Technical Presentation & Forum – 3rd July 6pm

The club will be hosting a virtual presentation and open forum via Zoom at 6pm. This presentation will be open to all club members. Mike has provided a brief introduction below:

Hi guys. My name is Mike Holmes, I`m a 77 yrs. old, retired consultant mechanical engineer.

I live in Derbyshire with my lovely Wife Jo and we have been married for 23 yrs.

As a boy, I, my dad, and older brother made model planes and flew them with friends every weekend until in late teens I found girls and motor bikes could also be fun. After leaving school, I served an engineering apprenticeship with British Rail and started college, achieving my HNC in mechanical engineering and gaining experience in press tools, aircraft jigs, nuclear and conventional power station design, petro-chem and automotive industries, mineral extraction, and mining. I even had a little involvement with NASA and the space shuttle. I’m also a Christian minister.

I have been interested in man powered flight since 1972 when I acquired a book by Dr. Kieth Sherwin, called Man Powered Flight, and this book has been a constant part of my life ever since. I began my first design for an ornithopter having decided that conventional propeller driven MPA`s wouldn’t add much to existing aeronautical knowledge, but that changed over time. Anyway, I have kept developing my ornithopter ideas over these many years and feel I may now have something worthwhile to offer to the sport before I sprout my own wings.

So, I welcome the opportunity of meeting with you chaps and having a meaningful discussion of my project with you like minded ones acting as a qualified sounding board. I hope you find my presentation interesting, informative, and worthy of your attention.

Initial concept was to power the wings by an articulated wing strut and direct linkage from a foot operated lever. This primitive, tapered wing, design did not even address the matter of strength and endurance of the pilot. However, from tiny acorns, mighty oaks do grow. Over several decades and multiple iterations involving cams, clever linkages and other blind alleys, the current design emerged. I have learned that simple is best and that has been the maxim for my designs. The result is a 20-metre span, 33 sq.m, 115kg flying weight, elliptical wing, ornithopter.