The co-inventor of the wing central to the development of paragliders, stunt kites, kite-board kites and hang gliders died September 1 in Southern Shores, N.C. Francis M. Rogallo, "the father of hang gliding," was 97.
Rogallo, '32, Engr. '35, who studied mechanical engineering and aeronautics at Stanford, was hired in 1936 by the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), the predecessor to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He conducted theoretical and experimental work in aerodynamic research, including airplane development.
Rogallo and his wife, Gertrude, dreamed of affordable personal flight without the aid of an engine. Their prototype of "the flexible wing" was made from a chintz kitchen curtain and tested in a home wind tunnel powered by a large window fan. Unlike other designs, the Rogallos' flexible wing required no rigid parts. (Even birds, he remarked, had bones.) Formed by fabric and shroud lines, the wing achieved its shape and lift as a result of wind pressure.
In 1951 the Rogallos obtained a patent for the design and worked tirelessly to sell it to government and industry. No buyer was to be found, and the couple marketed a small version as a toy: the Flexikite.
After Sputnik was launched in October 1957, NASA picked up the flexible wing design and began testing it as a device capable of safely returning space capsules to earth. The "parawing" was tested at three times the speed of sound and heights of up to 200,000 feet. It was incorporated into other designs, including the administration's flying jeep—or "Fleep"—project.
Meanwhile, aspiring flyers around the world were at work modifying the design to fulfill the Rogallos' original dream: giving wings to humankind. "People were building their own wings from pictures in magazines. They were teaching themselves to fly," Mike Meier, president of the Hang Glider Manufacturers Association, told the Los Angeles Times.
Among the first to achieve this dream were Rogallo's children, who soared above the beach near their home, test-piloting wing designs. "We were tethered to an old piece of shipwreck that had floated in," his daughter Carol recalls. "He was making calculations in his mind, while I was just having fun."
Francis Rogallo made his last personal flight amid the Kitty Hawk dunes of North Carolina in 1992, on his 80th birthday.
Survivors include his children, Robert S. Rogallo, Carol R. Sparks, Frances R. MacEachren and Marie "Bunny" R. Samuels; three grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. Gertrude Sugden Rogallo, his wife of 68 years, died in 2008.
