The Flight of the Dragonfly

To call a dragonfly a helicopter—a common nickname in Spain—is really a disparaging analogy. Their aerial acrobatics are so fast that it is sometimes impossible for the eye to follow them. In short bursts, some species can reach a top speed of up to 60 miles [96 km] an hour. They can also hover or fly backward, forward, or sideways at a moment’s notice. Furthermore, when a dragonfly makes a tight turn in the air, scientists calculate, it must withstand a force of up to 2.5 G’s.

Dragonflies have two pairs of flexible, lacelike wings. Although these wings look delicate, they can beat up to 40 times a second and take knocks with a minimal amount of damage. Biologist Robin J. Wootton describes them as “small masterpieces of ingenious design.”

“The better we understand the functioning of insect wings,” he adds, “the more subtle and beautiful their designs appear. . . . They have few if any technological parallels.” Not surprisingly, the dragonfly’s flight techniques are currently being studied by aeronautical engineers.

Evidence Against Evolution

Many evolutionary scientists consider dragonflies to be the earliest flying insects. One fossil discovered in France is the impression of wings of a dragonfly that had a wingspan of two and a half feet [75 cm]! It is the largest insect known, being more than three times the size of any living dragonfly.

‘How would it be possible,’ I asked myself, ‘for one of the most complex flight mechanisms known to man to simply appear, perfectly developed?’ “There are no fossils of insects which are intermediate between the wingless and winged state,” admits the book Alien Empire—An Exploration of the Lives of Insects. It is evident that dragonflies are the handiwork of an intelligent Master Designer.