1971 Ground Skimmer

BRITISH HANG GLIDING HISTORY THE MODERN FLEXWING

1981 Cross Country Flyer

1971

When you mention the beginnings of the modern flexwing hang glider in the UK, a few names immediately spring to mind, Geoff McBroom, Ken Messenger, Len Gabriels, Gerry Breen, Terry, John and Robin Haynes, Miles Handley, Nick Regan and Chris Corston and I’m sure there were several others. These guys started a boom that was to see thousands of people from all around the country take up the challenge to live out their boyhood dreams of being able to fly. In my case I always wanted to be superman, so it was very easy for me to swap a cloth cape for a cloth sail. However I find myself in a minority of early pioneers when it comes to making model aircraft, something that seems to have aided some of the early pioneers. During my research I have been in contact with many of the early flyers and a vast majority of them all seemed to have been building model air craft long before they took up hang gliding.

To give you a little idea as to the popularly of people wanting to get in to the air under their own steam, I need only refer you to the B.B.C’s 6pm current affairs Television program ‘Nationwide’. After its screening Ken Messenger received an enormous postbag of nearly 2,000 letters all asking him if he could help them.

Then later in early 1973 after Len Gabriels had placed an advertisement in the Aeromodeller magazine offering to sell plans of a flexwing hang glider he had designed, he went on to sell well over 1800 copies of these plans. However, he was also pestered over a long period of time, being inundated with phone calls and letters all asking where to get materials or if he could supply ready made parts, sails, and in most instances could he under take training.

Geoff McBroom is also reported to have sold many sets of plans, as reported to me by Len Gabriels, who told me the story of how after seeing Geoff ‘s article in the newspaper, he wrote to him asking for a set, but got fed up of awaiting their arrival, and therefore set about building his own hang glider instead. Several weeks later Geoff got in touch with Len apologising for the very long delay, as he’d been laid up with a broken arm(s), not sure if it was connected with hang gliding, but I wouldn’t mind betting it was.

So far I’ve spent over two years collecting much of this information, and every time I believed I have it all worked out, anther name surface’s to be added into the equation. After talking with Nick Regan he believes that there were possibly as many as ten different groups around the country, all trying to fly at the same time, and all totally unaware that the other existed.

I’ve also been very lucky to have had the personal cooperation of Mark Woodhams one of our top hang glider historians, Geoff McBroom, Nick Regan, Len Gabriels, Gerry Breen, Brian Milton, Ken Messenger, Terry Haynes, Brian Harrison, and especially Tony Fuell who has under taken many hours of research for me, along with many others behind the scene in order to set out a ten year time scale to follow the evolution of the modern flexwing hang glider from its early UK beginnings. I have also been able to gather other information from friends, acquaintances and web sites, and am not claiming that this is all my own work, in fact my input has been quite small, although I was around at the time it all unfolded and do still own a little memorabilia I have collected along the way. My aim has been to collate as much of this information as possible and to bind it all together in to the one article, so that we might keep alive the manufactures and flying pioneers names and their exploits for future generations.

There were many hundreds of people involved in one way or another during those first few years and I wish I could name them all. Especially the clubs that sprung up and of those who ran them, they are some of the true unsung heroes who allowed many of us to carry on flying as problems were thrown at us. There are still many gaps and names missing from this article and I’m willing to add anything that you might think relevant. Please get in touch.

Most of this information has come from my personal experience and from many people I have contacted around the world. Where as I have not used the BHGA official magazine 'Wings' for information, others might have, in order to jog their memory of events. Sadly for me, when I left England in early 1985, I left behind my complete 'Wings' collection, something I now regret.

I would also like to apologise to anybody who feels I’ve used their information without them giving me prior permission, but if they like to get in touch I will gladly change any offending piece and if possible give the correct credit. At the end of this article I will leave a list of sites that would be well worth a visit if you are interested in the history of hang gliding in the UK.

It’s become quite evident to me, after contacting many people and reading about others, that most of them can in some way or another trace what they were flying or playing around with back to Bill Bennett. For some reason Bill Moyes name doesn’t really get a mention in the UK until the middle 1970’s, when Bill and his son Steve first attended and participated in one of the BHGA Championship competitions being held at Mere. Therefore, I’m almost certain that there were not many people around who copied an earlier Moyes glider. Although after his first appearance at Mere when he turned up with a glider that had a full length keel pocket that certainly stirred a lot of interest around the paddock, especially amongst those who carried a note book and pencil. There was one well-known character who was affectionately known by many as Mr. Xerox.

A quote from Len Gabriels is well worth publishing here, “As to who was responsible for what, I think the truth is that we all saw good ideas and did our own thing with them. Somebody once said ‘pigmies standing on the shoulders of giants can see the farthest’ Not sure who the pigmies are. I think we all took it in turns.”

