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Michael A. Markowski
... the core sector of a major
hang-gliding-history renaissance flow
Michael Anthony Markowski
Sky surfing, skysurfing, man-flight, hang
gliding, |
Timeline (data and image
contributions are welcome as we build this Markowski-flow timeline)
- Conceived Some Polish roots:
http://www.poles.org/db/m_names/Markowski_MA.html
- Born on Otto Lilienthal's
birthday: May 23, 1947 within walls of the Harrisburg
Hospital/
Interview source video. First three years of life in Steelton,
Pennsylvania. [Steelton
(wiki)]
Brother and two sisters.
- Lawnton, "which is about 5 miles or 6 miles East of Harrisburg"
[Derry Street; Franklin Street.]
http://energykitesystems.net/MichaelAMarkowski/47AndFranklinInLawntonPA.gif
- Age 4: "And how I discovered model airplane was when I was four
for Christmas in 1951, my parents gave me a model of a DC3"
- Lawnton Elementary
School /// nearby hills: First aviation memory:
"we used to fly kites"
Age 6: "I wanted to be up in the kite; and I made all kinds of
kites, box kites, the triangular Eddy kites. and I designed some of my
own, different sizes and stuff; and I was probably the biggest kite
flyer in the neighborhood and then I discovered model airplanes."
[ [ ] How
did he learn about building kites? ]
- Models
- Jack Lambie influence via a 1959 article
- Shoveled snow and delivered papers (and other jobs) in order to buy
model airplanes.
- Middle school science fairs deepened his aviation interests
- Central Dauphin East High School
wiki
- Physics award as senior
- Wind tunnels. Windy (and
later in life: a replica Windy)
- "Orville" was his
sobriquet
- Most Outstanding Science Student of the State
- 1965: Awarded by Governor Scranton: four-year scholarship to study
aeronautics at Penn State.
- Aeronautical studies. Aeronautical engineering.
- Three years to obtain his degree, as he matriculated even in the
summer terms.
-
- Douglas Aircraft Company, 1968
- Research engineer, Sikorsky Aircraft Company, 1968-70
- Hang gliding
- After seeing published items about So. Calif. hang gliding
activity in 1971 built and flew September of 1971 hang glider.
"My first HG flight was on September 18, 1971 at a Ski slope in
Massachusetts."
- Early Otto member of Self-Soar Association. He was respected as
the leader of the eastern-USA branch of Self-Soar Association.
USHPA number is 261.
-
NTIS (National Technical Information Service) documents regarding
Rogallo wings were purchased in partial preparation for the design of
some first stiffened Rogallo-wing hang gliders.
- Design engineer, Atkins & Merrill, Inc., 1970-72. His first
self-built hang glider was done here, with approvals.
- Comment in article about Dick Miller in 1964 is incomplete, yet
see notes:
http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1291&dat=19740915&id=sfwPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=UY0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5804,1847093
6C BOCA RATON NEWS, Sunday, September 15, 1974: Go fly in a
kite! But don't fall
By John F. Wellsman, Christian Science Monitor
- Early Otto member of Self-Soar Association. Official
east-USA seed of Self-Soar Association: skysurfing, man-flight.
He was a
wing runner (WR) and sky-surfing pilot, i.e., skysurfer.
[[A different sport is now contemporarily using the
term.]]
- Low & Slow presence. Hang Glider Weekly
presence.
- Tom Peghiny
- Skysurfing
- Skysurfer Magazine
- Sky Sports
- January 1, 1973: Man-Flight Systems, Inc. 1973-1975 First
eastern-USA hang glider manufacturer.
- Inspired by friendship of book publisher Dan Poynter to become a
book publisher. Dan was pioneering book publishing with his second
work after parachute manual: Hang Gliding.
Michael would come out with The Hang Glider's Bible
of over 500 pages, following an initiative by a literary age; book
came out in June of 1977.
- TV Game Show called to Tell The Truth (video
is available on his web site)
- Worcester, Massachusetts
- Marlboro, Massachusetts
- Eagle III, bowsprit using
Princeton
sailwing technology with aft substantial empennage
http://www.oocities.org/uptrx160/eagle3.htm
[[Ed: Some links will lead to histories that severely
neglect to notice that hang gliding had the triangle control frame
already by the early year of at least 1908 in a gliding club in
Breslau; one Aussie false claim of "invention" occurs; keep your
critical-thinking cap on. Markowski was steeped in aeronautics and
understood the basic truss as common art in aviation.]]
