The following excerpt was taken from "Stories of Our Heritage" by: Jim and Maggie Palmieri, producers and editors. skydog@rev.net Available at: http://www.skynet.ca/~skydog/Book-Release.htm

Francis M. Rogallo
© Vic Powell
Sometimes it is best that common knowledge does not prevail. Everyone knows that unless cloth is somehow braced or stiffened it cannot serve as a basis for flight. As an example, cloth flags flap, they don't fly. The cloth on the Wright Brothers' Flyer was stretched over a wood structure, and the assembled wing was further stiffened with wire bracing. When flight control moved away from the Wright's system of wing flexing to attached control surfaces the wings were constructed to be completely rigid, and were covered with increasingly solid substances. Everyone knew cloth couldn't fly as a lift- producing wing. One person, however, began to think about the prevailing understanding and whether a cloth-based flexible wing could possibly hold the key to developing economical craft that anyone could afford and fly. Such an aircraft had been this person's long-term goal.

In Hampton, Virginia, Francis Melvin Rogallo, who had earned one of the first aeronautical engineering degrees issued by a U.S. educational institution (Stanford 1935), was serving in the mid-1940's as a researcher and wind tunnel manager at the facilities of Langley NACA (National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics)-which later became NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). While doing research on aircraft parts and design an idea began to develop in his mind about something really startling, using the force of wind to create an airfoil.

The basic elements of a Rogallo wing have been available to mankind for thousands of years. Egyptians had all the items necessary to create a glider capable of carrying a person. They, just as peoples before, manufactured excellent cloth and rope, the basics of a flexwing. The pyramids, or even the cliffs along the Nile, would have served as first-class launch sites. No one had put it all together and made it work. Solving the problem required insight derived from genius.

Rogallo couldn't develop his project at work. The government facilities were fully utilized and demanded all his attention during World War II. There was also a prohibition of using government equipment for private endeavors. Rogallo thought that researching the prospect of a flying cloth wing was an interesting challenge. In the mid-1940's he built a small wind tunnel in his home with which to conduct experiments in the evening. His wife, Gertrude, helped. She cut and sewed cloth to the dimensions that Francis needed. Together they built larger versions and tested them on North Carolina's Outer Banks region, using the same winds enjoyed by the Wright Brothers nearly a half-Century previous when the Wrights tested wings that they had designed. The Rogallos learned as much from their experiment's failures as from successes. Over a period of time breakthroughs were achieved. Test by test they learned about the most efficient shape of the cloth, where to place attachments, the number of attachments needed, and stability. They were learning how to use the force of the wind to create an airfoil that would maintain its shape and carry weight. Further experiments were conducted using stiffening members to increase the wing's performance. Each test flight was an exciting discovery as nature unveiled its secrets to these two people. The flexible wing was patented in 1948. Francis, in a magnanimous action which reflects his love for his wife, designated that the patent be in Gertrude's name. She holds the patent.
In the mid-1950's the Soviet Union launched its first capsule into orbit around the earth. The launch caught much of the U.S. aeronautical industry by surprise regarding the relative advancement of the Soviets. The U.S. undertook an effort to catch up and get its own craft into space. Several methods were tested to safely return the U.S. capsules, including parachutes, nets strung between high flying aircraft, and the Rogallo wing. Government research using the flexible wing was wide-ranging. Wings of enormous size were tested, some carrying military vehicles and large supplies. Flexible wings attached to a motorized platform were flown. There were successful deployments of the Rogallo wing at high altitude simulating a returning manned space capsule. Eventually NASA had to make a decision about how to land its spacecraft. It chose parachutes.

In the early 1960's some of those reports written by government contractors testing the wing as well as papers written by Rogallo found their way into the hands of people who thought the wing might make an easily constructed, inexpensive foot-launchable glider. The wing worked. Word got out about the fun people were having flying Rogallo wings. More wings were built. This presented the Rogallos with a major problem: defend the patent and receive royalties for each kite manufactured; or let people fly these newly affordable wings for free. In a gesture unparalled in aviation history, and surely equal to placing the patent in Gertrude's name, the Rogallos decided to give their invention to the people of the world. They would let manufacturers freely produce gliders using their invention so that people around the globe could enjoy this new economical fun way to fly. Never in the history of aviation has one invention brought so much joy to so many people.