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<r>Available on Amazon Prime is the documentary "The Flyinest Flying".<br/>
It was released in 2003 and goes into the history of hang gliding with<br/>
indisputable evidence of the origins of our sport. All of the principle <br/>
inventors, their timeline of contributions and all in their own words!!<br/>
<br/>
Being very knowledgeable of this history myself, I found no flaws.<br/>
I also learned some of the answers I had doubts about based on rumor<br/>
and mis-information. It was refreshing to see such attention to detail<br/>
and the effort to get honest statements from the principle inventors that<br/>
led to our current sport. <br/>
<br/>
As I had always believed by my own research, Hang Gliding as we know it<br/>
is the product of multiple creative inventors who were inspired by different<br/>
goals at different times. These developments took place very quickly in<br/>
succession from mid 1950's to late 1960's approx 15 years time span.<br/>
<br/>
Once the cat was out of the bag and enough people saw the potential,<br/>
Hang Gliding exploded with innovation during the 70's. In the history of<br/>
aviation, no other type of flight has grown so quickly and been so accessible<br/>
to so many as hang gliding did in the 1970's. Those who flew then and those<br/>
who fly now, roughly for the last fifty years are the lucky ones. We are the <br/>
the ones that woke up from the dream of flight to awaken in the reality of <br/>
flight! <br/>
<br/>
On your feet, running into the wind, leaving the earth for a time, then <br/>
returning to it on your feet once again. This has been one of mans greatest <br/>
dreams fulfilled. No one who enjoys this sport and it's reality should take<br/>
this for granted. So many who are no longer here have shown us errors<br/>
not to be repeated. No one who flys a glider has not benefited by these<br/>
sacrifices. <br/>
<br/>
The sacrifices are not just tragic ones, many are choices people make to <br/>
serve the greater good for our sports continuation. Lots of other ways to <br/>
make more money, but they teach and nurture new pilots for the love of <br/>
flying more than the money it brings. This is most every HG school today.<br/>
<br/>
Referring back to the Film Documentry where John Dickinson discusses <br/>
his invention of the early 1960's inspired by the Rogallo wing. He designed<br/>
a control system using weight shift and an A frame we call the "control bar".<br/>
This one contribution made the Rogallo wing viable as a foot launched soaring<br/>
machine. But it would be many years later that goal was realized. John<br/>
Dickinson filed a provisional patent for his invention and began building and<br/>
selling gliders. <br/>
<br/>
Provisional Patents are not patents, they are temporary holds on idea's so <br/>
you can market them and see if it's worth a full patent and all the expenses <br/>
that come with it. Here in USA a provisional patent is good for one year. <br/>
By one year you must file a full patent or you lose your idea to the public <br/>
domain. No one can patent it since it was your idea. It becomes public <br/>
domain so anyone can use your idea or be inspired by it, just as John <br/>
Dickinson was by Rogallo's kite and parachutes researched by NASA <br/>
Rogallo's employer.<br/>
<br/>
John Dickinson did have a novel idea to make the Rogallo wing usable for <br/>
flight. No one can deny that. How he came to that idea can be imagined<br/>
by his experience… He was a water skier who used ski kites "Flat Kites"<br/>
towed behind a ski boat. He owned and flew a gyro copter or gyro glider.<br/>
A ski kite uses weight shift to control it, so does a gyro copter. The gyro<br/>
copter hangs from the center of the rotor blades and you piviot from this<br/>
center point. The original plans for a gyro copter have a stick hanging<br/>
from above, not a control stick from below. Note pics below..<br/>
<br/>
<IMG src="http://aviastar.org/foto/bensen_gyroglider.jpg"><URL url="http://aviastar.org/foto/bensen_gyroglider.jpg">http://aviastar.org/foto/bensen_gyroglider.jpg</URL></IMG><br/>
<br/>
<IMG src="http://ozreport.com/data/Dickenson/Dickenson_files/image014.png"><URL url="http://ozreport.com/data/Dickenson/Dickenson_files/image014.png"><LINK_TEXT text="http://ozreport.com/data/Dickenson/Dick ... age014.png">http://ozreport.com/data/Dickenson/Dickenson_files/image014.png</LINK_TEXT></URL></IMG><br/>
<br/>
If you can imagine the relationship with weight shift since he is already<br/>
flying two craft, Ski Kite and Gyro Glider that both use weight shift.<br/>
So he combined the two and had enough knowledge to make it work.<br/>
Work well enough to file a provisional patent and build and sell his idea.<br/>
No less brilliant than a sole inventor.<br/>
<br/>
He built and sold his idea which was refined from the above pic of his 1st model.<br/>
At the end of that year he did not file a full patent. In the film he says that he<br/>
lacked the money to file it. However there is more to the story as there always<br/>
is.. Several explanations can be hypothesized?<br/>
<br/>
1. Sales were not enough to validate expense for full patent.<br/>
2. Not enough interest in ski kites since foot launch had not occurred yet.<br/>
3. He realized that a large part of his patent was Rogallo Wing Patent.<br/>
4. Patent of control frame alone was not yet popular enough.<br/>
<br/>
Most likely the reason Mr. Dickinson did not patent is all of the above combined.<br/>
In the film he regrets not doing it but that is hindsight. What I am going to say<br/>
now, no one has said before, or more accurate, that I have heard said before?<br/>
<br/>
We all owe Mr. Dickinson a debt of gratitude for not filing a full patent..<br/>
I truley mean that and most sincerely mean it. Thank You.<br/>
<br/>
Why do I feel so strongly about this?<br/>
And why should you also look at history this way?<br/>
<br/>
Imagine if John had filed patents on his version of the hang glider and all<br/>
the law suites which may have resulted. It would have stifled the explosive<br/>
growth of hang gliding. What we have today might be much different.<br/>
Who can really say? Maybe para gliders would have eclipsed all of<br/>
hang gliding and blotted out the sun by now. There is an alternative to<br/>
the sky puffs because of John Dickinson and his peers who kept pushing<br/>
the limits and who said, "the hell with patents…"<br/>
<br/>
Because of this and the energy it generated through un-encumbered innovation <br/>
through the many thousands of contributors that passionatly followed, we grew<br/>
and prospered. Hang Gliding pilots now fill the ranks of aviation professionals.<br/>
No longer is Hang Gliding looked at as a fools thrill ride. It is a respected form<br/>
of aviation that awes even the most accomplished aviators.<br/>
<br/>
Ours is a history as relevant and sensational as any in the history of aviation.<br/>
If you count the loss it equals a mitilary victory, if you count the technical <br/>
advancements it ranks as a high bar in human achievement. And yet, unlike<br/>
other forms of aviation advancement, it was not funded by the State. It was<br/>
funded and fueled mostly by passion and the quest to reach one of mans greatest<br/>
dreams. <br/>
<br/>
<br/>
B R</r>
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