COMMENTS FROM THE DESIGNER

Tailless aircraft, or flying wings, are rare. Factual knowledge concerning their stability and handing characteristics remains in deep mystery. In professional circles, flying wings are considered unstable and unpredictable creatures because they are highly spirited and extremely difficult to fly. However it is acknowledged that if such a tailless configuration could be made stable and manageable, this concept would indeed be the ideal flying machine. It is a fact, that over the years, a number of flying wings have appeared and flew successfully, but have never enjoyed any degree of popularity.

A wary public could not believe that an aircraft could fly reliably without a tail. I too was skeptical and refused to believe that flying wings were entirely manageable in flight. But then, as I was thumbing through one of my favorite aviation magazines, I came across a flight report concerning an unusual flying wing design by Charles Fauvel of France. It seemed so impossible and the photographs of the wing in flight haunted me for months. Finally, tolerating the apparition no longer, I constructed a scale model of his design and went to a nearby slope to watch it tumble. It was not only stable but easily outperformed all my conventional models in gusty breezes. Recoveries from gust stalls were instantaneous without loss of altitude. For further proof an 8-foot span model was built and flown with similar results. I was so over whelmed by such automatic pitch stability, that I had to learn more. And so I embarked upon an adventure which was to dominate my life ever since. In the next few web pages you will see some of the fruits of my labor and the joy of their blessings.

Jim Marske, President
Marske Aircraft Corporation< "</BIG">