All you need to know about Saqqara Bird

Have you ever had any thought of similarities between a bird and a plane?? Many of us answer confidently yes, the science behind both of them is same. Yes of course but does ancient people have any idea of such technologies?

Let us dive into the topic and explore a mysterious event occurred in the past related to this.

In Egypt a place named SAQQARA is located 15 Miles away from southwest of modern-day capital Cairo, where an interesting and mysterious object was discovered near the Saqqara Pyramid in 1898, during the excavation of the Pa-di-Imen tomb. This excavation unknowingly opened a Pandora’s box to the modern-day enthusiasts…the shape of the object found is the real mystery even today. 

This interesting artifact is made of sycamore wood and estimated to be about 2200 years old. Its shape resembles a bird, it more closely resembles a modern airplane with the head of a bird. Furthermore, some symbols on the model airplane were decoded as "The Gift of Amon", and a note found near the artifact mentioned the phrase "I want to fly".

It looked like an ordinary bird but the wings and tail of the bird are designed very unusual, the tail of the bird is vertically shaped rather than horizontal and many aerospace engineers examined this bird and accepted that the aerodynamics behind the wings of this bird are more similar to modern-day Aeroplane and also expressed the body is uniquely designed as cargo and not made for speed.

For the first time Dr Khalil Messiha a doctor and student of birds realized that the bird is something different from an ordinary and claimed that the Saqqara Bird had aerodynamic qualities and that the only thing missing from the bird was the tail wing stabilizer with which, he speculated, it would have been capable of flying. To support his claims, Messiha built a balsa wood model and added the tail, surprised to see that the model indeed could fly. In 2006, Simon Sanderson, an Aviation and Aerodynamics expert, also constructed a replica of the Saqqara Bird and tested its aerodynamic in a wind tunnel, without the tail it didn’t fly and they added a rear stabilizing radar but could not furnish enough evidence to prove as an aircraft but we cannot strike off its flying abilities.

Countering these claims some developed nations explained we conducted  virtual tests on this bird and it failed to fly and concluded it as just a bird, might be a toy for a kid of an elite person or it could be a boomerang kind of device for which Egyptians are famous for.

Missing part of Saqqara bird.

How a person could design just a bird or a toy with vertical tail which he had never seen before? Egyptians and their civilization have contributed a lot to this society, study of such ancient and magnificent articles will help us advance in technologies.

“If we are missing something it doesn't mean that there is nothing”. Hope one day the science will do it.  

By Rahul Kandula