At the 2017 International Congress of Odonatology the opportunity was taken to present a half day symposium on dragonfly flight. This symposium was organised to honour the fundamental contributions to investigations into insect flight made over more than three decades by Charles Ellington, at a Congress being held at his home institution. We were honoured that Charlie was able to attend our Symposium. Because of a gentleman’s agreement with Robin Wootton, dividing up the tasks to be done, Charlie did little direct work on dragonflies. However, his work, especially on unsteady state aerodynamics, has had enormous influence on directing researchers. While he did not publish on dragonflies he did think about them a lot and has always been ready to comment and counsel. In terms of insect flight the four independently controlled wings of dragonflies provides both incredible manoeuvrability and power for the animal, and a supreme test of our capacity for analysis and understanding. Dragonflies can achieve accelerations of greater than 10g, and up to 20g in some interpretations, linearly as well as in turns. They can brake to a stop within a few wing strokes; two wing strokes can effect a 180° turn, with the animal spinning about its centre of mass. They can hover, with body horizontal. They can fly backwards. They can tumble. They can side-slip, whether climbing, maintaining altitude or diving. And in all these activities they seemingly remain in total control. In the Symposium the following papers were presented (for multi-authored presentations the presenter’s names are underlined):

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蜻蜓飞行：2017 年国际齿科大会研讨会在剑桥克莱尔学院举行

在 2017 年国际齿科大会上，借此机会举办了为期半天的蜻蜓飞行研讨会。举办这次研讨会是为了表彰查尔斯·艾灵顿 (Charles Ellington) 在他的家乡机构举行的一次大会上对昆虫飞行研究做出的基本贡献超过 30 年。我们很荣幸查理能够参加我们的研讨会。因为君子和罗宾·伍顿约定，把要做的任务分工，查理对蜻蜓几乎没有直接的工作。然而，他的工作，尤其是在非稳态空气动力学方面的工作，对指导研究人员产生了巨大的影响。虽然他没有发表关于蜻蜓的文章，但他确实考虑了很多，并随时准备发表评论和建议。在昆虫飞行方面，蜻蜓的四个独立控制的翅膀为动物提供了令人难以置信的机动性和力量，也是对我们分析和理解能力的最高考验。蜻蜓可以实现大于 10g 的加速度，在某些解释中可以达到 20g，线性以及轮流。他们可以在几次机翼行程内刹车；两次翼击可以实现 180° 转弯，动物围绕其质心旋转。它们可以悬停，身体水平。他们可以向后飞。他们可以翻滚。无论是攀爬、保持高度还是潜水，它们都可以侧滑。在所有这些活动中，他们似乎都处于完全控制之中。在专题讨论会上，提交了以下论文（对于多人发表的演讲，演讲者的姓名带有下划线）：