Wow, does that bring back memories! When I was 16 back in '71 a friend and I did the same thing and built a huge bamboo and plastic rogallo wing from mail-order plans. It was put together mainly with duct tape and nylon strapping tape! You hung from parallel bars like Lilenthal back in the 1800s. Then I built a couple of aluminum and dacron kit jobs. Very basic old diamond-shaped rogallos with low aspect ratio and crappy glide ratios. Flew seated just like in your video. Took the kite with me a lot of places. None of us had licenses or formal training in hang-gliding back then (although I did train in sailplanes). Flew off some hills in Vermont, then from big cinder cones E. of Flagstaff here in AZ, Ski launch in Sun Valley Idaho, Cliff launch at Torrey Pines, almost died jumping off the Whitney Portal road, and actually saw a guy die almost at my feet while I was a spectator on the dunes at N. Truro on Cape Cod. Finally came to grips with My ADHD and sold the kite.
You're just a couple years older than me. You've flew at some cool places! My friend and I were also self-taught. I probably logged over 10 hours out on the Cape at several sites there. A beautiful place to fly back in the day. I eventually moved on to ultralights and then sailplanes.
Osprey, Sirocco and I think a Bobcat. Sky Sports stuff. Was that homebuilt biplane a Terry Sweeney design? Very cool watching the guys in the Olympus spiral right down to the ground. Very nice!
Sounds like you were there in the thick of it. You know your vintage hang gliders! Flying in New England, Sky Sports was a popular company at the time. The Sirocco you see on the smaller hill was the prototype. Sky Sports was doing test flights with it. The homebuilt biplane was built from plans I found in a 1911 encyclopedia I found in my grandmother's summer kitchen stuffed in a box of other old books. Thanks for watching. Great memories for me.
Wow, a piece of hang glider history! My friend kept his Bobcat II for a long time but finally trashed it. The sail had begun to rot. The remainder was surprisingly still in pretty good shape but it still had to go.
@@Watchingthevideos99 Took another look this morning. Looks like a Merlin at 5:24. Double surface "on top" like the Kestrel. Rare sighting of a rare bird. It liked to tip stall :)
@@christheother9088 spot on! That's Dean Williams flying at Talcott Mt., Avon, CT. Deane set early XC records in our state. I believe he was the first to fly from Avon the coast and land on the beach. Pretty cool stuff at the time.
The bamboo gliders were homegrown. There was a series of seven gliders in total. Each glider flew better than the last with changes incorporated as we learned about how to improve the design. The biplane glider was built using plans found in a 1911 encyclopedia. It was constructed of spruce and muslin cloth. The remaining gliders you see in the video were factory made. Thanks for watching.
