Why hang gliders worship a sand dune in North Carolina’s Outer Banks

Francis and Gertrude Rogallo’s Kitchen Curtain Flight Revolution

In 1948, NASA engineer Francis Rogallo and his wife Gertrude made flight history in their living room.

They crafted the first flexible wing from kitchen curtains, tested it in a homemade wind tunnel, and got a patent by 1951. NASA later used their design for spacecraft tests at 200,000 feet and speeds of Mach 3.

Though NASA dropped the project in 1967, hang gliders soon took off worldwide. Francis first flew at age 62 and kept soaring until his 80th birthday.

The dunes of Jockey’s Ridge State Park still echo with the legacy of this couple who gave wings to thousands.

Kitchen Curtains Turned Into Flying History

Francis and Gertrude Rogallo tested their first bendy wing in 1948 using kitchen curtain fabric in their homemade wind tunnel at their Virginia home.

Francis worked as an engineer at NACA Langley since 1936. When NACA turned down his idea, the couple ran tests at home in their free time.

By late 1948, they created two working designs: the Flexi-Kite and a gliding parachute they called a paraglider.

They filed a patent in November 1948 for their self-inflating wing.

Six Years of Nobody Listening

The patent came through in March 1951 to both Gertrude and Francis for their “Flexible Kite” design.

For six years, the Rogallos tried to get government and companies interested in their bendy wing, but found no takers.

They let a Connecticut maker sell a kite version to earn some cash. The couple traveled to kite events across the Northeast to show it off.

When DuPont created Mylar plastic in 1952, the five-dollar Flexikite toy became one of the first items made with this new material.

Sputnik Put Their Idea in the Spotlight

The Soviet Union sent Sputnik into space on October 4, 1957, starting the Space Race. NASA formed from NACA, with money now flowing toward space trips.

Suddenly, Rogallo’s “kite business” caught NASA’s eye. In spring 1959, Wernher von Braun visited Langley and watched Rogallo fly a small mylar glider.

Von Braun saw how it could help recover rocket parts using gliding parachutes.

NASA Tested the Wing to the Limit

The Rogallos gave their patent to the government for free, getting $35,000 back—NASA’s biggest inventor award then. NASA called the bendy wing the “Parawing” and started many wind tunnel tests.

They checked it at heights up to 200,000 feet and speeds reaching Mach 3. The agency tested if it could work for Gemini space capsules and Saturn rocket stages.

By 1960, NASA flew both powered and unpowered Parawing setups.

Flying Jeeps and Test Gliders Take Off

NASA built the Fleep (“Flying Jeep”), a powered bendy-wing aircraft for short takeoff and landing.

The Paresev (“Paraglider Research Vehicle”) glider came from Charles Richards in 1961-1962 under orders from Paul Bikle. It had a folding four-tube Rogallo wing, first with cloth sail later changed to Dacron.

The first Paresev flew January 25, 1962, and made nearly 350 flights through 1964. Test pilots included Neil Armstrong, Milton Thompson, Bruce Peterson, and astronaut Gus Grissom.

One Design Became the Model for Hang Gliders

Charles Richards’ team created a wing in 1961-1962 that became the pattern for fun hang gliders. The design showed a sharp-nosed, low-sweep Rogallo wing with aluminum tubes and a triangle control frame.

Its weight-shift control let the pilot tilt the wing side-to-side and back-to-front using a control stick. The Paresev usually took off at 46 mph when towed like a kite, with top speed around 65 mph.

News about Paresev and Fleep got hobbyists worldwide excited.

Space Agency Dropped the Project

NASA stopped Paresev research in 1965 and cut money for bendy-wing projects in 1967. Problems with reliable unfolding made the system too risky for spacecraft recovery.

The agency chose regular round parachutes for water landings instead for all Gemini and Apollo missions. The Paresev went to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum for display.

NASA’s $160 million spent on bendy-wing research in the 1960s ended without any space use.

Hang Gliding Grew Around the World

Barry Palmer built and flew the first foot-launched Rogallo-wing hang glider in August 1961 near Sacramento, California.

Australian John Dickenson created a steerable waterskiing kite/glider in mid-1963, copying Ryan Aeronautical’s flex-wing design.

The world’s first hang glider meet happened in California in 1971.

The Rogallos chose not to defend their patent, letting others freely develop designs. Hang gliding grew fast in the early 1970s with thousands of people joining in.

Retirement Meant Learning to Fly at Age 62

Francis left NASA in 1970 and moved with Gertrude to the Outer Banks for good in 1972. He went to the First Annual Rogallo Meet near Trabuco Canyon, California in 1974 for his 62nd birthday.

The event organizer gave Francis his first store-bought hang glider, which they shipped to Kitty Hawk. Francis taught himself to fly on Jockey’s Ridge State Park’s huge sand dunes.

He flew often throughout the 1970s and 1980s, showing up in his VW bus to soar the dunes.

The Engineer Took His Last Flight at 80

Francis and Gertrude became fixtures at Outer Banks aviation events, kite festivals, and hang gliding competitions. They often visited Jockey’s Ridge to watch people fly with versions of their wing design.

Francis rarely mentioned he invented the flexible wing, preferring to watch quietly. He took his final hang glider flight on his 80th birthday in 1992.

Tens of thousands learned to fly Rogallo-wing hang gliders at Jockey’s Ridge, just five miles from where the Wright Brothers first flew.

Their Legacy Soars Among Aviation Giants

The Rogallos joined the ranks of 100 Aviation Heroes at the 2003 First Flight Centennial celebration. They stood alongside Neil Armstrong, Chuck Yeager, and Buzz Aldrin among only 16-17 living recipients at the event.

Neil Armstrong wheeled Francis onstage after Francis broke his hip two weeks before the ceremony. Gertrude died January 28, 2008, and Francis passed away September 1, 2009 at age 97 in Southern Shores, North Carolina.

Their royalty-free patent allowed millions worldwide to experience personal flight through hang gliding, paragliding, and kiteboarding.

Visiting Jockey’s Ridge State Park, North Carolina

You can visit Jockey’s Ridge State Park at 300 W. Carolista Drive in Nags Head for free to learn about Francis Rogallo’s flexible wing invention that created modern hang gliding.

Kitty Hawk Kites offers beginner lessons right next to the visitor center – call 1-877-FLY-THIS for reservations.

Check out the Rogallo Wall display at nearby Jockey’s Ridge Crossing shopping center, and visit during June for the annual Rogallo Kite Festival celebrating his aviation legacy.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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