1970   1971   1972 1973  1974   1975   1976   1977   1978   1979

See medium size of historical certificate.

See very high quality 2 mb size of same.

• Scott Sled hang glider flight base jumping, father and son in Venice, CA.
• Send facts on  Low & Slow to  LowAndSlow@hanggliderhistory.com   CD?    tcNtes
• Francis Melvin Rogallo granted an honorary doctorate degree from Kite Information and Technology Exchange Society of America  for his contributions in research on the Rogallo wing that found its way into the foundations of kiting,  hang gliding,  and other aircraft.  This adds to Dr. Francis Rogallo's legacy.
• The Jack Lambie circle spins. Hang Loose project at a school. Plans follow. World coverage results. Near Long Beach,  California, Jack was a summer-school principal at Collins School summer session where he also taught a class in science and crafts.  Read here part of the story.  Hang Loose  was a large low cost tailed biplane hang glider using parallel-bars for the pilot to adjust for pitch and leg-mass swing to control roll/yaw, if possible. Media attention continued building the appetite for hang gliding that had been building from many other  influencing streams (aeromodelling, soaring, gliding, Rogallo phenomenon, kiting, water-ski kiting, space re-entry test vehicles, art, popular aviation, EAA, etc.). Lambie added a "for everyone now for pennies" deal to get flying by way of school groups and homebuilders. He carried with him his profound associations with the soaring community and aviation community which included Richard Miller who had already been influencing low-cost light personal flight through writings, modeling, exampling, and a carrying of only part of the Barry Palmer legacy via  prior Bamboo Butterfly fame and spread-to-the-world plans. Media coverage was extensive and effective.  Missing in the article linked is the fact that Richard Miller had already broached the meet's idea with Self-Soar Association; the actual planning and pre-meet meetings fully involved S-SA, Miller, Lambie and others; Low & Slow was one of the key vehicles for announcing the planned meeting to be on May 23, 1971. Lambie and Miller shared their mailing lists with Faust as S-SA did mailings and article support for the planned meeting, a meet that was to be "unplanned."  Special note: the jib-sail Bruce Carmichael aluminum Rogallo-winged machine had been priorly demonstrated to Faust in San Clemente, California, along with Richard Miller at a hill very near Bruce's home at the beach; Bruce Carmichael, a professional engineer had professional design experience with hydro-kites that ended up being a pleasant common-interest bridge between Bruce and Faust. Bruce Carmichael would later attend and participate in high-level conferences of flying wings where Jack Lambie would also be in attendance.
• .

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• Send facts about Low&Slow   issues, contents.
   
• Michael A. Markowski  and Tom Peghiny !
   
• Bob Trampenau took a first foot launch flight on a Hang Loos biplane hang glider; he went on to be a revolutionary designer/builder/manufacturer, consultant: See all of his Seedwings.
   
• May 23, 1971 Otto's Great Party   .This affected people around the world via publicity in Low & Slow to 23 nations. Later National Geographic spread the word. Popular Science did also.  Market building tapped by Bills.    Lee group letters about the meet and about Richard Miller, etc.
  ON SAME DAY: Chuck Slusarcyzk and flight friends had three Swoopers flying on a hill in Ohio to join the celebration!
• Great video by Larry Dighera of Otto meet
  Otto Lilienthal Hang Glider Meet, May 23, 1971
  
• Bautek founded in 1971 but by 1981 they would design and produce the Fafnir and then other bowsprit hang gliders.   
   
• Jeff Jobe makes money doing flights for print media ads. From Richland, Washington, Jeff  takes on various tasks. One landed him being photographed for a ski movie. Life Magzine picked up on the event and published a photographer of Jeff Jobe in the April 2, 1971, issue. He was gliding with skis in Sun Valley, ______.    See 1972 also.
   
• Francis Melvin Rogallo granted an honorary doctorate degree from the international organization Self-Soar Association  for his contributions in research on the Rogallo wing that found its way into the foundations of kiting,  hang gliding,  and other aircraft.  "Dr." is OK in our community for this unique leader.  Not a Ph.D., but a true scientist on wings leading still with every more patents regarding the Rogallo wing in its various formats.
   
