Building the MythThe Rogallo Foundation
The Rogallo Foundation website states in June 2026: “Where Innovation Is in the Air – The Rogallo Foundation is passionate about preserving and sharing the history of Francis and Gertrude Rogallo, and the spirit of adventure and excitement that the applications of the flexible wing have inspired. These innovations led to the development of hang gliding, paragliding, flexible wing ultralighting, parachuting, kiteboarding, and kiting.”
See in page 6.9 Who Invented The Modern Paraglider Wing? for the ludicrous claim that Rogallo’s innovations led to the creation of any of these wings.
Since 1997, the Rogallo Foundation has established its Hall of Fame. Showing some sense of history, the first recipients were John Dickenson, Bill Moyes, and Bill Bennett. Then, amongst the 34 other recipients, 33 are American. One of them is David Barish and his five-lobbed parasail.
Significantly missing: Domina Jalbert, true inventor of the multi-cell rammed-air wing.
The Foundation gives a poster to recipients, signed by Francis and Gertrude Rogallo. (btm-24) They pose next to a reproduction of their first Flexible Kite patent. Also shown are a double-surface, integrated crossbar modern hang glider, a 12-cell or so paraglider, and a Boeing 737 aircraft. The first two images support the claim that anything flexible is a Rogallo. But why a B.737?
We found the explanation in the 2021 documentary, Francis Rogallo – Inventor of the Flexible Wing. (btm-26) It shows Rogallo’s first patent filed in 1940, Lateral Control for Aircraft (rpa-01). Claire Rogallo, daughter of Francis and Gertrude, is filmed looking at an aircraft wing as it lands. The flaps are down, the spoilers are up, and she says: “A lot of things he did. Every time you fly on an airplane and you see those wing flaps go, every time I think of Daddy.”
We don’t know if Rogallo’s patent was reduced to practice. On Justia Patents website, flaps and spoilers licences are listed by the hundreds since 1976. We doubt that Boeing engineers thought about Rogallo or credited him when they designed the B.737 wing.
The Foundation’s Hall of Fame poster sums up the Rogallo myth perfectly. If Rogallo dreamed it, then it’s a Rogallo. When flying cars and flapping-wing aircraft become a reality, they will be added to the Hall of Fame poster. Nothing is too absurd.