I’d like to apologise for deliberately leaving most of Tony Prentice's early flying days out of this article. Even though Tony had been building and trying to fly many different designs during the late 60’s and early 70’s. Mainly because I’ve tried to base this article on what can be best described by me, as the modern flexwing hang glider that incorporated an ‘A’ frame and a central hang point. Something that is recognisable by most flyers throughout the world today as a hang glider. Many of Tony’s early designs used the parallel bar system (Videos). While another was a replica of Otto Lilienthal's glider (Video).

However, I have included Tony from around early 1973. When, after seeing Geoff McBroom flying 2 of his first hang gliders at a flying display on the 3rd September 1972. Tony copied Geoff's idea of using aluminum for the main construction of the glider along with an 'A' frame and a central positioned swinging seat to control the flight of the glider. Something Tony had not incorporated into any of his earlier designs. The event was organised by the Southdown Gliding Club to celebrate their 50th anniversary of the 1922 Itford first meeting at Firle Beacon. Geoff McBroom recalls speaking to Tony at the event and that although he flew on that day, Tony did not fly his bamboo constructed glider he was displaying. However, I have included a separate article from Tony of his Early Flying History.

I’ve also deliberately left out my close friend David Cook who pioneered the three axis controlled riged wing. That’s a subject I would also like to cover at a later date. Although for the moment I have already set a web site up for David at www.davidcookaviator.com. However if you would like to read his latest book Flying From My Mind it describes how David was involved in the early development of the hang glider in the UK, and later with his ideas on powered hang gliding that spread around the world.

David went on to design and build the famous Shadow Microlight, an amazing aircraft that was liked and loved by all who flew it. In all 415 Shadows were built, and during the past 25 years there has not been one fatality while flying a Shadow. John Dickenson inventor of the Modern Flexwing Hang Glider has spent some time researching the Shadow and its design, and gives David the full credit he deserves for building a wonderful aircraft.  John’s article is published on David’s web site, and can be read by Clicking Here.

I've posted a list of people involved in helping me with advice and material to set up this web site up. While Jason Board from the British Hang Gliding Museum has agreed to join forces and we have linked our sites. Jason is concentrating on collecting and displaying the early gliders, and undertaking video interviews with as many of the early pioneers as possible. Later this footage will be added to one or other of our sites, and Jason hopes to bring out a new documentary DVD on the subject. I've posted a short video of Jason asking for people to donate their old gliders to his museum, while he also explains what happens to them.

And set up a Forum, that is being used by some of the early East Anglian pilots and pioneers to relive some of their experiences and tales, before they are lost forever.

Just to see how far we have come, in such a short time, take a look at this page from one of my old school books, the Eagle Book of Aircraft.

For regular viewers of this page you will notice that the 1971 history has been changed, because I've been very lucky in making contact with Geoff McBroom and some of his friends, as you will read, the history as some of us thought we knew it has been changed, for the betterment of our sport and its history. Because the information you are about to read has been backed up as correct from more than one source.

1971
It’s a well known fact that the very first true modern flexwing hang glider built in the UK was constructed by Geoff McBroom, Les Hockings, Steve Stanwick, Howard Johns and Tony Gillette, According to Geoff they all pitched in £10 each to get the venture off the ground, with balloonist Don Cameron's contribution being the making of the sail. At the time Geoff McBroom was working for British Aerospace in Bristol.

Geoff say's Quote "We didn't start with a set of plans from anyone. Our prototype (never given a name) was designed using the aerodynamic data for various rogallo forms that was freely available from NASA. It was the compilation of all Francis Rogallo's work done towards making a gliding parachute for the Apollo space capsule. I'd also been making Rogallo models for several years before this, though not with any thought of them being man carrying".Un-quote.

I also asked Geoff when it all started Quote "after getting some info from Anne Welch (I think it was some newspaper cuttings) The A-frame and seat arrangement came directly from seeing Anne's photos. Lez and I were at loggerheads over this as he wanted to make it with horizontal bars. I thought the seat looked far better as a weight shift control and I'm afraid I bullied him into submission, on the promise we'd put bars in if it didn't fly. Much later we saw one of Bill Bennets kites at a nearby water ski club, with a very neat plastic seat which we then sourced and replaced the plywood seats we'd been using. Adding the backstrap came after I slipped backwards out of the slippery plastic seat and came within an ace of being a wheelchair victim, with 2 wedge compression vertabrae. Some while later Ken Messenger asked us where we got the seats and put them on his kites as well". Unquote.

Actually there was a death the following year when a pioneer did actually slide backwards off his eat and was unable to get back on board to control the glider and died. A valuable lesson learnt there. Although I have to add that the pilot was not connect in any way with Geoff and his team.