• Paul Wahl of Popular Science? prepares article that alters the marketplace in a huge way. Paul called Faust scores of times. Paul gave Joe a manual on lithography published by the Navy.  The most memorable advice from Paul that Joe remembers as Paul wanted to help guide hang gliding publishing: "Stay positive in what is written. Say good things about people." 
   
• Send facts on Hang Glider Weekly   to  HGW@hanggliderhistory.com    CD?
   
• Send facts: Kiceniuk@hanggliderhistory.com     Taras Kiceniuk: wTK1   gTK2   TK3   TK4   Batso 
   
• Did Rogallo invent the triangle control frame for hang gliders? 
  No, the triangle control frame or A-frame for hang gliders was invented mechanically for foot launch hang gliders in at least the early year of 1908 in Breslau in a hang glider in an organized gliding-club setting; further use was in many places including the Spratt before the 1950s; and a firm use was in a kite-glider for homebuilders by Igor Bensen...well published in the first half of 1950s; Mike Burns SkiPlane used the A-frame in 1962.  The first decade of 1900s had a first issue of FLIGHT; in that issue was a featuring of the triangle A-frame for aviation.  The Pilcher hang glider had a firm A-frame.

  There was no triangle bar Rogallo at Otto Meet of May 23, 1971. The first triangle bar Rogallo at a So. California meet was Kilbourne's at the Montgomery meet in August of 1971 (ref: Matt Colver).

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• Petrel by Bob Trampenau: see history at Seedwings  (design in getting some 2008 modern materials redesigning).    See his history on the Petrel, Sunseed, and changes. See 1975 revolutionary Sensor.

• Hang Glider Weekly was publisher  of some key facts on the innovative company Seedwings with founder, designer, inventor Bob Trampenau.  We have strong reason to look to roots of VG --variable geometry-- in Seedwings. The company's  Sensor's fiberglass curved wing tips and the enclosed cross bar were invented by Trampenau and first flown in 1976 and shown in Hang Glider Weekly. He further invented wire braced washout struts in 1978 now used on all topless hang gliders and the wrap-around Mylar leading edge pocket in 1979 all before the UP Comet. Trampenau continued inventing;  and he first HGMA certified the curved wing tip, enclosed cross bar, and an all-wire trailing edge reflex bridle stability system and VG. The wire-braced washout struts and wire-reflex bridles are the two most important stability safety features on today's hang gliders. Another safety-and performance-feature that is significant are the flaps on a hang glider. Seedwings owner Bob Trampenau invented the current flap system in 1992,  and as yet no one has copied it. The Seedwings  trademark is internationally operated out of the headquarters in California.

  
   

• HG history enthusiast Scott Perkins lets us have a closer look at Volmer Jensen's VJ-23 cantilevered hang glider. The VJ-23 has been used in various ways, some powered. Seats. Who has gone prone with the it?  Click to enlarge.  Caption information by All is invited.  N474VJ for one of the shown versions; notice Volmer with the swing seat beneath his belt in front of him; he got into the seat after launching. The wheels are for safety. Notice the airspeed indicator.  The first VJ-23 is shown at the Dockweiler site where Richard Miller in mid-60s flew the Bamboo Butterfly with friends. 

        No wheels or seat here.
      Year? Wheels and seat.
            Year? Notice the different sitting and wheel arrangement here.

Year? Powered.    
Year? Powered assist. Duckhams Channel flight

                    Year?     Year?
  Year?          Year?
 

• Some Videos: VJ-23::   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNtgZWJR97o

• Also:  David Cook flying VJ23E

• And:  vj 23
   

•  
• Joe Greblo enters hang gliding scene; his contributions to hang gliding have been great.
   
•  World-resounding article:
  "Happy Birthday, Otto Lilienthal!"
  by Russell Hawkes (deep interviews with Faust in prep for article) in NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC { 1972 Feb.}
   
• Francis Melvin Rogallo granted an honorary doctorate degree from United States Hang Glider Association for his contributions in research and leadership on the Rogallo wing that found its way into the foundations of hang gliding and other aircraft. 
   
