Lift January 2011
by and for the hang gliding community
The
gnuLAB2 paraglider in flight videos!
(local name "Barretina" for friends)
The GNU world's first paraglider in flight.
GNU stands for "GNU's Not Unix" from free software:
http://www.gnu.org/
known as GNU or GNU/Linux, whose philosophy is to provide the source
code of
programming for free study and copy. Similarly all plans and
technical
details of gnuLAB2 paraglider are freely available online for free
study and
copy, even for commercial purposes.
with single point hang and triangle control frame for handling to move
mass as wanted relative to CL.
Gyroglider kite, hang glider. Common principles not to be patented
in themselves.
JD wrote his papers for claiming two innovations for improved glider:
single-point hang and A-frame for weight shift. No go, JD, sorry.
Public domain material already in the big picture flow.
Enjoying joined wings: sense it by viewing Alex
Morillo's home workstation:
12 minute sort “towed” glide with Wills Wing Sport 2 Rabbit
good flight soft landing
Notice carefully the landing.
Recorded at
Florida Ridge Flight Park
South Florida’s strictly “towed” Hang Gliding Air Park
Near Vero Beach, Florida Sent in by Neil Larson.
Found on You Tube –
Very well edited, from launch to landing
Enjoyable composition with nice musical score and lyrics
High Definition clip of First Flight Wills
Wing T2 -15.01.2011- Sonchaux - Switzerland
Look for zip up of leg “sock” after take-off Sent in by Neil Larson
The Birdman was created in 1971
This was recently found on You Tube –
(titled simply)
Experimental
(clip)
It is a short random collection of craft at one of an early British annual
“Worthing
Pier Birdman Contest”
Also in the second half of this rare clip great valuable documentation
of very rare in-flight video of several pioneers in Southern California
production
Hang Glider Manufacturing during the early 1970’s
*Pilots possibly identified* in no order:
· Dave Muehl wearing beret [agree]
· Dave Cronk flying orange Cronk 3 with tip draggers
[agree]
· Bob Lovejoy in early Quicksilver design
prototype [Ed: not sure if that is Bob flying the
Quicksilver]
· Dick Eipper in Standard Flexi-Flyer [head and hair look right] Sent in by Neil Larson
Continuing to bring relative
information to LIFT in 2011
We seek understanding of the principles of Physics regarding Flight
– Centre of
Gravity pt-1 Centre of
Gravity pt-2
These delightful presentations explain laws of physics, presented by
the esteemed professor Julius
Sumner Miller - The good professor, a featured guest
on the original Mickey Mouse Club, shares his insights which reveal
why and how one trims one' harness on the keel for best balance and
control; – by understanding this 7 minute video one may properly
find the exact placement of a harness upon any hang glider's center
keel using these mathematical principles.
Contributed by Neil Larson
The Degen prompt!
Three cheers for the Degen influence!
Thanks to Degen for his experimentations!
Chris,
Dec. 1, 2010
Your Dad was super amongst us. And I knew you most young. Your Dad was
ever gracious, friendly, sharp, and a Wright-like hang glider builder.
Your Dad let me fly his modified Icarus II in Venice Beach on small berm;
photo got into the Santa Monica Star News.
And I helped you and your Mom and Dad put the glider together at the
Torrance Beach Turkey Fly that I sponsored.
Your Dad spawned a lithographic printing business after seeing what I did
from scratch to become for hang gliding a lithographer.
I was in your Dad and Mom's Pasadena printing office. They supplied
T-shirts and bumper stickers featuring my Self-Soar Association logo of
wind-lifted man in flight. He was top man and glider in the four-color
centerfold Photo-Fly photograph that I arranged where the pioneers were
assembled to show pilot and glider on a hill in Norco, California.
Low & Slow #12 centerfold photo.
I have returned to publishing hang gliding. My first decade with Low &
Slow and Hang Glider had several mentions of your Dad.
May I share your notes to the hang glider world without Mom's contact and
without your contact, as you direct?
Original historian Neil Larson is active again with me in some publishing
efforts.
One of several efforts: See: Lift via http://hgausa.com/
This is cc to Neil Larson who also probably saw you as a toddler. Neil has
some photos of early meeting with your Dad at executive table.
