Strange Technologies: Circular Wings

Among the many general aviation aircraft in history, there are some wonderful and strange aircraft creations revealing our desperate desire to fly like our feathered friends.

Some of the early machines of flight were tragically comical – Turkish scholar Isma’il ibn Hammad al-Jawhari’s fatal wooden wings and rope system seem unscientific and laughable today. But in the 2nd century, the only other reputed attempt at gliding was inventor Abbas ibn Firnas. He used a cloak-and-wooden strut system, and though it failed, the cloak kept him from major injuries.

Even when we had learned to design successful wings that helped lift aircraft off the ground and sustain flights, the search for better performance, stability and safer landings led to the rise of round wing planes. These included the metal framed and fabric covered Lataste Aeroplane Gyroscopique, the Lipkowski Helicopter, the Davidson Gyro Copter of 1911, and several other prototypes of round or nearly round wing aircraft that mostly faded into obscurity.

Concept

A circular wing is a disc-shaped wing having the outer plan form of a circle.

If the aircraft has no fuselage or tail the disc-shaped craft is sometimes described as a flying saucer. If the entire disc rotates it is called a disc wing.

Disc-shaped aircraft development dates back to before World War II. A number of disc-shaped aircraft have been proposed over the years, and a few have been built.

Sack AS.6

During World War II, a number of disc-shaped aircraft were proposed by aircraft designers in Nazi Germany. One of the few to make it further than the drawing board was the Sack AS-6, an experimental light plane with a round-winged plan form that first flew in 1944. The aircraft proved unsuccessful, and was scrapped in early 1945.

Vought Flying Flapjack