History of Hang Gliding - Flexible Wing Hang Gliders

Flexible Wing Hang Gliders

The simplicity of the Rogallo wing, ease of construction, capability of slow flight and its gentle landing characteristics did not go unnoticed by some hang glider and ultralight glider enthusiasts. The publicity on the Fleep and the Paresev tests sparked interest in independent builders like Barry Palmer and John Dickenson, who separately explored distinct airframes and control systems to be adapted to a Rogallo wing and be flown as a hang glider. Dickenson is credited as the "inventor of the modern hang glider" due to his simple, user friendly, and easily copied design.

On August 1961, American engineer Barry Palmer developed and flew the first foot-launched Rogallo wing hang glider. This took place near Latrobe, east of Sacramento, California. Palmer used aluminium tubing and no wires for construction, fearing kinking during assembly. Most flights were performed with just a set of inclined parallel bars that split his weight between his underarms and hands.

The last of Palmer's foot-launched hang gliders flew in the summer of 1962 and it had a ski-lift type of seat mounted to the keel with a universal joint for pendulum weight-shift control; a single control stick was projected down from the wing. During the period from 1961 to 1963 Barry Palmer made tens of flights using this concept. His longest flight ranged in length up to 180 metres (590 ft), at altitudes up to 24 metres (79 ft), and had an overall glide ratio of 4.5 to 1.

Palmer's wing was heavy by today's standards and was not particularly portable. Palmer relates that he had a good aerospace job and was flying for fun. He did not attempt to modernize or market the flexible wing hang glider and shared all details with anybody interested.

In April 1963 Mike Burns first flew the Skiplane, a flexible wing glider on pontoons. In September 1963, Australian inventor John Dickenson set out to build a water ski wing that could be released at altitude and glide to a safe landing. After seeing a Rogallo airfoil in a magazine, Dickenson designed the ski kite he called the Ski Wing. Dickenson fashioned an airframe that incorporated a triangle control frame and utilized wire bracing to distribute the load to the Rogallo airfoil; the pilot sat on a swinging seat. Dickenson's Ski Wing was stable and controllable, unlike the flat manned kites used at water ski shows at the time.

The Ski Wing was first flown in public at the Grafton Jacaranda Festival, in Grafton, New South Wales, in September 1963 by Rod Fuller while towed behind a motorboat. The Ski Wing was light and portable so Dickenson decided to file for a patent; however, lacking resources, Dickenson procured a provisional patent – which would later lapse. By 1972, Australian builders Bill Bennett and Bill Moyes developed the Dickenson format of water ski kite into a foot-launched hang glider.

In 2012, John Dickenson was awarded the Gold Medal by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, for "the invention of the modern hang glider".