I asked Geoff if he had met Bill Bennett Quote "I've never met Bill Bennet. Lots of gliding club members were bemused by our "strange" activities and used to bring us all sorts of info. Somebody told us about the Bennett machine having been recently demonstrated by Bill at the South Cerney flooded gravel pits and then bought by one of their spectating club members in a Toad of Toad Hall moment. Unfortunately he never got round to flying it but was keen to show it to us. (I think he was hoping we'd put in an offer for it). It had polystyrene floats and was beautifully engineered. It was very small though, possibly 12 - 13 ft booms and certainly not a machine for unassisted foot launch from a slope". Unquote

Sounds like it might possibly have been a 'Skiwing' manufactured by Aerostructures an Australian company owned and run by Mike Burns and Dick Swinbourne.

Geoff has also reported that the building of their glider took place during the latter half of 1971 and that it was definitely not flown until very early February 1972. He remembers trying to assemble the glider with freezing cold fingers while trying to do up nuts and bolts. He describes the day as being like Siberia, this is backed up by Les Hockings. Both also agree that it was flown after they returned from a caving trip to Majorca in December 1971.

(During December 2010 Geoff sent me an article exsplaining how they went about building that first glider) 

A commonly asked question is why did nobody make notes of what they did, and a common honest response is, why would they bother, there was no need. They did not know they were making history all they wanted to do was to fly and have a little fun along the way. Its only now 40 years later that some are realising what a great opportunity was missed had they kept a diary. Remember log books were only brought in several years later. At this stage most were enjoying what even became known as just ground skimming and the word cross country flying had not even been thought of. In fact I don't think that the word ridge soar had ever been considered either.

The glider had a wing span of 26ft, a leading edge 20ft, and sail area 280sq-ft. notably it had no king post. It’s calculated performance consisted of a takeoff speed of around 15mph with a minimum sink rate of 6ft/sec at 20mph. Unfortunately it had a disappointingly glide angle of only 3:1, although Geoff had believed at the time that it would be at least 5:1. It’s more than likely that the plans Geoff saw were the very same plans that John Dickenson had sent Francis Rogallo way back in 1964 while Rogallo was working for N.A.S.A. During that time Rogallo was bound by loyalty clauses to N.A.S.A. with everything he was working on, something he mentions in one of his letters to John (these are on display on www.johndickenson.net). Therefore it’s assumed that the information was passed around freely. This information links Geoff's hang glider back to John Dickenson and the Dickenson Wing in Australia. And from information that's coming to hand and growing, its looking like N.A.S.A. was just passing on John Dickensons original plans to many who approached them.

It’s further believed that N.A.S.A. also had copies of what have become known as the 'Kilbro Plans' drawn up by Dave Kilbourne, which were also distributed free in the “Low and Slow” magazine #6 about August 1971, and became the starting point for all other plans especially in the USA. Those plans were derived from the Bennett ski kite, which Bill Bennett introduced to Kilbourne upon his arrival in the USA in 1969, which of course was a copy of an Aerostructures (Dickenson Licensed Product) Wing. Bill Bennett had earlier applied for a patent for this same glider, calling it a 'passenger carrying glider'. If Geoff had used this information it would have also linked Geoff's hang glider back, via Bill Bennett, to John Dickenson and the Dickenson Wing in invented Australia way back in 1963.

Since writing the paragraph above I have had an opportunity to see and read the 'Low and Slow' magazines in question, and would like to add that the information most people have come to believe over the years is in fact incorrect. The 'Kilbo Plans' were published in magazine No14 (not No6) and were published in June 1972 (not August 1971). This also means that Geoff McBroom and even Len Gabriels were actually flying well before they were published.

However, its also been noted by Ken de Russy, America’s top hang gliding historian that quote "Joe Faust regularly reprinted previous 'Low & Slow' issues months or years after the original date of first publication and even added or deleted content to improve the issue. The result is that it is nearly impossible to determine with certainty whether specific content was original or added later. There are some clues that suggest the Kilbo plans were added to issue 6 after May of 72. Unquote". If this is correct then some of the dates and details mentioned earlier might be incorrect. Its also worth noting that if the magazines were backdated, then the one I've seen (No14 published in June 72) has to be the original, because it places it well after many other people around the world were already flying. I might also add that I have also seen the whole early collected and none of the other magazines display the 'Kilbo Plans'.

Geoff has made public that Anne Welch did show him a selection of newspaper cuttings upon her return from the USA and would have known that Dave Kilbourne while flying a Dickenson shaped wing became the first American to take off from the side of a hill. It was later established that he purchased that glider from Bill Bennett who at that time was selling copies of Aerostructures (Dickenson Licensed Product) Wing. There are several articles by Anne that were published in the 'Flight International' magazine about Hang Gliding in the USA and UK that are on this web site.