Soon,
Lift,
Joe
Dear Joe,
Dec. 14, 2010
Thank you for the kind words you had to say about my dad. I think that of
all his many accomplishments in life, he considered his involvement in the
early days of hang gliding his most proud. I attended Oshkosh with him in
1993 and he enjoyed quite a reaction when he produced his SCHGA membership
card when we stopped by the USHGA tent. For about fifteen good minutes he
was a celebrity and entertained many questions from the twenty- and
thirty-somethings about the "good old days" of bamboo, conduit, duct tape,
and plastic. I am so proud of this part of his personal history and please
know that you can share any of my or my mom's words with the self-soar
community in any way you see fit. It's a very special part of my mom's
history, too, and she would enjoy knowing that those early days and the
friends she and my dad made back then were somehow acknowledged. Wow, it
truly was it's own evolution of one segment of aviation, wasn't it? Did I
hear mention from my mom of some sort of "SoCal Pioneers Reunion" in the
future?? Would be cool if you could somehow hold it near the old Pacific
Gas location, huh? :-)
Do you happen to have any photos or other copies of early publications
that might contain mention or depictions of my dad, Joe? As you might
guess, I'm intensely interested in preserving what I can of his memory. My
mom wants to provide you with copies of some of our old (and getting
older) Super-8 home movies showing SoCal ground-skimming endeavors (and
some really interesting striped bell-bottoms...) when we figure out how to
transfer them to digital. We are desperate to have these and other movies
transferred to DVD soon as they are virtually disintegrating before our
eyes and the film becoming harder to feed into any projectors! We plan to
attend to this soon.
Anyway, I very much hope that you and yours are having a wonderful holiday
season and I just want to say what a gift it has been to make contact with
you as a sort of bridge to the memory of my dear old dad. I'm sure that
he's happily cloud-skimming somewhere up there.
All the best,
Tony Talbot-Jones
Wow this is inspiring: video 12 minutes on You
Tube 97
Miles Across Idaho
wonderful High Def in flight HG video by NMERider
7-22-2010 - 2010 King Mountain,
Idaho Hang Gliding Championships Day 4.
Wills Wing T2C 144 hang glider and GoPro Hero HD camera.
Submitted by Neil Larson
Patent number: 1181784 Filing date: Oct 7, 1915 Issue date: May 1916
[Ed: Lift HG clubhouse straight up by use of two powered
aircraft or kite systems.
Launch hang gliders from the lifted clubhouse.]
To encourage efforts of beginners at the
sport of HG –
We submit fledgling pilots getting their “wings” in far
flung corners of the globe as a means of sharing the
enthusiasm for the free flight of man:
Hang
gliding - LADA (2.1. 2011) Misko
Who says it’s too cold to fly ? Lada Slovakia, north of
Preovsk.
January 2, 2011 – Hang Gliding Training flights in the Snow.
Look for similar clips from this fly day on YouTube.
~~Sent in by Neil Larson
Young
Pilot goes for a
“training
dash” in
the bitter cold-
at
:47
seconds
into
clip
notice
snow shedding off trailing edge of wing.
~~Sent in by Neil Larson
All are invited to comment at the video site:
First comment posted there:
Please consider putting on two sets of skis on the TCF (triangle
control frame) basebar either inboard or on extensions; or fat
wheels. And consider a snout for further anti-whack. It takes very
little to break or wrench a neck. Paralysis and death have
occurred from the dig-in of the basebar followed by swing-through
of pilot base. JoeF
Jan. 3, 2011.
Snapshot of a web page on Jan. 6, 2011, and HangGliding.org
Invention of hang gliders has been occurring for centuries. Hang
gliders are a class of objects larger than what particular organizations
constrain for narrow purposes. Hang a payload tensionally from a wing, so
the integrated system glides through a fluid is taken as a hang glider
in this article.
Those who have contributed original and novel mechanical solutions
gift to all a pool of art that builders may later employ to make hang
gliders for enjoyment and commerce. Invention occurs inside and outside
formal intellectual-property-protection systems. Finding points for the
invention-of-hang-gliders timeline provides a resource useful for
appreciation, honoring, learning, and efficient furtherance of novelty.
