History
Research into rotor kites began in earnest during World War II, and one type in particular, the Focke Achgelis Fa 330, reached active service, being towed behind German U-boats as an aerial observation platform. In the United Kingdom, Raoul Hafner designed the Rotachute as a means of deploying paratroops, and a larger version, the Rotabuggy, was trialled as a means of air-dropping a jeep, but neither of these aircraft progressed past the experimental stage. Plans to similarly equip a tank never left the drawing board.
During the 1950s, rotor kites were developed as recreational aircraft, largely due to the efforts of Dr. Igor Bensen in the United States, whose Bensen Aircraft Corporation produced a series of such aircraft, dubbed "gyrogliders" by Bensen. These were marketed as plans or kits for building at home, beginning with the B-5 and culminating with the B-8 by the end of the decade. The Bensen designs became so ubiquitous that the term "gyroglider" is sometimes used to refer to any rotor kite, regardless of manufacturer. In the 1960s, a B-8 gyroglider was evaluated by the United States Air Force as a "Discretionary Descent Vehicle", to provide a more controllable alternative than a parachute for a pilot ejecting from a stricken aircraft.
Read more about this topic: Rotor Kite
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Well, for us, in history where goodness is a rare pearl, he who was good almost takes precedence over he who was great.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“... that there is no other way,
That the history of creation proceeds according to
Stringent laws, and that things
Do get done in this way, but never the things
We set out to accomplish and wanted so desperately
To see come into being.”
—John Ashbery (b. 1927)
“The history of modern art is also the history of the progressive loss of art’s audience. Art has increasingly become the concern of the artist and the bafflement of the public.”
—Henry Geldzahler (1935–1994)