[Rick Masters]

Hang glider : MK1 SPLITWING CIRCA (Tony Prentice)
archived on Delta Club 82 http://www.delta-club-82.com/bible/photo.php?id_aile=830&langue=en
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[Rick Masters]

What we hang glider pilots imagine we could do:


How birds see us:

[brianscharp]

Did any MK1 SPLITWINGs make it to the USA? I either saw one or a wing very similar at the Point of the Mountain.

[ARP]

Brian,

The Splitwing was only an experimental glider and did not go into production although a number of variants were built. What you may have seen was the Whitney Porta-wing which also had a cruciform airframe with just one sail:- http://www.hanggliding.org/whitney-port ... 47834.html

It does show how small that glider could be packed and was very light weight.

Tony

[brianscharp]

Thanks Tony,

It was most likely one of the variants than. The only difference I can remember was it may have had a little less aspect ratio, but it definitely had the slotted sail. I only got to see it briefly one time.

[Frank Colver]

When I picked up the Port-a-Wing my impression was that it was heavy. But then I was comparing it to the "standard Rogollos" of the day which typically weighed in at 30 to 40 lbs (40 lb was at the heavy end of the spectrum, at that time).

It's performance in the air also looked very scary and I would not stand under the flight path if I was standing on the hillside. I was not the only person who felt that way about the Port-a-Wing.

Frank C.

BTW - My Skysail weighed about 75 lbs and many other HG pilots would tell me that nobody, in years to come, was going to want to fly a 75 lb hang glider just to get higher performance.

[ARP]

Thanks Tony,

It was most likely one of the variants than. The only difference I can remember was it may have had a little less aspect ratio, but it definitely had the slotted sail. I only got to see it briefly one time.

Not one of my gliders. May be someone produced a hang glider based on the Platz sailwing (1923) as this one made for the Red Bull Flug tag. :- http://www.delta-club-82.com/bible/cher ... le-P-k.htm

[ARP]

When I picked up the Port-a-Wing my impression was that it was heavy. But then I was comparing it to the "standard Rogollos" of the day which typically weighed in at 30 to 40 lbs (40 lb was at the heavy end of the spectrum, at that time).

It's performance in the air also looked very scary and I would not stand under the flight path if I was standing on the hillside. I was not the only person who felt that way about the Port-a-Wing.

Frank C.

BTW - My Skysail weighed about 75 lbs and many other HG pilots would tell me that nobody, in years to come, was going to want to fly a 75 lb hang glider just to get higher performance.

Frank, I only saw one Whitney Porta-wing fly and I would concur with your comments on it. It used larger tubing than a standard Rogallo type of the day but at about 40lbs much lighter than current gliders. It did assemble quickly with pip pins built into each section and it all went into a hold all for carrying.

[brianscharp]

Not one of my gliders. May be someone produced a hang glider based on the Platz sailwing (1923) as this one made for the Red Bull Flug tag. :-

Maybe, but it ended up looking more like yours. I wonder if it could have been a copy of your wing.

[ARP]

Brian,

There were photos of it available in the 70's so it is possible someone reverse engineered it. It's a relatively simple design with just a keel, wing spar, A frame , king post and a fair few cables. The jib & mainsail could have been made on a home sewing machine.

Did you see it fly and what year would it have been ?

Tony