• 1804 AD. Sir George Cayley built several gliders, distinguished between lift and drag and formulated the concepts of vertical tail surfaces, steering rudders and rear elevators.

• 1883 John_Joseph_Montgomeryindependently built several gliders in the United States and used wind and water tables to formulate thoughts on lifting surfaces.

• 1891 First controlled flights, Otto Lilienthal of Germany. His gliders have many features in common with modern Hang_gliding; they were foot-launched and controlled by displacing the center of gravity, referred to as 'weight-shift'.

• 1891-1896. First soaring flights. Germany, near Berlin at Gross Lichterfelde. Otto Lilienthal.

• 1904, February 15. Jan_Lavezzariflew a double lateen sail hang glider off Berck beach, France.

• 1905 LIFE magazine is showing a photograph of a hang glider where the pilot is hanging by tension in his arms (replacing tension of hanging seat or hang line of harnesses) while also freely moving feet on strut-stayed triangle control frame.Answers.com

• 1905 Aeronaut Daniel Maloney pilots a balloon-launched tandem wing Montgomery glider from a release thousands of feet above the ground to a landing at a predescribed location.

• 1908. In Breslau a gliding club member demonstrated cable-stayed triangle control bar for a hang glider that would be seen strongly and instructed again in 1929 by George A. Spratt.
• 1920. Soaring becomes organized sport at Wasserkuppe, Germany as the World War I Versailles treaty outlaws flying powered aircraft in Germany. Breslau gliding Klub with cable-stayed triangle control frame on a hang glider.

• 1921. Dr. Wolfgang Klemperer breaks the Wright Brothers 1911 soaring record with a 13-minute flight in Germany. Both flights used Ridge_lift.

• 1921. Gottlob Espenlaub demonstrates triangle control frame (A-frame_for_hang_gliders,_trikes,_and_ultralights) for hang gliders in Rhon, Germany.

• 1923. Platz Glider. Not foot-launchable by the pilot alone. Controlled by the pilot directly deforming the front canard wings. It was not a weight-shift hang glider but it was simple enough to be folded into a single length to be carried by Platz while riding a bicycle.Answers.com

• 1928. Austrian Robert Kronfeld proved that thermal lift could be used by a sailplane to gain altitude by making a short out and return flight.

• 1929. Aero towing becomes popular, the three forms of lift are becoming well known.
• 1929. George A. Spratt demonstrated the use of the triangular control frame for hang glider pendulum weight-shift control, mechanically similar to that used in 1908 in a hang glider in Breslau. [69]. Later in the 1930s he invented the Control Wing aircraft.

• 1933. Wave lift was discovered by Wolf Hirth and one of his students in Germany.

• 1948. Francis Rogallo invents the flexible wing (Rogallo wing).Answers.com

• 1956. Aeronautical engineer Paul MacCready invents the MacCready Speed Ring, used by glider pilots the world over to select optimum flight speed.

• 1957, October. Francis Rogallo released the flexible wing patent to the U.S.A. government and NASA, producing the Parawing, to be used as a deployable space capsule parachute/glider.

• 1960. Paresev(a.k.a: Parawing Research Vehicle, Paraglider Research Vehicle (formal).) This experimental spacecraft re-entry kite/glider made use of the Rogallo wing; design and manufacture by NASA at Dryden_Flight_Research_Center, flight tests made in early 1962 and inspired manufacture of Rogallo wing hang gliders. Eight pilots free-flighted hung glided in various versions of the wing and hung-seat arrangement.

• 1961. Ryan_XV-8. Flexible wing aircraft design & manufacture begins.

• 1961-1962. First documented foot-launch with a Rogallo flex wing hang glider: Barry Hill Palmer, California, U.S.A. Hang glider inspired from a photo of NASA's Ryan_XV-8.Answers.comAnswers.comAnswers.comAnswers.com

• 1961. Celebrity Jim Hobson (of Lawrence Welk Show fame) began experimenting with the Rogallo wing in model form, leading to the construction of a full size glider which he flew it at Dockweiler Beach on January 2, 1962. The glider frame was fabricated from aluminum and aircraft bolts supported by aircraft cable attached to hardware store eye bolts and turnbuckles.Answers.comA second larger hang glider was taken to Dockweiler Beach; it featured a 4 mil polyester film reinforced with fiberglass tape. Movies of August, 1962 flights were made.