This article will robustly fill out a timeline. It is a joyful thing for
people to rediscover what already had been invented; sometimes the
rediscover realizes their debt to the common public pool of art,
sometimes the rediscover does not reach that level of awareness, and
then can be found excited storymaking of "inventor" over things that
were already available to those skilled in the attending arts. However,
to encourage further invention, crediting pioneering inventing of useful
mechanicals, processes, functions, and methods, this article aims expose
earliest know mechanical arts. In a different article one may trace
those who used inventors' arts to build and use kites and hang gliders.
Craft and athleticism are worthy topics for other articles. Herein is a
focus on the invention of the mechanicals, processes, functions, and
methods. Getting good at using inventions is another important matter
due attention in other articles being built.
Timeline
of invention of hang gliders
Hundreds of notes deserve to be placed; have fun placing the art;
give citations and illustrations as possible.
Pre-500
In the first decades of year 1800: Thomas Walker taught well many
gliding mechanicals that remained useful up to today.
In mid 1800s Wenham embodied a triangle control frame in a
high-aspect ratio low-placed prone pilot in a glider.
Francis Herbert Wenham.
1887 Many mechanical solutions found in the modern hang
glider were recited in the instruction by
William Beeson of Dillon, Montana Territory; filed: September 2,
1887. in a published and approved patent. He illustrated,
perhaps invented before him, keeled flexible wings tensed about left and
right leading edges; he showed that weight-shift controls and
aerodynamic controls were at hand. He positionrf the pilot on a trapeze
having two down members and basebar. He illustrated adjustment of the
hang point for the hung structure. Jose Weiss (British, 1859-1919) seems
to have had the Beeson itch; exploring his hundreds of constructions
would be revealing.
1890c: Otto Lilienthal found means to have a folding hang
glider that could fit through a doorway and be then opened and ready for
flying quickly. Otto became an astute aerial hang glider pilot as he
used mechanical principles, functions, and methods already invented; he
refined the known arts into fine craft and combined careful methodical
pilot training. He seems to have been the first to design a combination
of artificial hill, integrated hill-top shed, integrated sheded hang
glider shop for hang gliding. He also seems to have been the first to
serialize and sell production hang gliders. Sport hang gliding was fully
in his text. He had monoplane and bipane hang gliders. Many see Otto
Lilienthal as the turning poing from pre-modern to modern hang gliding.
1904 in France a simple boomed boned flexible-wing hang
glider was demonstrated in front of a crowd. Berck Beach by
Jan Lavezzari.
Image.
Jacob Christian Ellehammer
In 1908 a gliding club built and used a cable-stayed triangle
control frame with pilot hung from keel holding and pressing the TCF as
was repeated by others up to today. The mechanical arts employed were
already in the art pool.
1n 1945 the fully limp wing was in focus by Francis M.
Rogallo for kites and hang gliders; stiffening such reverted to what was
well known in at least the first ten years of 1900s following the 1887
Beeson teachings. The leadership of image and use by Rogallo with NASA
used prior mechanical inventions while detail inventions were being
produced profusely on top of the at-least-by-1887 William Beeson
arts, each of which can be placed in the timeline carefully by editors
(detail control systems, special deployment solutions, etc.). Secondary
sport users for decades would use the the mechanical inventions of
earlier decades.
Domina C. Jalbert invented the ram-air double-surfaced airfoil to be
a game changer of first level for kiting in all its forms
(parachuting, much of hang gliding, paragliding, powered kiting,
powerkiting).
Spratt
1953 Igor Bensen TCF combined with rotary wing for a
rotary-wing hang glider. The TCF was already in the arts; his hanging
pilot behind TCF was already in the arts. Rotary wing was already in the
arts. But the world-around imaging and use of Igor Bensen penduluming
tensionally behind TCF for kiting and gliding went far to instruct the
minds of follow-on kiters and builders. (Guess who did rub strongly with
the Bensen flow of tech?)
FLG : Flatland long gliding hang gliders
A subset of FLG are the SoGHGs or "stay-on-ground hang gliders" for
introductions and training.
