Boomerang

A boomerang is a curved throwing tool that is typically designed to return to the thrower when thrown correctly. It is a traditional hunting and sporting tool used by Indigenous Australian people for thousands of years, and it is also used for recreational purposes around the world today.

It's important to note that not all boomerangs are designed to return. Some boomerangs, called "non-returning" boomerangs, are designed for straight flight and do not come back to the thrower. The returning variety are thought to have evolved as a special form, for recreational use and for scaring birds into hunters nets.

There are seven types of boomerangs. They are the 'returning', 'hunting', 'hook', 'club', 'U shape', 'Y shape' and the 'cross'

Boomerangs used for hunting are not designed for a curved return flight, but to fly straight and hit their target. The returning boomerang has only been around for about 200 years and is only used to frighten birds into movement.

It is believed that boomerangs are amongst the first flying objects invented by humans, which were heavier-than-air.

The oldest boomerang found is a 23,000-year-old mammoth tusk carving discovered in the Obłazowa Cave in the Carpathian Mountains of Poland in 1986. It is believed to have been used for hunting and ceremonial purposes. The boomerang is made of a single piece of mammoth tusk and is about 40 centimeters (1 foot 4 inches) long. It has a curved shape and is decorated with intricate carvings. 

Boomerangs were found in King Tutankhamen's tomb (1371 - 1325 BC) in excellent condition. Some of them were capped with gold.

Although difficult to say with any precision, it seems that the name is loosely based on the Aborigine shout; “boom my row”, which roughly means, ‘return, stick’. It seems that those who threw the boomerangs cried this to will it to return to them. Boomerang was first described in detail and recorded as a "boumarang" in 1822.

Aboriginal boomerang

An astronaut threw a boomerang while visiting the International Space Station and it came back to him, even in the absence of gravity.

The current world record for boomerang juggling (keeping at least two boomerangs in the air), is 555 consecutive catches set by Yannick Charles of France in Strasbourg, France on September 4, 1995.

The longest recorded time for throwing and catching a boomerang that stayed airborne is 3 minutes and 49 seconds. This record was set by Seattle attorney Betsylew Miale-Gix at a tournament in Tucson, Arizona. on February 23, 2008. 

The world's largest working boomerang is 2.74 meters (9 feet) from tip to tip and was thrown by the British Boomerang Society and The One Show at the Kia Oval Cricket Ground, London, on April 28, 2014. The boomerang is made of carbon fiber and is very lightweight, weighing only 1.3 kilograms (3 pounds). The boomerang was thrown by Logan Broadbent, a world champion boomerang thrower. Broadbent threw the boomerang over 100 meters (330 feet) and it returned to him safely.

The world's smallest boomerang to travel more than 20 meters is 48 millimeters (1.89 inches) wide and was thrown by Australian boomerang maker and thrower David Atkinson on October 8, 2019, at the Boomerang World Cup in Denmark. The boomerang is made of lightweight carbon fiber and has a very flat profile. This makes it very aerodynamic and allows it to travel a long distance. Atkinson threw the boomerang over 24 meters (79 feet) and it returned to him safely.

Sources Boomerangsrus.com, Funtrivia.com