90026_40888_Aviation_Failures_1932
This B&W clip shows two 1932 inventions that were utter disasters: the orinthopter (basically wing's attached to a person's back) and the rocket airplane.
The clip begins with a man standing in a field wearing an ornithopter—what looks like a man-sized set of bulky bird wings and a tail. He bounces his shoulders up and down to show how “light” the wings are.
We then see a long suspension bridge over a body of water. The man wearing the ornithopter jumps from the bridge and plummets to the water as the voiceover makes jokes. The voiceover continues to make jokes (such as saying “cuckoo cuckoo”) as the same man runs around in a field, then jumps off a rock and smashes into the ground.
Next, a man introduces America’s first rocket airplane flight.
Gathered on the frozen Greenwood Lake between New York and New Jersey, a crowd watches as Gloria, the little girl the rocket was named after, christens the rocket "Gloria" with a cup of snow.
Mail is loaded into the rocket, the rocket is fueled, and it’s launched. The rocket skids across the ice and is airborne for a few seconds, but the wings become loose and it crashes.