Published on 10/ 2/2007
Who knew that the X-Wing and its S-foils are actually capable of flight in the real world? Well, Andy Woerner and his friends certainly think so and will prove it using a quartet of solid-fuel rocket engines as well as radio-controlled moving wings. Looking at this brings a warm feeling to my heart, and makes me wanna shout "S-foils in attack position!" just before Andy blasts off.
The wings, including the root sections and the outer panels are about 8' long and weigh 60 pounds a piece, including the motors. The motion mechanism had to be able to move all four of these simultaneously, while keeping them in position relative to each other. Additionally, the motion hardware had to be strong enough to keep the wings in position once they were at the extents of their travel.