Otto Lilienthal Hang Glider Meet, May 23, 1971

Jack Lambie was schoolteacher, as well as an innovative and experienced airman who had accompanied Captain Dick Merrill as copilot on the first commercial transatlantic flight on May 10, 1937 among his many accomplishments. The Lambie brothers, Mark and Jack, organized the Otto Lilienthal Universal Hang Glider Championships held on a hilltop in Corona del Mar, California on May 23, 1971 to celebrate the 123rd birthday of Otto Lilienthal. This event marked the rebirth of hang gliding in the USA, and my first and last involvement with weight-shift aircraft control.

"May 23, 1971. That is the date, perhaps, that hang gliding officially became a sport." --From Manbirds, by Maralys Wills.

Read her account here:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.aviation.piloting/msg/2597ec3d4b97cacb?dmo...

http://groups.google.com/group/rec.aviation.soaring/msg/59b3168722fa85ca?dmod...

http://books.google.com/books?id=kcwHCy6F4vcC&lpg=PA92&ots=FLO6-rxMXm...

I (with striped polo shirt) had just been granted an FAA Private Airmans certificate on October 31, 1970, and thought it would be fun to experience flight as those predecessors of Wilbur and Orville had. The blond fellow was my flight instructor, Keith Lindsay. We built the "aircraft" from clear Fir, bamboo, and 3-mill Mylar sheeting donated by Wally Herzog and the 3M Corporation. Our entire cost was about $50.00 and 20 man-hours. Our longest flight duration was 12 seconds. The late Richard Miller can be seen piloting is Conduit Condor mono-wing. The black Rogollo "Batso" was piloted by Taras Kiceniuk, Jr.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• larry dighera
• otto lilienthal
• hanglider
• hang glider
• hangloose
• extreme sports
• jack lambie
• aviation
• flying
• glider
• aircraft
• richard miller
• taras kiceniuk
• keith lindsay
• pilot
• airman

[Ldighera]

Thank you for your work on providing this information on IMDB.COM:

Biography for Jack Lambie

Atlantic Flight (1937)

The Winds of Kitty Hawk (TV 1978)

[smrndoff]

I love to see enthusiastic amateurs 'have a go'.

I'm quite shocked that they don't seem to have grasped one of the simplest structural ideas of cross bracing. Triangular braces are much stronger than simple rectangles. And there are no concessions in any of these designs to the concept of steering. I admire your enthusiasm but the lack of forethought is laughable.

[Ldighera]

@smrndoff I'm happy you enjoyed this historical footage. Thank you for your comment.

I've no formal education in structural engineering, but Lambie's choice of diagonal cross bracing with light wire seems reasonable in reducing weight and complexity. As I understand it, Lambie designed the Hang Loose glider to inspire his high school students, it had to be simple enough to construct within one semester. Aircraft control was to be accomplished by Chanute's weight-shifting, but inadequate.

[mfg993]

I met Jack Lambie in London in the early 70's. He was cycling round Europe, financing the trip by selling plans for "Hang Loose". I still have the plans. Watching this video doesn't tempt me to make it.

[Ldighera]

@mfg993

Thank you for your comment.

I'd dearly love to have a copy of original Hang Loose plans. Is there any chance you might scan them and e-mail them to me at: LDighera(at)att(dot)net?

[arlmovitz1]

I dug up my plans and scanned them in. Too large to email (63mb), but you can download them from amovitz(dot)com(slash)Hang_Loo­se(dot)pdf. They spent 9 months on a garage floor as a friend and I built ours ($200 in 1976). I cleaned them up slightly, removing old notations. We used 1/8" 7x7 galvanized cable with turnbuckles, thimbles and swages instead of bailing wire, but otherwise followed the plans closely. Large bamboo was really tough to find in Massachusetts!

[Ldighera]

@arlmovitz1

Thank you very much for providing a scan of your historically significant Hang Loose plans. Your copy seems a bit more comprehensive/updated to the copy I had back in 1971, particularly in its inclusion of flight control systems. You'll also find an interesting June 1972 Popular Science article on the Otto Meet here: books.google.com/books?id=kcwH­Cy6F4vcC&pg=PA92

[mammothmouse1959]

An absolutely very enjoyable and historic piece of filming.

Thanks for this!

[pereyt]

Thank you for sharing this video. I thought that someday we may see these pictures!

[divinedichotomy]

I am a PG pilot and when I see such videos, I feel like we own so much to these guys, thanks to whom we are able to fly

Thanks for the video

[rentatrip1]

IN 2 weeks - a ceremony to be held at San Miguel Park in Newport Beach May23 2011 will dedicate the hill side as a aviation historic site & celebrate the 40th anniversary of this event - we have come a long way-

[rentatrip1]

@Ldighera - it was an 8th grade summer school science class - not high school

[rentatrip1]

@Ldighera - the 1937 film was NOT the same Jack Lambie - it was "A" Jack Lambie - another Hollywood Movie Actor in 1937 Jack would have aboput 7 years old -LOL ---Jack built the Lambie Wright Flyer with a Honda 4 engine (750cc) for the BBC film -1973-Wilbur and Orville: The First to Fly- in the 1978 film Winds of Kitty Hawk he flew the VALENTINE/WRIGHT Flyer - it used a Ford model "T" engine

[Jbacks57]

Check out Jack Lambie's career at imdb.com (his early career is connected with Dick Merrill and Eastern Airlines).

[woodstockmane]

Those were the days.