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- The left image in the post by Rick Masters with the caption "Barish sailwing" shows a parafoil. The sailwing is/was the white, red and blue single surface glider on the right. Mr Barish developed two major versions. The first had three arcs and was intended to work as an alternative to the traditional round chutes for returning safely to the ground. The second version had five arcs to achieve better glide. When Mr Barish discovered the ability to launch by foot on steep slopes he tried to promote "slopes soaring" as a summer activity in ski resorts. However, the idea did not catch on. So he turned his attention to other areas.
- The sailwing was a competitor to the rogallo wing in the NASA program for a safe return to earth.
- According to the DHV both, Barish and Jalbert got inspiration from Rogallo patents. The similarities to the sailwing are obvious. Rogallo did not build anything similar to the parafoil. However, the rogallo patent US2546078A includes this note: "It should be pointed out that for large kites intended for emergency use, for military or other purposes, the reinforcements, may consist of hollow fabric tubes which are open at their front ends and closed at their rear ends, so as to be inflatable by the Oncoming wind and maintained in shape thereby."
- Just like Barish, Mr. Jalbert intended his parafoil technique as an improved alternative to the traditional round chute used for skydiving and as a rescue device. And this is what it was mainly used for until paragliding started to become popular in the eighties. Nevertheless, histories of paragliding consistently refer to sporadic parafoil flights launched from steep slopes as early as 1967.
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History page of the DHV: https://www.dhv.de/medien/gleitschirmfliegen-geschichte/
Rogallo patent US2546078A: https://patents.google.com/patent/US2546078A/en
Three ribs sailwing: http://www.parachutehistory.com/other/sailwing.html
