Zonker
THERE IS a strange fellow in the comic strips with an unusual demeanor, who keeps his cool in ludicrous situations while making meaningful comments and contributions to his society. His contributions often seem offbeat, yet strike to the heart of a real life situation, allowing the reader to grasp added insight to life. I like to think of this design as being an unusual, but meaningful contribution to our sport and hence, named it after Zonker Harris, the incorrigible character in Doonsbury. You may wonder what all the flap is about since canards (horizontal stabilizer in front of the main wing) have been around for a long time. In fact, the Wright Brothers original airplane was a canard. Wilbur and Orville found that some of the advantages provided by the "tail-first" configuration were exactly the ones needed to help the world's first successful powered airplane lift into the air at Kitty Hawk.