• Roy Haggard, Torrance self-soar meet   gRH1  Tight sail, black plastic, sloooow flight.  Interested in man-powered flight as well.  See 1980. 
   
• Jeff Jobe (Seattle, Washington) makes money with Canadian Club whiskey print-ad spot.  He flew Glacier Dome in New Zealand in a standard Rogallo-winged hang glider and told a story of meeting huge downdraft.   Source of his hang glider?____
   
• June 1972 issue of Popular Science Magazine article by Paul Wahl (pp. 92-94, and 130)  provided the lion's share of the "70's boon" marketplace base.  The appetite for hang gliders exploded.
   
• Neil Larson, SCHGA #24, hence USHGA 24.   Member #24 of Southern California Hang Glider Association (AKA Peninsula Hang Glider Club) ...he had a first flight off the lower slope at Torrance Beach, California in Dave Cronk's original tip-dragger Cronkite.
   
• Michael A. Markowski  Mike Markowski  credits Low & Slow for helping him "redirect" his life from his already sharp aeronautical engineering to aeronautics publisher. (Mike has always been considered by Self-Soar Association as the eastern-USA Otto wing of Otto memberships. EAA Hall of Fame: He was inducted on November 9, 2007, at Oshkosh. Mike has some 8 books to his own authorship and some 35 titles published....many key reprints. About His auto-otto: MAM        gMAM1     Some copies of his early book:==>The Hang Glider's Bible

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      Linknife    

• Date???:   60-min News, Flight  by Faust (and interviewed).   Camera strapped to a Seagull III built by Mike Riggs. Flight was from Sylmar area mountain. LZ was rough field that later became used by clubs and schools near the Joe Greblo operation.
   
• Sportswing Valkyrie by William H. Wolf. or "Bill Wolf".  Vic Powell built one. See NASM for  some detail. .  Discussion is underway in 2007 on the hang glider. Flying plank. Tip vertical control surfaces: "Wing-tip drag rudders."  Single surface. Unspecified airfoil. Dihedral. Performance is not well known. Pitch is center of discussion. Caution flags are up.
  http://www.nasm.si.edu/research/aero/aircraft/wolf_valkyrie.htm
  http://www.usda.gov/news/pubs/newslett/old/vol63no2/powell.html
  
  
   
• Otto #13,859       Ken W. de Russy   Advanced Instructor PG/HG, "the collector guy", Hang Gliding Museum. Pilot.  First member of Channel Islands Hang Gliding Association  CIHGA. See some of his cards.   Otto #13,859     USHGA #5114.    Card of 1972-1973 set: Ken de Russy   .... Otto member      See: Related article.       

  And see special story: One of the Living-Legend Lifters ... bi-wingual Collector Guy

  
   

• Special research call: Mike Koman built a fixed-wing hang glider of double surface and with double tapered wing (chord and thickness). It was of aluminum-tube and wire-rope construction. It had a double-tapered hollowed-out Styrofoam D-tube leading edge that extended back one third of the chord. The D-tube was made by hot wiring block sections of foam using handmade plywood templates of decreasing size from the root to the tip of the wing. Styrofoam ribs between the D-tube sections were capped with thin plywood strips. The trailing edge was thin wedge shaped wood. It was "shrink wrapped" with clear plastic by heating the garage in which it was built with an industrial heater to over 110 degrees. It had its own triangle shaped gray painted plywood trailer where the wings mounted vertically inside the trailer.
  
  David Cronk and Pat Conniary (or Conniry?) and Mike Koman flew it; it had a "nice glide angle," says Koman. According to Koman - Dave Cronk said it was "a beautiful wing". Russell Valderain (spell) ended up with the hang glider and may have some photographs. Al or Roger Sutton in Pennsylvania may have some photographs as the wing was largely built in their Sutton Brothers garage in Pennsylvania. The flights were partly in California where Dave and Pat flew it briefly at Redondo/Torrance Beach. Any information on this historical wing of the 1970s early, please send.   EnterData  + 

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• Stephan Nitsch had first attempts with hang gliders in 1973, Hanover Germany.[[ [ ] Where was his first flight?]] He is 2007 contemporary hang-glider-history author and hang-glider pilot. His main historical interest is Otto Lilienthal. His Lilienthal and replica, book projects can be seen at www.JumpNFly.here.de  See also Chanute biplane. See movie. 
  