- Scientific American
http://www.oocities.org/uptrx160/SciAm.htm December,
1974.
- Tom Peghiny mentee
- The Hang Glider's Bible. Major
renaissance-forwarding book.
Cover image. 1977.
- Assembly and flying of the Man-flight: Models 119, 138, 159,
181, 204, & 228 (Skysurfer kite series). By Man-Flight
Systems, Inc. in 1973.
- We will be studying these images.
Comments per photo are invited to the editor.
editor@HangGliderHistory.com Thanks. Anyone!
- v
- v
- v
- v
- Year 2000: republish Otto Lilienthal's book.
- Ultralight era
- In 1979: Encyclopedia of Homebuilt Aircraft
- July 1982 Scientific American
- Married Marjie
- In 1981 they started: Aeronautical Publishers
http://www.aeronauticalpublishers.com/Pages/about_us.htm
Publishing
- Otto Lilienthal
Reprint of the seminal 1889 treatise on aerodynamics which served as a
guide for the Wright Brothers.
- Reprinted classic three volumes by James Means:
The Aeronautical Annual 1895
The Aeronautical Annual 1896
The Aeronautical Annual 1897
- Authorship, his works by date and title.
- Wings of possibility?
- Guess what the exhilaration of personal flight and great
partnership might do:
Possibility Press
- E.A.A.
Hall of Fame inducted in 2007. Michael
Markowski, EAA Ultralight Hall of Fame
- November 2008
harrisburgmagarticle.pdf "Meet the Sky King of Sport Aviation"
- Declares the Faust to be "Dr. Low & Slow"
- On 2009, October 8: At its 29th Annual Pennsylvania Aviation and
Aerospace Conference, the Aviation Council of Pennsylvania presented
Michael Markowski with the state’s highest aviation honor—the “2009
Achievement Award.”
http://www.aeronauticalpublishers.com/assets/PDF/awcouncilaward.pdf
- LSA Light sport aircraft involvements
- LIFT notes
- US Hawks studying at
http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&p=4858
-
Living Legacy interviews
-
http://www.idvl.org/harrisburglivinglegacy/Bio32.html
- An aviation ambassador couple: the Markowskis ... "Follow
Your Dream ... Whatever It Takes!"
|
|
[[Ed: Consider couple sobriquet: "Orville and Wilbur" ::
Michael and Marjie]] |
 Catalog of Copyright Entries.
Third Series: 1972: July-December |
|
http://www.worldcat.org/search?q=au%3AMarkowski%2C+Michael+A.&qt=hot_author |
Copyright entry in 1973
 |
|
The Amateur Scientist
Hang
Gliding, or Sky Surfing, with a High-Performance, Low-Speed Wing
---------------------
by C. L. Stong
December, 1974
Inverted Y" where the legs of the Y are connected by a basebar (during
flight that basebar is in tension).
(Ed: not
A-frame terminology; but old art from at least 1908, equivalent.) |
Misc. working notes
- http://www.sas.org/
-
Hummelstown, Pennsylvania
-
http://www.ushawks.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=22&p=4858
discussion on topic.
- Flows into the renaissance:
-
He had subscribed his parents
to
Low & Slow
and inherited 7 envelopes, some with the blue printed label and some
handwritten, addressed to "The Markowski Family."
-
[ ] Inc. papers, officers,
minutes?
-
[] first kite learnings?
-
Living Legacy interviews
Caution on spellings in the transcription of the voiced words.
Study each video. Some browsers may struggle to load the contents of the
page; perhaps a plug-in is needed. The link has been checked as
working; some visitors' experience has been an incomplete loading.
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"This is near where I made my first flight on the Cape, May 23, 1972, my
birthday and Otto's!, which I did close to where Marconi made history's
first transatlantic radio transmission. (My first HG flight was on
September 18, 1971 at a Ski slope in Mass. There's a stone plaque
commemorating the site. Tom was first to join me in HG after we met in
June 1972. He's now President of Flight Design USA, importer of the CTS
line of Light Sport Aircraft, the most popular brand in the world! He
never went to college, but focused on HG stating at 16 when we met. He
joined USHGA right after me; I'm #261, he's #262.
www.vimeo.com/77824418
" ~ Michael A. Markowski, Nov. 4, 2013,
email. |
|
Mike, your book
Birdflight holding the book by Otto Lilienthal was instrumental in
finding W. Simon's name; Jonathan found the name in a contest where the
book was a prize. Thanks again, JoeF |
