Apr 29 2008
Test Flight Video of the Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind Mehve Glider
Ever wished for a bat mobile, or an x-wing fighter? Maybe a Mehve glider from Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind.
The 1984 film of Hayao Miyazaki’s graphic novel captured my imagination as a child. The giant airships, the toxic jungle, and most of all Nausicaa’s Mehve or Mowe glider. I really like the German word Mowe, as it means seagull, which is what the glider looks like when you see it. The Graphic Novel is probably one of the best things I’ve ever read. For me it is up there with Spiegelman’s Maus.
The Graphic Novel is a tale of the after math of a major ecological disaster. In this story humans destroyed the world in seven days of fire. The remainder of the human population is now threatened by a toxic jungle filled with giant insects and miasma. The major nation states are now vying for the territory that is left as the toxic jungle increases in size. Nausicaa is from the Valley of Wind, a small fiefdom to the kingdom of Torumeka near the acid lake. Winds off the acid lake keep the miasma and jungle from encroaching on the small jungle. War finds the Valley of the Wind and young Nausicaa a girl with a special telepathic link to other living creatures. She is thrust into the conflict between Torumeka and Pejite and manages to create her own side in the conflict striving to live in balance with the new eco system that was created after the seven days of fire.
These crazy Japanese guys have built up a working model of Nausicaa’s enigmatic Mowe.
The gap is closing on my childhood dreams. What’s next? A real lightsaber? Maybe it’s better that we don’t get those…
Check out the test flight video of the Mowe.
Wow he did well with that glider. That has to be one of the most unstable configurations I’ve seen. With very little dihedral at the root and anhedral at the tips, a high aspect ratio, ridged and tailless with aileron control surfaces and then put the pilot on top essentially making it a low-winger, and blah, blah, blah, yadda, yadda, yadda, you get the picture. I would probably be caught dead flying that one and I’ve flown some very high performance dangerous gliders on a tow line just like in the video.
Well keep in mind the glider idea was thought up by Hayao Miyazaki for a comic book. The fact that it flies at all is a miracle in and of itself.
Sorry are you saying you WOULD be caught dead, or WOULDN’T be caught dead on this glider?
I like the idea of you building one and giving it a test flight.
Keith
I “would be caught dead”, meaning I would fly it but it would probably end up killing me. That design may be a death trap. I don’t think you can build in proper stall/dive recovery, but I’m not sure. It would probably recover from gentle stalls but a whip or very abrupt stall (the kind you can experience while towing) would most likely put the wing into inverted flight (if you didn’t hit the ground first) which with that design might be more stable (kind of like a kayak).
Although anyone who can build such a cool looking comic book glider and make it fly is damn good fer sure.
I’ve been building RC model/scale gliders lately. I take them out to a big field hook them up to 250’ of bungee cord and twine, stretch it out and launch the gliders into the air and see how long I can keep them up. Problem is my neck gives out after 30min. It’s fun. Here’s one I built: http://www.carvegp.com/misc_images/5.jpg 2 meter wing span.
cool!!!! A real Mehve. Once you make many of these, send me out one to B.C., Canada
For it to really launch properly you have to fire up the reactor, start the jet, and hop aboard. Although in a pinch you can jump off a cliff while hanging underneath and then flip yourself on top. She makes it look so easy in the movie…