Power to Fly (1953)

Man has always been obsessed with flying, and so this colourful and engagingly scored animation sets about following just how mankind has striven to emulate the birds. From the rather perilous early attempts - strapping feathers to your arms - to Leonardo's helicopter and parachute designs, we investigate some of the more daft scientific contraptions that married the best available science (?) and loads of imagination that were never going to get off the drawing board, much less the ground. The balloon arrives - altitude yes, but control - well, not so much. Maybe the Chinese kite might inspire some sort of glider? Well at least that started to take more seriously the concepts of power and aerodynamics. A small steam engine could do the trick? Imagination certainly wasn't lacking until 1848 the the first (short) powered driven flight took place. Thrust and drag are explained with tongue in cheek as aircraft were then little better than an "uncontrollable flying dart"! Man-flown gliders gave us clues, then biplanes with warped wingtips enabled some degree of control. Power, thrust, control - time for a powered flight and up they go in 1903. Briefly (12 seconds) and under-whelmingly. Once the principles had been established, though - and thanks to some substantial military investment of personnel and resource - there's no looking back, only down. If you are at all interested in the evolution of flying gadgets and the enjoyably imaginative use of hand-drawn animation then this is well worth a watch. British actor Maurice Denholm provides just enough irony in his commentary to keep the more ridiculous of these inventions in context and avoid getting too technical as the modern day engineering and power supply issues took over.