• Mike Miller enters hang gliding and begins to make a difference. " My name is Crista Miller. My father Mike Miller helped pioneer the sport of hang gliding.  He was sponsored by Bill Bennett and taught many new pilots at Escape Country in California from 1973, and then  moved to Elsinore, and owned the Elsinore Valley Hang Gliding Center until early 1980's.   (We will be publishing more on Mike Miller [ ] )
   
• Brian Harrison flew his first HG in 1973. See his advancing aviation career HERE.  Current:  Elf motorglider.    He is in one photo on this page.
   
• Dial  Soap TV commercial featured the flying of an experimental hang glider: Koman-Faust cross-spar-less ....! This was perhaps the first bowsprit cross-sparless hang glider in the renaissance. In 1800s there were examples of bowsprit cross-sparless flying machine, e.g. the flying machine of Frederick William Brearey.     No Australian influence; VG base.    National coverage on TV. Faust flew the glider in Simi Valley, CA, as wll as took the shower shown. Residuals were fully invested to buy a larger printing press to publish larger issues of Low & Slow and Hang Glider, and Hang Glider Weekly.
   
• Dan Poynter publishes first modern major book on Hang Gliding. One of our editors (Faust) was flying on the back cover of the first edition book. It is still selling. His first book was on parachuting. He is self-publishing guru. He spent hours in the Low & Slow and Hang Glider Weekly office with Faust. Big plus to the hang gliding movement---still is.
   
• Tri-State Kite Sales begins with some Bennett devices.  Mark Smith.  Mark had started flying earlier in a local water-ski club with an Obrien kite (Rogallo-winged kite). (Spelling?)
   
• May 10, 1973, Volmer Jensen files for an ornamental design patent for a hang glider, click through HANG GLIDER Jensen et al.
  Patent number: D233426
  Filing date: May 10, 1973
  Issue date: Oct 1974
  In mild breezes he could just step off of a slope and begin soaring on 20' high ridges. His first private-public flight was (witnessed close up by Irv Culver and Joe Faust) off a concrete bridge in a riverbed in Southern California. Then he had a larger demonstration at Dockweiler Beach.  Three-axis control, foot-launched. Notice that this is not a process patent.   gVJ1     See above 1972 for VJ-23 photos and videos.
• Tom Peghiny   gTP1   |    http://rlsa.bydanjohnson.com/index.cfm?b=4&m=1&i=52  | Teen Sky Sports ....
   
• http://www.google.com/patents?id=g3F8AAAAEBAJ 
   
•  

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      Linknife    

• Custom Car ( August, 1974)  ???
   
• Finsterwalder & Charly - airsport equipment since 1974

  • 29 January 2013 Dear BBC, Your lead sentence in the BBC Web article "Squash Falconer bids to fly off Mount Kilimanjaro" states: "A paraglider from Derby is attempting to be among the *first* people to fly from the the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for projects in Tanzania." The second sentence states: "Squash Falconer, from Thulston, is already the *first* woman to fly from the summit of Mont Blanc. Clearly, the emphasis is on the act of being *first*. The truth is, people were flying from the summit of Kilimanjaro years before Ms. Falconer was even born. Please see http://www.charly-produkte.de/en/about-us.html Note that engineer Thomas Finsterwalder, Albert Leutenmaier and Heinz Walter made the *first* successful flights from Kilimanjaro in January of 1976 on Finsterwalder's 11 kg "Bergfex" backpack Rogallos. Two are pictured on the summit (the other snapped the photo). The unsuccessful flight implied on the Charly website was made in 1975, also on a Bergfex. The pilot landed in the jungle below the summit, so he was the very first to fly off Kilimanjaro. I do not have his name, although Thomas Finsterwalder likely does. Please also note also that NASA developed and defined 3-pole Rogallos as "paragliders" in the original literature and that the modern paragliding community explains that paragliding was invented at this time. By making no distinction between the two in your article; by placing emphasis on "first" but not mentioning who was actually first; by failing to qualify the claim with either the "first legal" or the "first modern paraglider"; and by stating the group is to be among "the first people to fly from the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro", you serve to re-write history. Also, if you wish to defend the article by saying the primary point is that the group may be the *first* "to raise money for projects in Tanzania," my opinion is that such a defense is misleading and that the BBC has sought to confuse aviation history with trivia. Rick Masters President, Cross Country Pilots Association (1983-85)

