EAA493 Mailing List: Re: Awesome fun!

[Larry Wedel (lwedel]

In the early 70s I watched Volmer Jensen flying his VJ23 hang glider. Equipped with a rigid wing and conventional tail surfaces it outperformed all the rogallo gliders by a huge margin. They were climbing and then running off the top of a conical hill on a ranch between San Diego and the Mexican border. After the official competition was over Volmer made his run and arrived over the landing spot of the previous best flight, did a 360 and landed. About an hour later he made another flight and landed well beyond the previous spot. The main real disadvantage of his aircraft was that it took 2-3 men to carry it up the hill while the Rogallo types were carried up by one.

The conical mountain was popular and chosen for it's usability with any wind direction.

check:  http://www.airventuremuseum.org/collection/aircraft/Volmer%20Jensen-Ramey%20VJ-23E%20Swingwing.asp

Larry

On Friday, January 24, 2014 2:38 PM, Joe Christian <k5hmd [at] uppercanyon.us> wrote:

http://player.vimeo.com/video/39325401

 

I have a book that my folks gave me back in the early 50âs (Boy Mechanic) that shows how to make a self launching glider. Always wanted to build one, but not any places to fly around Eldorado unless you took it to the top of the water tower! 

 

Joe

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