Editing Hang gliding (section)

== History ==
{{Main|History of hang gliding}}
[[File:Lilienthal in flight.jpg|thumb|[[Otto Lilienthal]] in flight]]

In 1853, [[George Cayley]] invented a slope-launched, piloted glider.
Most early glider designs were not conducive to safe flight; the problem was that early flight pioneers did not sufficiently understand the underlying principles that made a bird's wing work. Starting in the 1880s, technical and scientific advancements were made that led to the first truly practical [[Glider aircraft|glider]]s, such as those developed in the United States by [[John Joseph Montgomery]]. [[Otto Lilienthal]] built controllable gliders in the 1890s, with which he could [[Ridge lift|ridge soar]]. His rigorously documented work influenced later designers, making Lilienthal one of the most influential early [[aviation pioneers]]. His aircraft was controlled by weight shift and is similar to a modern hang glider.

[[File:Lavezzari hang glider.jpg|thumb|left|[[Jan Lavezzari]] with a double sail glider]]
Hang gliding saw a stiffened flexible wing hang glider in 1904, when [[Jan Lavezzari]] flew a double lateen sail hang glider off [[Berck|Berck Beach]], [[France]]. In 1910 in [[Breslau]], the [[triangle control frame]] with hang glider pilot hung behind the triangle in a hang glider, was evident in a gliding club's activity.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://lh4.ggpht.com/_y21JroWG1xg/SG6MAf0c7KI/AAAAAAAAATk/CoCQ25QpLrM/1908StephanNitschCollection.jpg|title=1908 hang glider in Breslau territory with pilot hung by his left foot, a device used through 1900s (decade) up to today for natural bodily commute|access-date=30 April 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160101030149/http://lh4.ggpht.com/_y21JroWG1xg/SG6MAf0c7KI/AAAAAAAAATk/CoCQ25QpLrM/1908StephanNitschCollection.jpg|archive-date=1 January 2016}}</ref>  The biplane hang glider was very widely publicized in public magazines with plans for building;<ref name="spicerweb">{{cite web|url=http://www.spicerweb.org/Chanute/Cha_index.aspx|publisher=spicerweb.org|title=Chanute Main Page|access-date=30 April 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170607035110/http://www.spicerweb.org/chanute/Cha_index.aspx|archive-date=7 June 2017}}</ref> such biplane hang gliders were constructed and flown in several nations since [[Octave Chanute]] and his tailed biplane hang gliders were demonstrated. In April 1909, a how-to article by Carl S. Bates proved to be a seminal hang glider article that seemingly affected builders even of contemporary times. Many builders would have their first [[hang glider]] made by following the plan in his article.<ref name="comcast">{{cite web|url=http://mywebpages.comcast.net/JerryCY/PMGlider/|publisher=mywebpages.comcast.net|title=The Popular Mechanics Glider|access-date=30 April 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060207115532/http://mywebpages.comcast.net/JerryCY/PMGlider/|archive-date=7 February 2006}}</ref>   Volmer Jensen with a biplane hang glider in 1940 called VJ-11 allowed safe three-axis control of a foot-launched hang glider.<ref name="sailplanehomebuilders">{{cite web|url=http://www.sailplanehomebuilders.com/volmer_vj-11.htm|publisher=sailplanehomebuilders.com|title=Home Builders of the Future &#124; VJ-11 Information Page. The history of the VJ-11 hang glider.|access-date=30 April 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090312062320/http://www.sailplanehomebuilders.com/volmer_vj-11.htm|archive-date=12 March 2009}}</ref>

[[File:Paresev 1-B in Tow Flight - GPN-2000-000212.jpg|thumb|NASA's [[Paresev]] glider in flight with tow cable {{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927120105/http://www.aviation-news.co.uk/Parasev.html]}}]]
On 23 November 1948, [[Francis Rogallo]] and [[Gertrude Rogallo]] applied for a [[kite]] patent<ref name="google">{{cite web|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US2546078|title=Patent US2546078 - Flexible kite - Google Patents|access-date=30 April 2017}}</ref> for a fully flexible kited wing with approved claims for its stiffenings and gliding uses; the ''flexible wing'' or [[Rogallo wing]], which in 1957 the American space agency [[NASA]] began testing in various flexible and semi-rigid configurations in order to use it as a recovery system for the Gemini [[space capsule]]s. The various stiffening formats and the wing's simplicity of design and ease of construction, along with its capability of slow flight and its gentle landing characteristics, did not go unnoticed by hang glider enthusiasts. In 1960–1962 [[Barry Hill Palmer]] adapted the flexible wing concept to make foot-launched hang gliders with four different control arrangements.<ref name="earlyaviators">{{cite web|url=http://www.earlyaviators.com/ebates.htm|author=Ralph S. Cooper, D.V.M.|publisher=earlyaviators.com|title=Carl S. Bates|access-date=30 April 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305193020/http://earlyaviators.com/ebates.htm|archive-date=5 March 2016}}</ref> In 1963 Mike Burns adapted the flexible wing to build a towable kite-hang glider he called [[Skiplane]]. In 1963, [[John W. Dickenson]] adapted the flexible wing [[airfoil]] concept to make another water-ski kite glider; for this, the [[Fédération Aéronautique Internationale]] vested Dickenson with the Hang Gliding Diploma (2006) for the invention of the "modern" hang glider.<ref name="fai">{{cite web|url=http://www.fai.org/awards/award.asp?id=21|publisher=fai.org|title=FAI Award: The FAI Hang Gliding Diploma|access-date=30 April 2017|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110518115844/http://www.fai.org/awards/award.asp?id=21|archive-date=18 May 2011}}</ref>  Since then, the Rogallo wing has been the most used [[airfoil]] of hang gliders.