Another kind of what-if-plane and the first of its kind again. William Samuel Henson's Ariel - The Aerial Steam Carriage was to be the first patented powered aircraft in history. Like many of the early pioneers, Henson planned to start with the big commercial version instead of Lilienthal's step-by-step-approach. The Ariel was to have a wing span of 150 feet and carry 10 to 12 passengers. But one has to appreciate that he did not talk to the generals first. And, like many, Henson greatly underestimated the power needed to keep a plane airborne. However, due to its very low wing loading (it should weigh less than 1.5 tons), some 60 hp might actually have been enough for it to fly. But Henson had intended a steam engine of less than half that power. At last, it is more than doubtful whether 19th century technology would have been able to produce a lightweight structure similar to the Solar Impulse prototype (!), if yes, the Swiss guys should be ashamed. (Assuming the plane would have been 10 times heavier, it hat to fly three times as fast and the power requested grew by a factor of 30 - meaning almost 2000 horses.) The windows in the lower deck are not authentic, however, I didn't how Henson thought the pilot should look outside at all. I also was not satisfied with the bow, so I added a jib boom. Senks vor wjuing Airfoil: Conformal mapping (Shukowskij with x0=-0.125, y0=0.2, A=5, R=5.2) Grapher 2.03 AutoCAD 2011 Corel PhotoPaint 7 (no real postwork) Notepad