FAI GOLD AIR MEDAL

A discussion restricted to the topic of hang gliding.
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Graeme Henderson
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FAI GOLD AIR MEDAL

Post by Graeme Henderson »

http://www.fai.org/news/36413-2012-fai-awards-ceremony

I would like to thank everybody who was involved in this campaign. There were many who helped, but the core group in this effort, in the order that they came to my assistance are. Stef Malbos, Andy Abbott, Ken de Russy, Terry Aspinall and Mark Woodhams. Thank you gentlemen.
Graeme R. Henderson
Mob 0497921991
graeme@anti-mining.com
Skype: graeme_r_henderson
web: anti-mining.com
www.australian-hang-gliding-history.com
www.johndickenson.net
www.british-hang-gliding-history.com
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Plummet
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Post by Plummet »

Great news - congratulations to John D.

Well done everyone else -
(:D
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Ken de Russy
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John Dickenson's Guestbook

Post by Ken de Russy »

Plummet wrote:Great news - congratulations to John D.

Well done everyone else -
(:D
Take an extra minute or two Plummet and visit www.johndickenson.net and leave a note for John in his Guestbook. It will mean a great deal to him. While you are there have a look around the marvelous and informative web site that is the work of Graeme Henderson and Web Site Designer Terry Aspinal. Were it not for their tenacity and industry in discovering, organizing and presenting in a very easy to understand way a previously little known part of our history I am unsure I would ever have understood the key role Dickenson played in our sport.
Ken de Russy - USHGA Dual Division, Life/Charter Member #5114, Hang Gliding Museum Collector Guy - Anacortes, WA - (360)293-8621 - Skype: ken.de.russy - Museum Images: http://tinyurl.com/zs4qto6 - Hang Gliding Museum: http://tinyurl.com/89c2n6s - Historic Movies: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=weflyuniv" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/v" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/profile_videos ... flyuniv</a> -
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Jaco Herbst
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where is Joe?

Post by Jaco Herbst »

Joe?
http://freeflyingintaiwan.blogspot.com/

If at first you don't succeed, lower your standards.
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David Williamson
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Re: where is Joe?

Post by David Williamson »

Jaco Herbst wrote:Joe?

He's fausting!
Paragliding.........it's almost like flying.
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Flyin_canuck
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Post by Flyin_canuck »

What a crock of shit
Dickenson files a paternt for an IMPROVED gliding apparatus in 63

Then is recognized as the inventor today

This is a slap in the face to all the others that we are indebted to for where this sport is today

Dickenson no doubt deserves some credit but he did not invent a damn thing
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Graeme Henderson
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Post by Graeme Henderson »

Flyin_canuck wrote:What a crock of shit
Dickenson files a paternt for an IMPROVED gliding apparatus in 63

Then is recognized as the inventor today

This is a slap in the face to all the others that we are indebted to for where this sport is today

Dickenson no doubt deserves some credit but he did not invent a damn thing
The depth and breadth of your insights is astounding, the way you present your evidence and the subtle nuances of your argument are breath taking.
Whose face have we slapped? Rogallo? It needs slapping?
But why do you think that we are only honouring Dickenson? Have you read nothing? Have you given the matter no consideration? Or are you just a w@^ker?

Cheers,
Graeme
Graeme R. Henderson
Mob 0497921991
graeme@anti-mining.com
Skype: graeme_r_henderson
web: anti-mining.com
www.australian-hang-gliding-history.com
www.johndickenson.net
www.british-hang-gliding-history.com
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Flyin_canuck
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Post by Flyin_canuck »

Is everyone in this world that does not agree with you a wanker (I assume thats what you meant)

why don't you actually address something I wrote


please give a logical explanation for how someone applies for a patent for an IMPROVED apparatus in 1963, then is recognized as the INVENTOR in 2012

Lets see if you are capable of actually addressing something and not just slag anyone that does not buy into this or agree with it
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Flyin_canuck
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Post by Flyin_canuck »

Just thought I'd add

If at anytime in the last 50 years there has been an incremental improvement significant enough to be considered the INVENTION of modern hang gliding its the gliders of the 1979 to 1980 time frame, not the water ski kites that evolved into death traps of the early 70's

Dickenson made the same as what is generally known as a Rogallo wing....I actually don't care which of the two started it, I think neither should get much credit for if there wasn't a significant design change from those to say what the first comet was we probably would not have a sport today

Don't automatically assume that if someone puts down Dickenson's reward they must be a fan of Rogallo
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Ken de Russy
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Post by Ken de Russy »

Flyin_canuck wrote:Is everyone in this world that does not agree with you a wanker (I assume thats what you meant)

why don't you actually address something I wrote


please give a logical explanation for how someone applies for a patent for an IMPROVED apparatus in 1963, then is recognized as the INVENTOR in 2012

Lets see if you are capable of actually addressing something and not just slag anyone that does not buy into this or agree with it
It appears from your emphasis that you are inferring from the term "improved" a suggestion that the device created by Dickenson was preexisting. The use in patent language of the word improved does not preclude the granting of a patent. His of course was not by a long shot the first gliding apparatus.

This configuration that Dickenson developed
Image
was the template for 90% or more of all hang gliders flown through about 1974 or 75. It was his specific formula of simplicity, user friendliness, and ease of copying that enabled the explosive replication and resulting huge numbers of participants worldwide.

Other designs that flew well enough to make possible repeated and predictably successful flights sufficient to keep pilots engaged and inspire others to also choose that design in significant numbers (as opposed to the many designs that were insufficient such as the Chanute and Bat-Glider types), such as the Quicksilver or Icarus never amounted to more than a few percent during the period when large numbers were joining the sport.

No other single design before or since ever offered the potential to generate the huge numbers of participants and the resulting corresponding huge industry, i.e., the sport as we know it (or at least how it used to be). The later, arguably better and "safer" designs never produced more than a tiny fraction as many participants. And as to the Urban Myth that the Standard was a death trap; there may be no other single aircraft design that ever turned as many humans into pilots at almost no cost and with almost no need for instruction. The 1974 Lilienthal Meet in strong desert mountain thermal conditions saw one to two thousand flights of Dickenson wings flown by largely self taught pilots without a single injury.
Image
Ken de Russy - USHGA Dual Division, Life/Charter Member #5114, Hang Gliding Museum Collector Guy - Anacortes, WA - (360)293-8621 - Skype: ken.de.russy - Museum Images: http://tinyurl.com/zs4qto6 - Hang Gliding Museum: http://tinyurl.com/89c2n6s - Historic Movies: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=weflyuniv" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/v" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/profile_videos ... flyuniv</a> -