margot Gerritsen. The model flew in many forms, first taking to the air in 2006 with a stabiliser tail boom to allow the electronic movements to be tested. The model was air lifted and launched at altitude by a carrier plane. The Stanford model was nicknamed Herki and featured in the TV program "Sky Monsters", which is now available on video.
What next?......
Holst E. von., 1957, Der Saurierflug, Paleontologische Zeitschrift, 33, pp. 15-22. 7 figures.
Bramwell C. D. & Whitfield G. R., 1974, Biomechanics of Pteranodon. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, London, B.267, pp.503-581
Winkworth S., 1985, Pteranodon flies again. New Scientist, 3 January 1985:32-33
MacCready P,, 1985, The Great Pterodactyl Project. Engineering and Science, November 1985: 18-24
In the early days of research, Samuel Thomas von Soemmering made the first sensible reconstruction of a pterosaur skeleton in 1812. The reconstruction was missing several skeletal elements, but was a sound model based on the available evidence. He also proposed a wing membrane form which, although too generous in area was a good attempt at theoretical reconstruction.
It was not until 1882 that the wing structure was known from the fossil record. A specimen originally named Rhamphorhynchus phyllurus was discovered in the Lithographic Shale of Bavaria. At about the same time an isolated wing known as the Zittel wing (above) was published. Both fossils showed the outline and structure of the wing membrane of Rhamphorhynchus. This enabled much better reconstructions to be made.
In 1910 C. F. Eaton produced a paper on the osteology of Pteranodon with a skeleton reconstruction This was an inspired paper showing the skeletal form of a large pterosaur. Pteranodon was only known from crushed and distorted remains and this paper showed the skeletal form in a realistic way.
Ernst Stromer was inspired by the Rhamphorhynchus wing membranes and he produces a flying glider in 1913 which demonstrated that Rhamphorhynchus could fly with the known wing form.
By1914 the Hankin and Watson paper on the flight of Pteranodon gave us an insight into the structure of large pterosaurs that was related to the way they could fly. The framework was set for some real flying models.Watch this space.......
von Soemmerring, S. T. 1812 Über einen Ornithocephalus oder über das unbekannten Thier der Vorwelt, dessen Fossiles Gerippe Collini im 5. Bande der Actorum Academiae Theodoro-Palatinae nebst einer Abbildung in natürlicher Grösse im Jahre 1784 beschrieb, und welches Gerippe sich gegenwärtig in der Naturalien-Sammlung der königlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu München befindet. Denkschr. k. bayer. Akad. Wiss. math.-phys. Kl. 3, 89–158, plates.
von Zittel, K. A., 1882, Über Flugsaurier aus dem lithographischen Schiefer Bayerns. Paläontographica 29, 47–80 & pls 10–13.
Eaton, G. F., 1910, Osteology of Pteranodon. Mem. Conn. Acad. Art. Sci. 2.pp.1-38.
Marsh, O. C., 1882, The wings of Pterodactyles. Am. J. Sci. (3)23, 251–256 & pl. 3
Stromer E., 1913, Rekonstruktionen des Flugsauriers Rhamphorhynchus gemmingi, H. v. M., Neues Jahrb. Min. Geol. Pal., II, pp. 49-68.
Hankin E. H., & Watson D. M. S., 1914, On the flight of pterodactyls. Aeronautical Journal 18, 324–335.
This weekend I walked at Park Hall Country Park in Staffordshire. Having popped into the visitor centre for an ice cream I was confronted by a painting of the Steven Winkworth flying model on the wall in front of me.
The painting was done by Christopher Guest some 5 years ago, when he worked for the Community Art Team of Stoke-on-Trent City Council, run by Paul Bailey. The wall painting is quite a faithful representation of the model, as can be seen from the photographs. What an unusual find!
This small exhibit room boasts quite a few pterosaurs, like these Quetzalcoatlus soaring in the skies, perhaps over Stoke - who knows.
