Page:Aerial Flight - Volume 2 - Aerodonetics - Frederick Lanchester - 1908.djvu/424



boomerang originated as a weapon amongst the aborigines of Australia, both for use in war and for the pursuit of game. It must be looked upon from its origin as a discovery rather than a premeditated invention.

Fig. 186.

The Australian boomerang (Fig. 186) is commonly made from a naturally bent piece of hard wood, whittled down roughly to the form of section given at (a); the shape is that of two approximately straight limbs malting an obtuse angle with one another, but the angle is sometimes a right angle. The boomerang, when correctly thrown, has a spin imparted to it, the throw consisting in great part of a wrist motion, and the flight-path may be made to vary considerably, depending in part upon the form of the particular boomerang chosen, and in part upon the manner in which it is thrown. The most characteristic peculiarity of the flight is the well-known "return," though this feature is not invariably present.