    mountain-forecast.com/peaks/Mount-Kilimanjaro/forecasts/5963
     

• Canadian National Kite Flying Championships in Nelson  B1  
   
• Date yet to be determined:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JsLZjCnCISU Video of Rogallos in Europe
   
• Pete Plumb   
   
• Photo of Porta-Wing with Karl Stice at the pilot position:    Image   
   
• Bob Dickenson (not John, not Tom ) received USHGA Presidential award. http://www.ushga.org/award_recipients.pdf
   
• Cover of Popular Science __________ Quicksilver.  Copies on eBay.
   
• Hang glider by  James R. Bede
  Abstract     A hang glider in the form of an aerial wing of airfoil shape is disclosed.
     The wing is defined by an outer envelope of flexible material inflatable to the airfoil shape and having a plurality of chambers therein each receiving an inflatable bladder. Air inlet openings are provided in the bottom portion of the envelope adjacent the leading edge of the wing. Either the bladders or the chambers are inflated with a gas lighter than air and, during flight, air enters the openings and fills the available space in the others of the bladders or chambers to provide a complete smooth airfoil shape for the wing. Shroud lines are employed to suspend a person beneath the wing during flight.
  
  Patent number: 3944169
  Filing date: Jul 12, 1974
  Issue date: Mar 16, 1976
  Inventor: James R. Bede
   

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[ ] What has the paragliding community done with hard-inflated span-wise
airbeam chambers,
if anything,
to affect anti-deflation?

Inflatable structures

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•  Seedwings   Bob Trampenau, inventor, leading designer, manufacturer, consultant    The Sensor design was revolutionary. 
• 
  
• Home video of a Jack Lambie inspired Hang Loose biplane hang glider:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s3YEEhOO3o   Lokken Family Home Movies
  "Homebuilt Hang Loose hange glider. Built 1975. Cost $25 in 1975. Made from yellow pine, styrafoam, poly plastic, bailing wire and bottle caps."
   
• Malewicki, Douglas J. (Irvine, CA, US)  Application Number:574308 Filing Date:05/05/1975 Publication Date:01/17/1978   U.S. Patent 4068810 Combination motorcycle and hang-glider
   
• Hang glider Frank J. Bartolini
  [Filed on Otto Lilienthal's birthday and Michael Markowski's birthday:]
  Patent number: 3995799 Filing date:     May 23, 1975        Issue date: Dec 7, 1976
  Inventor: Frank J. Bartolini     "Abstract: A biwinged high performance collapsible hang glider having a simplified integrated frame, having a reinforcing cable system, having a variable camber upper swept wing including a sail, with non-rigid leading and trailing edges, and a flexible batten, having a bridge spacing the sail from the frame, having a lower undercambered sail wing including a sail with a tubular leading edge and nonrigid trailing edge, having an optional collapsible Y-tail modification including sail with non-rigid leading edge and hinged tubular-trailing edges, having a low wing-loading effect, a high lift-drag ratio, a high glide-ratio, a low sink-rate and minimal spiral instability, yielding the capability of effective body-english pilot control for short duration training flights or for long duration cross-country flights, and being collapsible so as to be readily transported by a common passenger vehicle."
   
