Whitewings Paper Airplanes

As the name of this website suggests, Foldable Flight is dedicated to the art and science of folded paper airplanes. This is where you take a single sheet of paper and fold it into an aerodynamic glider. But have you ever heard of "cut-and-paste" paper airplanes? Instead of folding a single sheet, you start with a few sheets of thick cardstock printed with airplane parts. You cut them out, glue them together, and end up with a sleek, high-performance glider.

One of the most iconic brand names in this space was Whitewings. Back in the '80s and '90s, these kits were everywhere: toy stores, hobby shops, and museum gift shops. They sold millions, and for good reason! These planes fly incredibly well.

Hundreds of different Whitewings designs were released in a variety of styles. "Racer Planes" were designed for performance and could be launched with a rubber band. With proper adjustment and launching technique, these planes could circle overhead for 30 seconds or more. There are reports of these airplanes getting caught in rising columns of warm air and disappearing from sight!

"Profile Planes" were replicas of real life airplanes. You could build a classic "Wright Flyer" that looked just like the first Wright Brothers airplane, or you could build a modern "F-15 Eagle" Fighter Jet, or you could build a "Boeing 747" commercial airplane.

There were also "Creative Planes" that came in a wide variety of interesting designs. There were planes with 5 wings, asymmetrical wings, flying cars, and even a paper airplane with a working propeller!

Part of the fun was figuring out which Whitewings airplane was your favorite.

The Whitewings website has just been relaunched with detailed information about all of the paper airplanes that were released in it's history. There is even an opportunity for you to purchase some of these paper airplanes, printed on the specialty cardstock paper, and then you can build and fly them at home. So, if you are looking for something new to try, check it out!

www.whitewings.com

Article written by Jake Olefsky