Early days at Wreck Beach in Vancouver, BC

Back in the 1970s, hang glider Pilots would soar on the cliffs above Wreck Beach, close to the UBC campus in Vancouver, BC. Here is a picture of Chris Florkow launching his Manta Fledge there in 1977.

The Fledge was a glider that used Weight shift for pitch control, and two rudders for turn control. The rudders were actuated by Twist groups on the down tubes. For those that flew prone, the twist groups were on the base tube. Deploying a rudder caused the glider to skid through the air, and the built-in dihedral then triggered a roll towards the deployed rudder. For those that were used to flying three axis control gliders, it was a strange experience.

The Fledge had a loyal following for many years due to its high-wind performance and impressive looping capabilities.There were actually several versions of the Fledge since the first one appeared in 1974. One of them was even motorized and became the worlds first successful ultra light (foot-launched, of course!). You can read a lot more about all of the Fledgling models at this blog.

Photo courtesy Martin Henry.