• Patent number: 4029273 
  Kite 
  Filing date: Nov 13, 1975  Issue date: Jun 14, 1977
  Inventor: Julius M. Christoffel, Jr. Abstract
  An inflatable delta wing kite having a single air chamber formed of a bulbous nose portion and three frusto conical shaped tubular portions forming structural beams, one beam extending along the central longitudinal axis, and the other two forming the leading edges of the kite, the terminal end of the central beam forming a filler tube; generally triangularly shaped, uninflated sections forming airfoils are located between the central and edge beams ...
•  
• Established in 1975, Commission International de Vol Libre (CIVL – Hang Gliding and Paragliding Commission) is an Air Sport Commission (ASC) of the Fédération Internationale Aéronautique (FAI), founded in 1905 in Paris, France, and today based in Lausanne, Switzerland.     This organization covers only part of hang gliding niche activities in its focus.   
        Self-Soar Association (S-SA) embraces all hang gliding niche activities on earth and beyond earth.
   http://www.fai.org/civl-news/36379-2012-civl-handbook  
   
• Concave parabolic arch kite 
  Peter J. Pearce et al   
  U. S. Patent number: 4018408
  Filing date: Jul 15, 1975
  
  CPARK1  
• http://www.google.com/patents?id=Pz00AAAAEBAJ
•  
•  [#] TV news: CBS' 60 Minutes "Ever Since Icarus" aired on August 31, 1975.  The following photograph is a still shot during part of the interview. The photograph is strictly a CBS copyrighted property given for Hang Gliding Timeline only; any further use of the image must obtain permissions from CBS.
  
  Photo: (our first showing of the photo: July 23, 2012) http://energykitesystems.net/HangGlidingTimeline/CBScopyrighted/48871_2_60MinCBS.jpg  Mike Wallace, at right, interviews a hang gliding enthusiast for 60 MINUTES. Segment titled, 'Ever Since Icarus' initially aired on August 31, 1975. Copyright © 1975 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. File: 48871_2
  
  The image is of Joe Faust and side view of the late Mike Wallace. Wing made for the occasion by Seagull Aircraft of Santa Monica, CA, owner Mike Riggs. The flight involved used an empty lot near Olive View Hospital in Sylmar, CA. The launch is known now as the 1500 ft launch near West Towers (needs verification).  Mike Riggs duct taped a camera  to one end of the spreader, and a balancing rock to the other end of the spreader ... after this still photograph was taken.         http://www.energykitesystems.net/hgh/t8.html#CBSphotoIcarus
  The photo apparently appears in a paper book  
  “60 Minutes: 25 Years of Television's Finest Hour by Frank Coffey” – appears on page 68, published in 1993.  [ ] We ordered book from Amazon on July 23, 2012, to verify page contents.
• 
   

• http://nhgc.wikidot.com/year-by-year  Norfolk Hang Gliding Club
  First newsletter: http://nhgc.wikidot.com/local--files/1976/mag1-2.jpg
   
• Bob Keeler of Seagull Aircraft (Santa Monica, CA). Bob Keeler over Tuna Canyon, July 4th 1976, for Leroy Grannis' photo shoot for National Geographic re: how people celebrated the nation's bicentennial. http://www.energykitesystems.net/HangGliderHistory/SeagullAircraft/BobKeelerOverMailbuCoastCalif4Jul1976.jpg
  
  

  ---

• Mark, age 57, a resident of San Juan Island for 33 years, flew as an international airline pilot for 31 years, has four earned degrees, and now works with San Juan Island EMS/Medevac to advance our Island Air Ambulance program. Mark also volunteers at the Friday Harbor Food Bank and assists the English Language Learners program at San Juan Island library. He has established two 501.c.3 organizations, and served on five nonprofit organization boards.
  ------------
  2013 note:  Mark Schwinge took four leaves of absence from the airline to fly for Air Serv, in Africa, and lately served with PACTEC in Laos, developing ab initio flight training curricula. Earlier this year he helped to ferry an Air Serv Twin Otter from Uganda to Atlanta, GA. Long legs, long days. Flew 14.2 hours one day (with one stop in Algeria).

