www.SanDiegoHangGliders.com - Here is a vintage old hang gliding footage that talks about the beginning of hang gliding with some incredible footage of the early days of hang gliding.
I built my first hang glider in 1973 - and I'm still alive, recently retired after almost 40 years as an airline pilot. This is what the flying bug does to you... The foundation of the entire hang gliding phenomenon was Rogallo's simple wing and the way he acheived rock-solid pitch stability. Following generetions of hang glider designers still rely on this basic concept of retaining acceptable pitch stability in a tail-less aircraft while solving the problem of easy roll control in a wide wing span weight-shift-only aircraft.
Thoroughly enjoyed this! I used to sit in the library in grade school and high school back in the 70s and look at pictures in magazines and dream of the day...
Bob Wills, man what a pioneer he and the whole Wills family were. The "Wills Airline" bit at 13'25" reminds me of the poor guy in the Alps whos instructor forgot to hook him in before a high mountain launch. The poor guy hung on for his life all the way to bottom, got a severely broken arm for his trouble and forgave the instructor. Who surely learned something about risking other people's lives through poor pre-launch routine.
Nice film about hang gliding-its history. Well done. Back in 1975 or close, Dave Seward and I bought plans and made a hang glider out of aluminum tubing, the best quality visgueen we could find and nylon rope. We didn't get it in the air, luckily. After that, the first time I went out with a real hang glider, a Seagull (early number), me, Ev Collier and Bill Nutter-we didn't know positive reflex on the keel was important. We tried running down the hill with negative reflex and augered in, nose first, every frickin' time. "Darn. Well then, I'll try." My first attempt was a nose in with me rocketing through the control bar. The first thing to touch was the right side of my right knee cap, on a head sized rock with two inches protruding from the earth. I get a steroid shot in it now and then and my doctor says I should trade it out for titanium or something but I'm still running on all stock equipment. One more season of telemark skiing is coming up, on that knee. Hang gliding was the most thrilling thing I did in my life and then it started killing my friends. It sure was fun and now I tele turn on a ski hill. Kind of fast. When that beautiful turn is done just so, it's flight.
John Denver's Greatest Hits (1973) The Eagle And The Hawk I am the eagle, I live in high country In rocky cathedrals that reach to the sky I am the hawk and theres blood on my feathers But time is still turning they soon will be dry And all of those who see me, all who believe in me Share in the freedom I feel when I fly Come dance with the west wind and touch on the mountain tops Sail over the canyons and up to the stars And reach for the heavens and hope for the future And all that we can be not just what we are
That guy Chris taking off in high winds was just like mine and my brother in laws first flights at Pendle hill in Lancashire circa 1983. I managed to scare myself and land our Bog-rog (as they were called) Tony got rotored at the back of the hill. I found him groaning amongst a pile of broken alloy and cloth. Happy days
In 1804 the first flight took place in England in Bishop Aukland by George Kayleigh...nearly 100 years before the Wright brothers. Ther was no official record of it but in 1853 he improved the craft and his butler flew a recorded flight...again...almost 50 years before messrs Wright.
