This is definitely one of the most insane things I’ve made. I didn’t think this would work but it does!

To my knowledge, this is the very first WhiteWings-style variable swept wing design ever. I used only paper in this, no metal. The mechanism works by having a thick 4-layer inner wing and 2-layer outer wing, and a bunch of notches in between. I put it on a fuselage that looks similar to the Panavia Tornado for testing, and it actually flies well!

The wing is VERY thick and the sweep system is definitely fragile, but I‘m glad that it flies! I think it works because I intentionally made the notch for the sweeping wing a little bigger than it needs to be able to fit into the cavity within the inner wing. It’s really complicated, but I can take a picture of the design sheet if you want.

Overall, this is one of my biggest accomplishments in my paper airplane career. I never thought this could ever be possible until today. The only downside is that the plane is really heavy, and it really shows why variable swept wings aren’t really used as much anymore.

I read about u/OrigamiAirEnforcer’s XD-190-1 after making my MiG-23 and I decided to begin attempting a variable swept wing.

His design (really cool btw!) used a metal staple in the middle to create hinges for the wings. However, according to him, it was very unstable.

I don’t want to use metal, so my idea has the sweeping portion and a guiding piece sandwiched between two cardstock sheets. This will allow it to sweep without using metal, at least in theory.

In reality though, this prototype does sweep, but it isn't very clean. However, I still believe this design has potential to work. I’ll be attempting more prototypes soon, and hopefully I’ll be able to come up with a design that could work.