• 1961. Engineer Thomas Purcell builds a 4.9 metres (16 ft) wide Rogallo airfoil glider with an aluminum frame, wheels, a seat and basic control rods.Answers.com

• 1962. Ryan_Aeronautical_Companypublicizes images of the Ryan_XV-8flexible wing aircraft.

• 1962. Mike Burns and Dick Swinbourne from Aerostructures, Sydney, Australia, design the Skiplane glider based on the Rogallo wing. It used pendulum weight-shift control and floats.

• 1963. John Dickenson, Australia. Making of the Ski Wing, an influential hang glider model encompassing a control frame and used weight-shift control.Answers.comAnswers.com

• 1963, September. First flight of the Ski Wing, towed behind a motor boat. The kite/glider was piloted by Rod Fuller and then John Dickenson. Grafton, NSW, Australia.Answers.com

• 1963. First release and land of a Ski Wing. Grafton, Australia. Pilot: John Dickenson.

• 1960s England. Tony Prentice designed and flew several non-Rogallo hang gliders.Answers.com

• 1966. Mike Burns and Dick Swinbourne (Aerostructures) begin commercial production of Dickenson's Mark V model.

• 1966. Early flex wing hang glider, Vista Del Mar. California,_U.S.A. by Richard Miller. His gliders, based on Barry_Hill_Palmerhang glider, were named Batso and Bamboo Butterfly. Their photos and plans were published in a few magazines during the 1960s. (See the Popularity section.)

• 1966. Irvin Industries start marketing a commercial version of the Rogallo Wing to sport Parachutingenthusiasts.Answers.com

• 1967, March. Bill Moyes and Bill Bennett taught to fly the Mark V hang glider by Mike Burns and John Dickenson.

• 1967. First foot-launch of a flexible without auxiliary power (no towing). Launched from a snowed mountain with snow skis.- Bill Moyes. Mt. Crackenback, Australia.Answers.comThe hang glider was a Mark V purchased from Aerostructures.

• 1969. Initial tether into headwind then released onto ridge to soar (32 minutes). Bill Moyes. NSW, Australia.Answers.com

• 1969. Tony Prentice. First flex wing hang glider foot-launch in the United_Kingdom.

• 1971. Foot-launch and soaring on ridge and thermal lift (1 hour). Dave Kilbourne. Mission Peak, California,_U.S.A. This seems to be the first foot-launch of a flexible wing not using skis.

• 1971. Alfio Caronti, first flexible wing launched in Italy.Answers.com

• 1972. Rick Poynter and Murray Sargeson introduce hang gliding to New Zealand at the 'Fly a Kite Day' in Auckland. The New Zealand Hang Gliding Association is formed as a result of this.

• 1973. Rock Poynter starts Pacific Sails in Auckland, New Zealand, manufacturing U.S. and Australian Hang Glider designs under license (Seagull III, Stinger), and developing competitive indigenous designs (Falcon, Lancer I, II, IV).

• 1974. Caril Ridley conducted high altitude flights soaring from a Maharaja's lookout tower near Sonar Hot Springs, India. The event got world wide coverage.

• 1976. Rudy Kishazy performs the first loop and series of loops at Grands Montets, France.Answers.com

• 1977. Jerry Katz first to soar 161 kilometres (100 mi).

• 1978. Terry DeLore from New_Zealandis crowned first World Hang Gliding Champion.

• 1983. Gérard Thévenot, the manufacturer of the Cosmostrike, introduced aerotowing, the use of weak links, parachute retrieval system of tow line and centre of thrust towing.

• 1992 The Exxtacy rigid wing hang glider, designed by Felix Ruehle.

• 1999 The ATOS rigid wing hang glider, designed by Felix Ruehle.

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