ForewordThe Man, The Wing

In 1948, Francis and his wife Gertrude patented a bi-cylindrical “Flexible Kite” and claimed that it was their invention. NACA was not interested in developing the concept.

In 1957, the successful flights of the Soviet Union Sputnik satellite triggered the space race. NACA evolved into NASA (National Aeronautic and Space Administration). Rogallo was still overseeing the wind tunnels. NASA administrators were looking for new ideas and all options in their desperation to catch up with the Soviets. As part of that effort they launched the Paraglider Research Program, using rigid framed bi-conical membrane wings. Langley’s wind tunnels were part of the program.

In 1962, in a presentation to NASA, Rogallo claimed that the “Flexible Wing concept” was his invention, and that anything and everything that NASA was researching in the Paraglider Program was a “Rogallo Wing”.

In 1963 in Australia, the first modern hang glider was designed and built by John Dickenson, and flown by many.

In the early 1970s′, the sport of hang gliding exploded worldwide. In the USA, Low & Slow magazine called the Australian glider a “Rogallo Wing Hang Glider” and “Rogallo” became the standard name for the now well-known rigidified bi-conical membrane wing with its triangular control-bar and pendulumweight-shift control system.

In 1975, NASA published a 4-minute documentary called: From Kites to Wings, dedicated to Francis M. Rogallo. It was shown in many hang gliding schools. It started with a Dickenson type modern hang glider flying from a ridge and landing on a beach, then showed Rogallo hooking in and gliding down Jockey Ridge dune in Kitty Hawk, NC, USA.

Voiceover – “This is the man who is responsible for co-inventing (with his wife Gertrude) the specially designed wing that is making hang gliding a rapidly growing sport… The big kite represents more than two decades of research, much of it on his own time.”

Francis Rogallo – “The invention was not an accident at all, it was a purposeful search for a kind of wing that would be less expensive, more rugged, more practical than the conventional kind of wing. We studied everything along that line that had already been, like boat sails, windmills, parachutes and air flying wings, before coming up with this design.”

During the 1980s and 1990s, Rogallo toured the world. He accepted rewards and was acclaimed as the father of hang gliding.

When paragliding and kitesurfing became sports, many claimed that these wings were also based on Rogallo’s inventions.