From DAVID FISHER
I fear that Wolf Seufert has rather missed the point. I did not say
that the various wings could not fly, only that Bernoulli could not explain
it (Letters, 8 September). Briefly, the Bernoulli argument is fallacious
because it is a circular one. In particular, the idea that the air has to
stream faster over the upper wing surface is itself a Bernoullian deduction
and is not supported by experiment.
Nevertheless I tried Seufert’s alternative experiment of contacting
some flying schools. One referred me to ‘any elementary textbook’. Another
referred me to Techniquest, Cardiff’s permanent hands-on science exhibition
which uses the Bernoulli argument as part of its advertising blurb.
Perhaps I am being overly pedantic about the nefarious effect of persistent
textbook errors. After all, the word ‘aircraft’ was introduced into the
English language, and the first passenger-carrying aircraft was designed,
built, and piloted by Alfred William Lawson, who though that gravity was
a form of suction (the resultant internal pressure being relieved through
an anus at the South Pole).
David Fisher Cardiff
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