US Hawks Hang Gliding Association

Where did the term "hand gliding" come from. Who started it? My first nomination is

May 18, 1973 - Dick Kleiner

The following might not actually be a use earlier,
but we have a file with a use of "hand glider" that depicts Hans Richter in 1926 flying an Otto machine:
[url=http://home.bt.com/images/  hans-richter-otto-lilienthals-original-hand-glider  -136393983643503901-141028154611.jpg]http://home.bt.com/images/hans-richter-otto-lilienthals-original-hand-glider-136393983643503901-141028154611.jpg[/url]

Joe,

The URL is not evidence of use in history.

Agreed.
=========================
Here also is a probable 2000 era article that faces the "hand gliding" and "hang gliding" but does not reference early uses of "hand" for us.
http://www.spainfitness.com/en/sports/a ... iding.html
Clip from that page:


Maybe placing hands on the glider airframe moves people to the "hand."
Maybe hand carrying the craft moves some to use the "hand."
Maybe toy gliders tossed by the hand reminds some of "hand" when they consider a glider operated so much by use of hands.
Maybe not hearing well on phones followed by writing articles moved some people to hear "hand" rather than "hang."
Maybe some people just don't want to "hang" but would rather have control via "hand."

I am holding out that there were uses of "hand" prior to the Lockwood-focused article.
The considerable amount of text in Low & Slow prior to the Lockwood article just may have shown some use of the "hand" item.

~JoeF

JoeF wrote:The considerable amount of text in Low & Slow prior to the Lockwood article just may have shown some use of the "hand" item.

Does anyone have a full set (or near full set) of the Low & Slow series? It would be great to publish them on line somewhere (like the US Hawks Historical forum?).

Maybe not hearing well on phones followed by writing articles moved some people to hear "hand" rather than "hang."

Journalists usually get things at least a little wrong.
Like hearing or seeing "han" and promoting it to "hand"...
Misheard regional variations? "Le's go han' glidin'".
Misread misspellings "hangliding".

I'm skeptical that somebody working with Seagull would actually make that mistake, tho possible.

Yes, Merlin.

Pseudo history oral skit: NOT THE ACTUAL WILBUR OR ORVILLE



Aero Quest Chat with the Wright Brothers

Centennial of Flight

January 23, 2003

[ Linda/NASAQuest - 3 - 17:35:41 ]
Welcome to NASA Quest! This chat room has been set up for the chat with Orville and Wilbur Wright, January 23 at 10:00 AM Pacific. Craig Hange (Orville) & Steve Shackelford (Wilbur) recreate history by answering your questions live.

[ Wilbur - 77 - 18:49:40 ]
RE: If the the hand glider encouraged you how did you think of an whole new thing and blueprint?
There were many gliders we made, but because of control problems, we went through several designs and finally ended up with our wright flyer.
http://quest.nasa.gov/projects/aero/cen ... right.html

Contemporary:

Applied Hydrodynamics: An Introduction to Ideal and Real Fluid Flows
By Hubert Chanson
page 4, Figure 3, caption next to photo of hang glider:
"Hand glider (delta wing)
================================

PS: today on my main site, I just corrected my typos on three pages where I had sitting "hand" where I had intended "hang" .... JoeF Thanks, Rick.

===================================
A contemporary different "Hand Glider" http://www.thehandglider.com/

1988 book: