When James M Wulpi was in high school, he was thrilled with the Wright Brothers first flights, as was his friend, Lawrence Lesh, also an Early Bird. In 1907 and 1908 Lawrence and Jim made and flew gliders made of bamboo sticks, bed sheets, and baling wire on the sand dunes near Saugatuck, Michigan, where the winds off Lake Michnigan helped to lift the boys when they ran down the sand dunes. They always crashed when they landed because the glider was going faster than they could run in the soft sand. But they repaired the glider many times with the wire and flew it again and again. They also contacted Octave Chanute in Champaign, Illinois, who had worked with the Wright Brothers, and spent many afternoons in his home discussing wing curves, airfoils, etc., very exciting for the young fliers.
Extract from Biography of James M. Wulpi by Donald J. Wulpi, 1-20-03
Modern Mechanix, July 1933
