Rogallo flexible wing (hang glider)
Ala flexible de Rogallo (ala delta)
- Date
- 1948 · confidence high
- Place
- Hampton, Virginia, USA
- Credited to
- Francis and Gertrude Rogallo
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
A flexible fabric delta-shaped wing inflated and kept taut by the wind with no rigid structure; Francis and Gertrude Rogallo developed it from 1948 and patented it in 1951. NASA studied it as a recovery system and the hang glider was born of it.
John Dickenson in Australia developed the water-ski hang glider in 1963; Barry Palmer (US) also developed it. Credit for the hang glider as a sport is shared.
What it led to
- hang gliding as a sport from the 1960s
- ultralights, paragliders and flexible-wing vehicles