Aeronautical engineers.
 

I remember reading somewhere, a long time ago, that they proved beyond
a mathematical doubt that bumblebees can't fly. They also told me
that hummingbirds cannot possibly store enough fuel to make a non-stop
flight across the Gulf of Mexico and that bats and butterflies are
poor and awkward fliers.

Maybe so.

But they evidently forgot to relay this information to the bats,
butterflies, hummingbirds and bumblebees. The latter are presumably
the poorest learners.....or at least, readers. I see them pretty much
daily.....and not a one of them has the common decency to admit to the
simple truth. They insist on continuing to move from place to
place.....as if by magic.....through the air.

Hummingbirds (that would be the ruby-throated, the only variety we are
accustomed to here in the upper
Great Lakes region) presumably hitchhike.....a not inconsiderable feat
in this day and age.....not to mention the terrain.

So be it.

The bats and the butterflies......well, I beg to demur. Having seen
the latter successfully breasting a 20 knot wind on many an occasion,
not to mention seeing them time and again darting over the windhield
as I approached them at 70 or so miles per hour, I can attest that
while they may be poor and awkward by some arbitrary standard or
other, the've pretty much got the U.S. navy beat with their pants
down.

And the bats? Well, a dozen or fifteen or something were flitting
about over the yard just now. Bout enough to make a boy puke to watch
them jink in pursuit of an ill-fated bug. Outfit them badboys with
heat seaking missiles (or just about any other ordnance suited to
their size, I guess) and Katy bar the door!

Just goes ta show ya.

giles
who begins to believe that the conventional wisdom ain't.