Controversies blossom fun, learning, distinctions
Historical revisionists blossom detail in support of favorite
fathers while ignoring or playing down or making up false stories. Yet
out of such effort comes enjoyable detail. Distinction practice is
invited while flowing critical thinking over the presentation of
revisionists. Nationalists dig deep to get favorite sons
more-than-sometimes-due credit. We get the delight of all of that
energy; we get to practice critical thinking while getting clear on
distinctions. Such wonderful play can be part of even further creative
actions. 'Let it all fly!'
Controversy:
When was the TCF added to the common-art pool for use by those
skilled in the art of designing and making hang gliders?
We know that at least by 1908 a cable-stayed TCF with pilot
tether-hung behind the TCF was installed in a battened fabric-laddened
hang glider as we know so well today (thus a true kite system); but
when, perhaps, before that 1908 point does one find the elements of the
TCF? Looking at the offerings of Walker, Wenham, Pilcher, Chanute,
Beeson, Otto Lilienthal, etc. there are mechanical elements that
indicate pertinent matter on this TCF question. Certainly any claim by
Bensen or Spratt and hundreds of others following 1908 have not global
invention grounds on the matter; and very late comers after 1953
become part of the storytelling space that can itself be fun reading.
Controversy:
Boned flexible wing hang glider invention?
Looking before even William Beeson of 1887 published approved patent
has one find boned flexible wing hang gliders. Fascinating 1880s public
domain flexible-wing glider experiments gave a foundation for builders
and athletes to try their wits on flying.
Positive-inflated hang gliders?
What is possible and where are we? What has been done, tried,
and results? What are the theoretical possibles? Objectives?
Will this direction supply some busable options? What projects
are underway? Toward such:
The Low & Slow-only objective where altitude pressure changes need
not be faced; but temperature-pressure changes need to be addressed.
Over-pressurization valves? Manual recharge? Wind-turbine
site-recharge of pressure? Leak rates? Variety of activity
targets? Various airfoils?
The soaring objective and pressure-change management
Pere Casellas notes: An inflatable wing using the principle of
Tensairity: "Interesting article from 2007. Probably
been discussed before. Written in high level academic format. Shows a
striking photograph of a "Swift-like" wing type with inflatable
pneumatic wings: The Pneumagic."
Clip from the Prospective site:
"The prototypes PNEUMAGIC I and D-NOSE demonstrate the possibility of
realizing slender yet strong structures using high-strength fibres and
air
pressure. In terms of capacity, they are somewhere between hang-gliders
and
gliders.
Aspect ratio and glide ratio: two inseparable terms when it comes to
flying
without engines. Because without long and slender wings - a high aspect
ratio - no attractive glide ratio - the ratio between gliding and
sinking -
can be obtained. Nature, which created the ever gliding albatross, knows
that
as well as constructers of state-of-the-art synthetic gliders that are
able
to glide for as much as 60 miles, at a height loss of 1 mile.
Implementing slender profiles as well as a fairly high aspect ratio,
using the
pneumatic construction method, was something that was considered to be
almost
impossible even within the team of PROSPECTIVE CONCEPTS. Advanced
textiles
and coatings will enable the implementation of constructions, which are
even
more delicate than PNEUMAGIC I and D-NOSE. Furthermore, their volume and
weight can be significantly reduced.
Our aim is to
construct a glider for a single pilot, designed for foot launch and
which has a glide ratio of 25 and a weight of 55 lb - the PNEUMAGIC II."
~~collaborative
contributors so far for this topic: Pere Casellas, Joe Faust, __________
References
1 Brown, G., Haggard, R., Norton, B., Inflatable structures for deployable
wings. Vertigo, Inc. AIAA-2001-2068.
2 Cadogan, D, Smith, T., Lee, R., Scarborough, S., Graziosi, D.,
“Inflatable and Rigidizable Wing Components for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles,”
AIAA No. AIAA-2003-6630, 44th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC Structures,
Structural Dynamics and Materials Conference, Norfolk, VA, April 2003.
