In the early seventies there were only three people producing and making hang gliders in the UK. I purchased mine from a BAC design physicist from Bristol. Mine came as a kit of parts that had to be cut and riveted together, the nylon fabric wing and cables came ready made. The kit contained duralumin tubing that was cut to size and riveted together to make the correct lengths of 5.2 meters. There was a three-point aluminium plate at the front where the three wing tubes came together. The wingspan was 6.7 meters.
The control frame (A-Frame) was connected mid point under the wing and a seat hung precariously by nylon cords via a 13 cm high tensile steel bolt. Yes, my life hung by this bolt when flying. It took me three weeks to build and put together, to balance and align it and make sure that the whole structure and curvature of the frame was correct for flight.
When finished and ready to fly, I did my test flight at some burial mound sites on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent. They were just high enough for me to gain some experience of its handling. I got permission from the farmer that owned the fields and so started my test flights.
First it was necessary to lift the hang glider into the air with the aid of a light wind; the glider weighed some 7 1/2 kilos and needed a wind to hold it up. The idea was to run along a flat surface in a controlled straight line keeping the glider airborne and then to learn how to steer it where I wanted it to go as opposed to where it and the wind wanted it to go. Once I got the hang of controlling it, it was time to get onto one of the burial mounds and take it to the air. The mounds were at varying heights, so I started from a low one and worked my way up to the higher ones. These mounds were only to serve as a launch point where the glider would take my weight and fly only a few meters but enough for me to get acquainted with how it handled. After several times at these mounds, it was time to get a little more ambitious and to take it to greater heights.
On the north side of the island there were some high cliffs, up to about a hundred meters. When the tide was out at a distance of about 2 kilometres and on the turn and coming in, it would create an onshore wind that when striking the cliffs would create an updraft of warm air along the cliffs edges. These were the perfect requirements and conditions for hang gliding where you could glide along the cliffs edge in this uplift of warm air and for perhaps as long as 3 kilometres.
It was an amazing and exhilarating experience where you feel as near to a bird when flying in silent conditions. There was of course a down side to this. It required a leap of faith where I would run up to the edge of the 100 meter cliff and launch myself into the on coming air flow. I had to be a little crazy to do this as sometimes I did not launch and crashed over the cliff, not so bad as it sounds and most times I could get the glider to come down to the ground like a parachute in the wind. Sometimes the wind was so strong that at the very edge of the cliff the wind would turn me upside down and land me some meters back from the cliffs edge. All a great experience but if asked would I do this again, my answer would be no, I was 25 then, I am older now and life is a little more precious.
The best memory of my hang glider days was the experience of a 3-kilometer flight along the cliffs edge. As I gained about 20 meters in height above the cliffs within the on coming air, I was flying some 30 meters in land and over a caravan site. When the people and children saw me, they all come running towards me shouting out to me in the air. I was the first person to fly a hang glider on the Isle of Sheppey, so I think I was their first experience of one apart from the then news media. I had strapped to my A-frame a height and speed instrument along with an air horn. When I saw all the people, I sounded my horn and waved down to them. It was as exciting for me as it was for them.
As I lost height and went down below the level of the cliffs, it was time to make my landing plans. I saw a ridge ahead of me and thought I might be able to fly over it and land on the beach, alas, this was not to be, I could not get over the ridge and instead, I crashed into it. As the hang glider stood against the ridge in a vertical position with me hanging up side down in it, I just took a breath and realized what an amazing experience I had just had. The glider was ok but it was now time to fold in the wings and walk back the 3 kilometres I had just flown.
Sadly my hang gliding days came to an end after I lost my nerve for flying following a glider crash at a gliding school for Air Cadets.
I was a Glider Pilot Instructor at an R.A.F gliding school for Air Cadets where I crash-landed a glider. During the enquiry that followed (normal procedure with the RA.F.) I found that I had lost my nerve for flying, this included gliding, hang gliding and power flying for which I was qualified. After a period of 7 years, I got back to flying but never again hang gliding. I had previously sold on my hang glider to three men who I believe crashed it.
Good days, crazy days, but what an experience to talk about.
Photos: 1-Test flights near to burial grounds. 2-Test flights from 10 meters to 100 meters. 3-Getting more ambitious.