![]() The strap bore the pilot’s weight, but the wing could move freely and easily overhead. From the hanging strap positioned just behind the control bar, he suspended a seat for the pilot. He bolted the control bar directly to the overhead keel tube of the glider and braced it with wires attached to the wing tips. Dickenson’s idea was both brilliant and simple, and added little weight. Only the weight of their legs was available to shift the glider, and there was almost no leverage available because the pilot was positioned at the center of the wing. Since Lilienthal’s first flights in 1891, pilots had tried to guide their hang gliders by clinging to the framework and swinging their legs, shifting their weight in the direction they wanted to go. While swinging his daughter sideways on a swing set in 1963, Dickenson had the flash of insight that transformed the hang glider from a crude device that gave pilots so little control, they were frequently warned to fly no higher than they were willing to fall. He made and tested models of the Rogallo wing and they showed improved stability, but control was little better than the classic ski kite. NASA found no reliable way to deploy the Rogallo wing from a spacecraft but the wing’s simplicity, low cost, and stability in flight encouraged Dickenson to choose it for his new ski kite. The photo shown to Dickenson was of a paraglider, a structureless wing being designed by a number of engineers at NASA.” Dickenson probably saw a drawing or photograph of the Rogallo wing. ![]() “Dickenson was shown a photograph of a wing NASA was working with. After exploring several ideas, Graeme Henderson, in his article, “The Concise Revised History of Hang Gliding 1963-1973 – Part 1, published in Soaring Australia (May 2010, p. Dickenson studied the classic pentagonal-shaped ski kite and noted its dangerous lack of control and stability. Early in 1963, the Grafton Water Ski Club in Grafton, New South Wales, Australia, asked Dickenson to build a kite for an upcoming water ski festival. Australian John Dickenson gets too little credit for his monumental breakthrough to invent the technology required to precisely control the hang glider. Publicity from the Parasev test sparked interest elsewhere in the Rogallo flexible wing. The concept was eventually discarded in favor of recovering spacecraft with simpler, more reliable and more economical parachutes. ![]() NASA built and tested the Parasev (or Paraglider Research Vehicle, see NASM collection) Rogallo wing research vehicle from 1962 to 1964. NASA and several aerospace companies experimented with Rogallo wings from 1961 to 1965. The space agency tried to adapt the Rogallo wing into a successful recovery system for Gemini and Apollo capsules as an alternative to unguided parachutes. NASA became interested in the Rogallo wing after the Soviets launched Sputnik in 1957. ![]() The kites had lifting surfaces based on a flexible paraglider-type wing developed by Francis Rogallo and wife Gertrude and patented in 1951. Bennett's first gliders were ski kites such as the Model 162. Long Description Bill Bennett and his Delta Wing hang gliders played a significant role in promoting hang gliding into a popular sport in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and enjoyed now by thousands of people worldwide. The Model 162 could safely support a maximum pilot weight of only 59 kg (130 lb), while the Model 210 could accommodate a pilot weighing up to 113 kg (250 lb). The kites with longer keels had larger weight capacities. The initial tow-kite models were called the 162, 174, 186, 198, and 210. Each was named for the length of the keel bar in inches, or the overall length of the aircraft. Bennett produced ten different models of the Rogallo hang glider. The difficulties the agency experienced trying to recover the Mercury capsules (see NASM collection), and the near tragedy that followed Gus Grissom's splashdown in July 1961, no doubt encouraged NASA to develop alternative capsule recovery systems. The space agency wanted a controllable recovery system for Gemini and Apollo capsules (see NASM collection) as an alternative to unguided parachutes. This inventor developed his wing while working for NASA during the early 1960s. He based these designs on a flexible wing pioneered by Francis Rogallo. Bennett's first gliders were actually manned kites, such as the Model 162. Object Details Manufacturer Delta Wing Kites and Gliders Incorporated Summary Bill Bennett and his Delta Wing hang gliders played a significant role in promoting hang gliding into a popular sport enjoyed by thousands of people worldwide in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
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