![]() In the late 1950s, the United States government took an interest in the Rogallo design for use in parachutes designed to return spacecraft to Earth. The development of Mylar, an extremely light, strong plastic, improved the performance of the Rogallo kite. Instead, it remained limp until it was given firm but temporary shape by the wind in flight. Unlike other kites, the Rogallo design had no rigid supports. In 1948, the Rogallos applied for a patent for a flexible kite called a para-wing. The most important innovation in the development of the hang glider was made by the American inventors Gertrude and Francis Rogallo. At this time, light, smooth wings made of fiberglass were developed for gliders. The rapid development of powered flight in the twentieth century led to a decreased interest in gliders until after World War II. Chanute's work had an important influence on Orville and Wilbur Wright, who invented powered flight soon after. Inspired by Lilienthal, the American engineer Octave Chanute and his assistants made about two thousand glider flights from sand dunes on the shores of Lake Michigan at the turn of the century. After making more than two thousand successful flights, Lilienthal was killed in a crash in 1896. He also kept detailed records of his work, influencing later inventors. In the 1890s, Lilienthal built 18 gliders, which he flew himself. The next important pioneer in glider research was the German inventor Otto Lilienthal. In 1853, Cayley achieved the first successful human glider flight with a device that carried his coachman several hundred feet. ![]() ![]() In 1804, he flew his first successful model glider. By 1799, Cayley had established the basic design for gliders that is still used today. The modern history of gliding begins with the English inventor Sir George Cayley. The Italian artist and scientist Leonardo da Vinci made detailed sketches of various flying machines, but these devices were never built. Similar brief flights are said to have been made in Constantinople in the eleventh century and in Italy in 1498. He supposedly glided for about 600 ft (180 m) before landing and breaking both legs. Oliver of Malmesbury, an English monk, is said to have leapt from a tower with wings made of cloth in the year 1020. Human beings have attempted to fly using devices similar to hang gliders for at least one thousand years. Hang gliders, on the other hand, are usually launched from a high point and allowed to drift down to a lower point. Other gliders are usually towed by a car a airplane or otherwise launched into the air from the ground. Unlike other gliders that resemble unpowered airplanes, hang gliders look like large kites. "The pivotal moment for this form of aviation was when Mr Dickenson realized if you put a frame beneath the wing, and made it independent of the wing, then you could control movement around two axis, pitch and roll." Mr Green said.A hang glider is an unpowered heavier-than-air flying device designed to carry a human passenger who is suspended beneath its sail. The breakthrough made by Mr Dickenson was his design for the pilot's control system. NASA didn't end up using the Rogallo design, but its simplicity did inspire hang gliding pioneers like Mr Dickenson, who adapted the design for his stunt kite. The invention of the flexible wing was the next significant development with NASA testing a design by aeronautical engineer Francis Rogallo as part of their research on space capsule recovery. "In those craft you hung basically by your arms and you moved your legs to shift the weight, and it's very ineffective and eventually that cost him", Mr Henderson said. Otto Lilienthal made more 2,000 flights of 250 metres but was killed in 1896 in a glider accident, when he lost control and broke his neck. Known as the "flying man", Germany's Otto Lilienthal built and flew the first gliders in the 1890s. The successful first flight was on September 8, 1963. "He wanted to build a flat kite and what he came up with just accidently, with a whole string of little inspirations, became the template for tens of thousands of hang gliders around the world", Mr Henderson said. The mission began when he saw a photograph of John Dickenson testing a half-size model of his new design for a kite. Mr Henderson was determined to prove that the very first flight of the modern delta wing hang glider happened at Grafton. The honour is the culmination of 12 years of research by hang glider pilot Graeme Henderson. Pat Crowe, who is now in his 80s, has been awarded the 2018 Hang Gliding Diploma by the World Air Sports Federation. Now 55 years on, the boat driver in one of those aerial stunts has been recognised for his role in the team credited with the birth of modern hang gliding. They were three mates who, back in the 1960s, were noted for their water skiing acrobatics on the Clarence River at Grafton in New South Wales. ![]()
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