The Best Paper Airplane in the World

One of the things that happens when we are in Crestline and our small grandchildren are visiting is that they fold and fly numerous paper airplanes. They know where the good-on-one-side stack of paper is kept beneath the printer and that they may take as much of it as they wish. Our house is built with a balcony and a railing that makes a perfect place to fly these planes. They dip and zoom, sometimes even landing in one of the living room chandelier bowls. I think a few days ago I heard Pappy telling one of them about the fire danger of such a landing spot. Anyway, by the time the youngsters are ready to go home, there is a paper fleet of airplanes scattered around the house–sometimes in hangers–usually not. 😦

(All the parents of my grandchildren are excellent about cleaning up and putting away toys at the end of the visit. That for sure is a blessing.)

I think my grandchildren are going to love these instructions I have found, for from my observations, their planes are not cutting-edge, nor world-class paper planes. Seem rather ordinary to me, and quite subject to crash.

By: Michael O’Reilly

During the summer of 1950, on the outskirts of Harrisburg Pennsylvania U.S.A., my sister’s boyfriend “Skip” was sitting on the glider on the front porch of our house. He said to me – “Hey Mike… bring me a sheet of paper.” I answered why? and he responded with his make believe impatience “Just bring it!” I obeyed and he said that he was going to build the best paper airplane in the world. I was eight years old at the time and my meager knowledge of paper airplanes was the traditional flying wedge that spiraled into tight loops and fell head first to the ground.

When he started folding the paper, I knew this was something different, something special. He never explained how he did it but every move, every fold, every detail was burned into my memory. After he finished, we walked the porch handrail and he gently tossed it horizontally towards the street. It glided like no paper airplane I have ever seen before, it was acting like a REAL airplane. It gently curved into the slight breeze and began to rise vertically without moving forward. The craft then began to lower as if it were a helicopter and gently came to rest on the asphalt below.

Over the years, I have shown many eight year old children this paper plane. I don’t know if they will remember but I hope they pass the knowledge on.

What makes this paper airplane so special?

Assembly instructions
Printer friendly instructions
How to fly it

I can hear it now–some of you men will want to check this out and see if indeed a superior paper airplane is created. I suppose it’s okay, even if you don’t have any grandkids, but you must promise to give a report of your success–or 😦 failure.

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My devotional blog is here.