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Allow me to set the stage for you.
 North Carolina--fall 1903, and the brothers Wright are arguing over airfoil design. Wilbur wants a design
with more aspect ratio, but Orville just wants to go crash things.
Wilbur has taken two trips back to Ohio for spare parts
while Orville frets about the return of hurricanes; 1902 was particularly harsh
on the U.S. Eastern seaboard. The brothers need a break, but Coca-Cola just
stopped processing coca leaves and Kit Kats have yet to be invented. Forget
alcohol, as temperance was in full bloom.
To settle this argument, the brothers turn to their
extensive notes of wind tunnels and model aircraft.
Yes, that's right. Though inventors of the airplane, they
are not the inventors heavier-than-air flight. In fact, to whose credit such
can be attributed is impossible to assert, as Ancient China produced papyrus,
and within a few decades the Japanese began practicing origami.
No matter which ancient Asians
are responsible, paper airplanes began appearing an estimated 2,300 years ago.
With such a lengthy heritage, revolutionary designs and ideas have taken ahold
of "aerogami."
 The
design of paper aircraft was rather stagnant until after World War II, which
typically relied y upon origami designs for airfoils. Children (and children
at heart) were obviously the driving market behind paper aircraft, and designs in
the early 1900s were often sold as toys or printed in the newspaper's Sunday
comics. As powered flight became prevalent, plastic and metal toy models helped
captivate a generation of youngsters. Once war broke out resources were
reassigned and children were left with paper designs again. Yet during this
entire time aerospace companies continued to use paper models.
There is a unique reason paper was used until World War II
by companies such as Heinkel and Lockheed to test model aircraft. Compared to
lightweight woods such as balsa, paper has a higher density and an in-scale
strength-to-thickness ratio comparable to aluminum, and fiberboard is a
suitable substitute for steel. Secured in a wind tunnel, engineers were able to
measure the effects of thrust, lift, gravity and drag in an inexpensive, safe
environment.
 Even though a paper airplane does not resemble its real life
counterpart, it helps illustrate several important aerodynamic principles.
Perhaps the most important would be aspect ratio; the distance between wingtips
is called wingspan, and the distance between the leading and trailing edges of
the wing is called the chord. These two measurements formulate the aspect
ratio, which helps determine appropriate materials for wing construction. Low
aspect ratio wings have a longer chord than wingspan, require a higher velocity
to produce the required lift, and are exceptionally more maneuverable. However,
they are subject to great deal of induced drag. On the other hand, high aspect
ratio wings produce more lift from less speed, are more much stable, and are
subjected to more parasitic drag than induced drag.
The difference in aspect rations is best exemplified by two
types of paper planes: the classic dart and the sailplane.
 
It's not mistake that the dart best resembles a fighter jet, while the sailplane is akin to bombers.
We cannot dissect paper planes without paying dues to other
paper flying contraptions. Leonardo Da Vinci used paper models to test his
parachute and ornithopter ideas. (One
worked somewhat well. Can you guess which one?) Paper helicopters have been
in fashion since at least 1967. It isn't limited to just autogyros, as several
variations that produce lift have been crafted.
Eventually, manufacturers began using blueprints, computers,
programs and other brainy, no-fun things so paper airplane development needed a
boost from enthusiasts. In the 1980s, Professors E.H Matthews and Yasuaki
Ninomiya of South Africa and Japan, respectively, began producing CAD-based
origami designs that required cutting, pasting and assembly. These innovations,
as well as online collaboration, have produced world record setting paper
planes almost annually. Records are commonly set for distance (226' 10" by Joe
Ayoob, 2012) and time aloft (27.9 seconds by Takuo Toda, 2012).
Since 2008, Japan's space
agency, JAXA, has been exploring flying paper airplanes from the International
Space Station to Earth's surface. Up to 100 planes made of  silicon-coated, heat-resistant
paper would demonstrate the feasibility of slow-speed, low-friction orbit
reentry. The journey would take as long as several months. JAXA has all but
abandoned the plan however, presumably
after NASA and Roscosmos
laughed in their faces after admitting that it could be impossible to
track and find even a single plane. However,
in 2011, Project Space Planes let
go of 100 planes 23 miles above Germany. Assigned a memory card, planes were
found in Australia, Canada, India, and South Africa.
So with all this talk of paper planes of course I'm to
provide you, dear keyboard jockey, with two of the best paper plane tutorials I
can find…for free! You should probably check now to make sure your boss isn't
looking over your shoulder.
To build the classic dart as mentioned above, follow this link.
I built one from memory in about 30 seconds. If you want to get right to the
hard stuff, I found a paper model of the F-117 also on Amazing Paper Planes.
Here is how they turned out: 
The dart flies straight as an arrow. I'll admit my Nighthawk
looks awesome, but flies like a moth:
haphazardly and lame.
If you decide to make one, I'd love to know how it turned out. Of course, I
don't take any responsibility for the consequences of airstrikes into your
coworker's cubicles.
Resources
Images credits: The Henry Ford Blog; Amazin' Avenue; Vimeo; Gstatic; Libertad Digital
Wikipedia - Paper plane; Paper plane launched from space
Project Space Planes
Berkeley.edu - The Science of Paper Airplanes
Amazing Paper Airplanes
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Re: Paper Plane Modeling
