Air-Britain Archive 2000-03 / The Dominguez Air Meet, 1910

G H Loose designed a monoplane with a central engine driving two tractor propellers on outriggers. Its gull wing was indicative of the view of many designers of the period that the answer to successful flight was to copy the wings of birds - hence the use of the term 'ornithopter'. Though workable, this idea was a blind alley that failed to lead Loose and others into producing a practical flying machine.