History of paper airplanes
History of paper airplanes: follow paper darts and gliders through the article. Early folding references. Modern flight ideas and a classic dart lesson.
1859 and 1864: printed paper darts
David Mitchell’s Public Paperfolding History Project identifies an illustration and folding instructions in Games and Sports for Young Boys, published in 1859. It also records written directions in Every Little Boy’s Book from 1864.
The familiar pointed dart began as a folded rectangular sheet. Earlier stories mention paper darts, but a name in a story does not show exactly how the toy was folded.
1917: wings and a separate tail
The two-sheet swallow appears in the November 1917 issue of Popular Mechanics. One sheet forms the wings and another forms the tail. Related versions then appeared in folding books in several countries.
Who invented the paper airplane?
There is no established single inventor for the folk paper dart. A dated printed instruction shows that a design was known by then; it does not prove who first folded it.
Stories about ancient Chinese paper airplanes or Leonardo da Vinci making them need evidence specific to folded gliders. Paper kites and folded planes are different objects, even though both use paper and air.
A flying toy and a classroom glider
A sheet of paper can still introduce the same questions used in aerodynamics: how wing shape, balance and launch affect a flight. NASA’s classroom plans use paper gliders to explore those ideas.
Fold the classic dart →