  ---

  
   

• His first attempt at a loop in 1972 ended with a hospitalization.   1976 ??? Rudy Kishazy performs the first loop and series of loops at Grands Montets, France.^[103]  Loop in Rogallo-wing hang glider, triangle control frame   Pilot Rudy Kishazy, flown in France  Video: First loop in a hang glider. Pilot Rudy Kishazy
• 
   
• Patent number: 4026504    http://www.google.com/patents?id=tv8rAAAAEBAJ
  Maneuverable, inflatable kite 
  Filing date:
  Feb 9, 1976
  Issue date:
  May 31, 1977
  Inventor:
  Julius M. Christoffel, Jr.
•   Ascent and descent: Mt. McKinley hang gliding expedition:   HERE.  Twelve climbers; four HG pilots.
•  Pilot (March 1976)[UK] (magazine) ???
   
• Dog Mountain National Championships near Morton, Washington. DVD available in 2007: James Howard, Orca Broadcasting Corporation. About 150 hang gliders. Documentary.
   

• Hang Glider Weekly was publisher  of some key facts on the innovative company Seedwings with founder, designer, inventor Bob Trampenau. [In 2011 in March, he would join: Torrey Hawks and the US Hawks!]  We have strong reason to look to roots of VG --variable geometry-- in Seedwings. The company's  Sensor's fiberglass curved wing tips and the enclosed cross bar were invented by Trampenau and first flown in 1976 and shown in Hang Glider Weekly. He further invented wire braced washout struts in 1978 now used on all topless hang gliders and the wrap-around Mylar leading edge pocket in 1979 all before the UP Comet. Trampenau continued inventing;  and he first HGMA certified the curved wing tip, enclosed cross bar, and an all-wire trailing edge reflex bridle stability system and VG. The wire-braced washout struts and wire-reflex bridles are the two most important stability safety features on today's hang gliders. Another safety-and performance-feature that is significant are the flaps on a hang glider. Seedwings owner Bob Trampenau invented the current flap system in 1992,  and as yet no one has copied it. The Seedwings  trademark is internationally operated out of the headquarters in California.

  
   

• Roy Haggard advancing hang glider designing  gRH1
   
• David Cook at British Hang Gliding Championships at Mere in VJ-23.    See more history photos of David Cook.
   
• Prentice  1974-1975 Mk I and Mk II split wing designs based on sail boat type jib and mainsail. Similar plan form to that of the Platz sailwing. Capable of very slow flight and ridge soaring in light wind conditions with stable flight characteristics.     More
   
• Doc Stu Savory       His blog.
  
  
  
  
  
   

  ---

• Prentice 1976-1977 Mk III split wing briefly tested but was unstable and no further tests made.  Images (PDF format)
   
• Waldo Waterman takes the next step.  He had played a key role in Seagull Aircraft  and also Low & Slow.
• 
  Hang glider 
  Ronald A. Heckman
  
  
  
  
  
  
   

  ---

• Man-powered flying machine 
  Shang-Ming Kuan  
  Patent number: 4081155
  Filing date: Dec 27, 1976
  Issue date: Mar 28, 1978
  
   

• ---

  
  Monocoque arched kite 
  Peter J. Pearce
  
  Could this be the beginning of mass-produced hang gliders?

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• Prentice     1977-1978 Manufactured Wills Wings under licence in the UK.
• Patent number: 4116406
  Filing date: Jun 17, 1977
  Issue date: Sep 26, 1978
  Inventor: Paul D. Hamilton
  Abstract
  A high performance hang glider includes a frame to which is attached flexible sail fabric to create a delta-shaped Rogallo wing. The sail is of double thickness throughout a substantial portion of the wing area to provide an
  Hang glider having inflatable airfoil Paul D. Hamilton envelope inflatable in flight by air entering an intake opening at the nose of the wing and exhausting through nozzles in the underside of the wing tips. A more efficient double-surface airfoil is thus provided which automatically changes its camber in response to changes in speed for optimum performance.
   
• HPA Ikarus (Icarus) ground-effect-only man-powered aircraft flies in ground effect just a week after the Gossamer Condor won the big Kraemer Prize. The Ikarus took about 0.5kW to fly. 
            Theoretically we can fly a man-powered craft with less power in ground effect.  In ground-skimming during landing we often fly our hang gliders in ground effect; some hang glider pilots specialize in bleeding every inch out of the ground-effect flight sector for fun; appropriate wheels or skid can be used to have safer experiences when flying in ground effect. One needs to prevent catching the airframe on ground obstacles or the ground itself, as beaking or such catches can cause abrupt stops with perhaps fatal results. Be sure to get professional instruction for hang gliding.
   
