What's the deal with flying bumblebees?

[Kythereia]

Dear Cecil (or Teeming Minions, but I really really wish that one day Cecil would make a lifelong dream come true and answer one of my questions *happy dreamy sigh*)

A couple of years back I found one of those sappy motivational quotes somewhere that went "According to the laws of aerodynamics, the bumblebee cannot fly. Guess nobody bothered to tell the bee."

First reaction: Awwww... Second reaction: ...wait, what?

So tell me--how do bees manage it?

[Future days]

It was a puzzle until quite recently, when someone managed to explain it. I'm sure someone will post a link

[Earthworm Jim]

IIRC, the bee wouldn't be able to fly if it's wings were fixed like those of an airplane. Obvioulsy, bees are perfectly capable of flying.

[scr4]

http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a5_045.html

[astro]

It's an old urban legend. Scientists never claimed this.

The strange case of the bumble-bee that flew

[Dunderman]

Originally Posted by Future days

It was a puzzle until quite recently, when someone managed to explain it. I'm sure someone will post a link

No, it hasn't been a puzzle for decades. I'm not sure it ever was.

[Kythereia]

Ah, thanks, Dopers.

You may return to your regularly scheduled goat-felching and Og-worshipping now...

[Crafter_Man]

Yes, we know how a bumblebee flies. But Man Will Never Fly.

[Schnitte]

I really like this question, both because it's interesting in itself, and because it brought me to the Straight Dope. I was googling for an answer to this urban legend and I found Cecil's column scr4 linked to.