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Giant Paper Airplanes Over Tucson
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Giant Paper Airplanes Over Tucson

Yesterday evening, a giant, 45-foot-long paper airplane flew over Arizona. A group from the Pima Air & Space Museum designed and built the airplane over the last few months, getting kids involved through competitions like the Paper Airplane Fly-Off. Lead engineer, Art Thompson, performed flight tests, making sure the final version had the aerodynamics to fly at least 5,000 feet. Some last minute drama almost crumpled their airborne paper dream, when the aircraft buckled under its own weight the morning before the scheduled flight. With quick reinforcing and some initial lift via helicopter, "for several shining moments, our huge beautiful, silly, hubristic 45-foot paper airplane soared," reported the team in their live-blog. 

Photo: Pima Air & Space Museum


 

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Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine has been delighting aerospace enthusiasts with the best writing about their favorite subject since April 1986. As an adjunct of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, Air & Space matches the grand scope of the Museum, encompassing every era of aviation and space exploration. With stories that range from the Wright Brothers to the design of NASA's next lunar lander, Air & Space emphasizes the human stories as well as the technology of aviation and spaceflight.

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