Re: More on Argentavis

[Tommy Tyrberg <tommy.tyrberg@norrkoping.mail.telia.com>]

At 05:37 2007-07-04, jrc wrote:

> Note that many insects, dragonflies for instance do have rather 
> effective aerofoils.  The veins are oriented to force the airfoil 
> shape under load.

It is a common misconception that a wing has to have "airfoil shape" 
to work. Many aircraft have symmetric wings profiles which work 
perfectly well provided the wing has a positive angle of attack. 
Remember that a wing works by deflecting the airstream downwards. Any 
shape that does this will work as a wing provided the speed is high 
enough. Of course some shapes are better than others in specific 
cases (gnats, dragonflies, teratorns, pterosaurs, 747's, XB-70's, 
space shuttles etc).

Tommy Tyrberg