3 Simpson, A., Santhanakrishnan, A., Jacob, J., Lumpp, J., Cadogan, D.,
Mackusick, M., Scarborough, S. ‘Flying on air: UAV flight testing with
inflatable wing technology’. AIAA-2004-6570 AIAA 3rd”Unmanned Unlimited”
Technical Conference, Workshop and Exhibit, Chicago, Illinois, September
2004.
4 Simpson, A., Jacob, J., Smith, S., “Inflatable and Warpable wings for
Meso-scale UAVs,” AIAA 2005-7161,
Infotech@Aerospace, Arlington, Virginia, September 26-29, 2005
5 Cadogan, D.P., Scarborough, S.E., Gleeson, D., Dixit, A.,“Recent
Development and Testing of Inflatable Wings,” AIAA-2006-2139, 47th AIAA/ASME/ASCE/AHS/ASC
Structures, Structural Dynamics, and Materials Conference and 14th AIAA/ASME/AHS
Adaptive Structures Conference, Newport, Rhode Island, May 1-4, 2006
6 Ockels, W.J., “Laddermill, a novel concept to exploit the energy in the
airspace”, European Wind Energy Conference, Nice, France, 1-5 March, 1999.
7 Ockels, W.J., “Laddermill-sailing, ship propulsion by wind energy
independent from the wind direction”, Journal of the International
Shipbuilding Progress, 2007 (submitted for publication).
8 Luchsinger, R.H., Pedretti, A., Pedretti, M., Steingruber, P., ‘The new
structural concept Tensairity: Basic principles’, Progress in Structural
Engineering, Mechanics and Computation, A.A. Balkema Publisher , London,
2004.
9 Luchsinger, R.H., Pedretti, A., Steingruber, P. & Pedretti, M., ’Light
weigth structures with Tensairity.
10 Luchsinger, R.H., Crettol, R., “Experimental and Numerical study of
spindle shaped Tensairity girders,” International journal of space
structures, Vol. 21, No. 3, 2006, pp 119-130.
11 Veldman, S.L., Vermeeren, C.A.J.R., Bersee, H.E.N., Bergsma, O.K.,
Conceptual design of a high altitude kite, Faculty of Aerospace
Engineering, Delft University of Technology, AIAA-2002-1735.
12 Breukels, J.,”KitEye: work packages 3 to 8,” internal report, faculty
of aerospace engineering, Delft University of Technology, Delft, 2005
7- by 10-Foot Tunnels Branch
NASA
Langley Research Center
Langley Station
Hampton, Virginia
October4, 1962
Mr. Barry Hill Palmer
1440 Las Salinas Way
Sacramento, California
Dear Mr. Palmer:
A copy of your very interesting
letter of September 17, 1962, to
Mr. Paul Bikle was forwarded to me. If we had "a convenient hill" here
in Tidewater Virginia I would probably have made a paraglider
somewhat like
yours many years ago, as I have felt since 1945 that gliding from
hill tops
with a simple, inexpensive glider would be great sport and could
become a
very popular one.
You may find the enclosed reports
interesting. Our studies here
are continuing, including investigations of many control systems in
addition
to the center of gravity movement used on the paraglider at Edwards.
The
low cost and simplicity of flexible-wing aircraft, however, provides
an
opportunity for private individuals like you to participate and make
valuable contributions. Several have already done so. We will be
interested
in hearing further of your progress.
Sincerely,
Francis M. Rogallo
Encs.:
1. Reports
FMR.phh
The contents of the letter
are released to LIFT, Hang Glider Magazine,and
Hang Glider History by Barry Hill Palmer. The shown is not a
photograph of the original. Copies of the original may be obtained from
NASA or Internet images as well as from OZ and the Hang Gliding Museum.
Barry Hill Palmer wanted a text-searchable version. The contents of
Barry's letter to Paul Bikle are in the archives of Langley Research
Center with Barry's original videos and slides and letter that he sent to
NASA.
62 MB file for plans
by Jack Lambie
Gentlemen:
A thoughtful viewer of my Otto Lilienthal Universal Hang Glider
Championships, May 23, 1971 YouTube video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-XC0dxerYs has provided a copy
of
his Hang Loose plans:
Paresev
1-C inflatable wing version. The program had many versions, some just
Dacron and aluminum-tube framed that spawned standard Rogallo versions.
