What Is The Velocity Of An Unladen Swallow

Verdict is still out on african but is probably about the same.

But the real question is not about swallows at all. In the end it s concluded that the airspeed velocity of a european unladen swallow is about 24 miles per hour or 11 meters per second. Swallow flight is for those poor people who have failed to watch it clearly very efficient seeming almost effortless. King arthur in the movie had two coconut shells that he banged together to simulate the sound of a horse galloping.

So answering the main question here the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow is something like 20 1 miles per hour or 9 meters per second. Although a definitive answer would of course require further measurements published species wide averages of wing length and body mass initial strouhal estimates based on those averages and cross species comparisons the lund wind tunnel study of birds flying at a range of speeds and revised strouhal numbers based on that study all lead me to estimate that the average cruising airspeed velocity of an unladen european swallow is roughly 11 meters per second or 24 miles an hour. So we ll opt for the lower end of strouhal numbers in our working giving us.