Instructify

BY BILL FERRIS

Here in North Carolina, we pride ourselves on being the home of the Wright Brothers’ first flight (you hear that, Ohio?) So naturally, we at Instructify were interested in the experimental aircraft showcased on Lessons of a Widowmaker (and Other Aircraft), a terrific multimedia site from NASA.

NASA has tested some cool aircraft in its day, including the U2 spyplane, the Black Widow, and the Northrup HL-10, a wingless (!) aircraft that was an early ancestor of the modern space shuttle and weighed about as much as a Cadillac Escalade. You can see videos, specs and images of this and several other aircraft on LOAW. You and your students will learn how these planes went from prototype to production (spoiler alert: it sometimes involved violent crashes).

LOAW would work for both science and history classes — you can discuss the scientific principles at work in various models of aircraft, as well as look at the historical significance on the development of high-tech aircraft as it applied to the space program, the Cold War, etc. You can also play a card game and a matching game, but neither of these are as interesting as the info about the aircraft themselves.

Lessons of a Widowmaker (and Other Aircraft)

Related stuff:

Relive the Apollo 11 mission at We Choose the Moon

Set the controls for the closest planet to the sun: NASA Mission to Mercury

Blast Off with the NASA Kids’ Club

Observe NASA’s Earth Observatory