• Kris and Joe Greblo meet at Dockweiler in May of 1977.
   

• Hang  glider author Stephan Nitsch successfully flies a hang glider.
   
• Hang glider harness Daniel C. Chadwick
  Patent number: D252716 Filing date: Jun 21, 1978 Issue date: Aug 28, 1979  Inventor: Daniel C. Chadwick      Hang glider harness
• June 1978. Bosson

  ========Machine translation from French, we quote for study and critique: ========= The glider was "invented" [Ed: sic, locally and regionally, but not globally, of course] in Mieussy Haute-Savoie, 35 years ago While Mieussy celebrates birthday paragliding this Saturday, June 22, back at the history of this invention born in 1978 on the tip of Point Pertuiset. France 3 AlpesPublished 22/06/2013 | 3:10 p.m. , parapente_2.jpg http://alpes.france3.fr/2013/06/22/le-parapente-ete-invente-mieussy-en-haute-savoie-il-y-35-ans-275287.html June 1978. Bosson , Bétemps and Bohn already illustrated in competitions parachute. Their specialty: precision landing. But difficult to practice regularly when necessary, for each jump mobilize a plane and therefore pay for the fuel. "If instead of jumping from the plane, it jumped from a high point?". In answering this question, the three friends invented paragliding. The high point of the tip Pertuiset . The landing area:. Mieussy Mieussy then welcomes the France team skydiving but also in Germany. Yet it still will wait four years to pass paragliding training method to separate discipline. It will take one of these paratroopers, only interested in landing, take the time to fly. Now world famous "spot" of Pertuiset sees off hundreds of paragliders each year.                                                        [[Tip of link from RM; thanks!]]

   

• "David Cook, another Englishman, made the first microlight flight across the English Channel on May 10, 1978, in a VJ-23 powered by an engine as small as 101cc, over the same route flown by Louis Bleriot in 1909. " from http://www.seeingisbelieving.org.uk/microlightadventure/education-aviation.asp  which see for other notes.
  
  
   

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  Electronic hang glider hook-up warning system 
  
  Thomas C. Hollingsworth
  
  Patent number: 4272039
  Filing date: Oct 19, 1978
  Issue date: Jun 9, 1981
   

  Abstract
  An electronic warning system that alerts a pilot of light-weight foot-launched aircraft that the required pre-launch physical hook-up of pilot-to-aircraft has not been accomplished.

  
   

• Abstract
  A remotely controlled powered aircraft equipped with engine, propeller and landing gear, radio-controlled from the ground and capable of towing a manned hang glider to an appropriate altitude. On reaching altitude, the pilot of the hang glider releases the tow, and the pilotless towing aircraft is returned to the launching site under radio control from the ground. During towing of the hang glider, two-way communication is maintained between the hang glider pilot and the towing aircraft remote pilot.
  Remote control hang glider towing aircraft Marlin K. Klumpp
  Patent number: 4248394
  Filing date: Mar 5, 1979
  Issue date: Feb 3, 1981
  Inventor: Marlin K. Klumpp
• David Cook flying VJ23 video  Some builders chose to power the VJ-23. Designed by Volmer Jensen. See also early 1970s for Volmer Jensen flying his first VJ-23 at Dockweiler Beach.    Hang glider history researcher and enthusiast Scott Perkins tells us: "It should be noted that this tapered 32 ft span cantilever wing at the root has a sixteen inch (16"-repeated for accuracy) or 40.6 centimeter spar thickness! At the root, the chord was 79 inches (200 centimeters). The designer stated that each of the two removable wing panels weighed 30 pounds."  Read more about David Cook [AKA Dave Cook. David G. Cook; sometimes an "e" would be found on the last name.]  DC1  DCbmaa   [Year of book's publication? [ ] ]
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"Alaskan Sky Sailors Association, had formed in 1973 or 1974 and for a time had over a hundred active members flying at Hatcher Pass, Eagle River, Girdwood, Fairbanks and other places in large numbers."