Italian students build largest paper plane ever, spans six stories and successfully flies

A group of talented aerospace engineering students in Bologna, Italy have claimed an incredible Guinness World Records title for the largest paper aircraft on Earth, after launching their high-flying Icarus on 25 June.

With a wingspan of 65.75 ft (20.04 m), and a length of over 23 ft (7 m), this colossal creation was made entirely out of paper and glue - and successfully soared into the record books after flying down the length of an aeroplane hangar.

Designed by seven Italians at the University of Pisa - including social media star Jakidale - the team stumbled across the previous record of 59.74 ft (18.21 m) while studying for exams, and were inspired to break the title held since 2013 by the Braunschweig Institute of Technology (Germany).

Their playful idea quickly turned into a real project, and soon they brought in a total of 16 helpers to work on both the technical and production side. After a MATLAB simulation, two prototypes, and months of work, they finally unveiled Icarus at the EU's We Make Future event in Bologna, where it coasted above the crowd of excited attendees.

"It all started with a few paper planes between lectures," said the group in a statement to GWR. "We were students convinced that, with the right approach, even a piece of paper could become real engineering.

"Months of study, simulations, mistakes and fresh starts, and in the end, this giant piece of paper took a record from the Germans that had stood since 2013," they continued, before cheekily adding that "Italians do it better!"

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Before building a giant paper airplane, the team ran a series of simulations online that could predict how a full-scale project would actually look.

They then assembled their first giant plane - nicknamed Prometheus, after the Greek titan who gifted fire and technology to humanity - which demonstrated the structural components they would need to carry into the next iteration.

Their next version was named Daedalus, a 26 ft (8 m) model made entirely from paper and glue, which was their first attempt at using the required building materials. It wasn't perfect, but they learned from their mistakes, and improved their techniques on a 13 ft (4 m) model that could actually coast in the air.

And finally, they created Icarus - the mythological son of Daedalus, who flew too close to the sun. Despite its foreboding name, the team was encouraged by his story of flight, and over the next few weeks they carefully turned the 62.8 lb (28.5 kg) aircraft into a precise piece of engineered beauty.