Canadian HG Nationals 1981, Lumby, BC

Mt. Swansea, Invermere, BC - 1979

Flying at Mt. Swansea, Invermere, BC in 1979

The glider is an Eipper Antares.

Pilot is Doug Keller

Photos by Karen Keller

Manitoba - 1977

Flying at Russel, Manitoba in 1977

The glider is an Eipper Flexi 2. Pilot is Doug Keller.

BC's first Mitchell Wing

Information from Martin Henry:

"The Mitchell Wing B-10, The choice of George Worthington and his Owens Valley World Records.

Vern Tanner was the astounding craftsman that built this example way back in 1978 (Two of the shots are from his first high flight in Cawston, near Keremeos BC). Foot launched, 3 axis control, flying wing built primarily of Wood and fabric… Old School composites!"

Vern apparently was living in Lumby BC for a while, but the glider came to an end after a failed take off crash on the old launch site at Coopers Ridge, near Bolean. Vern later moved to Vancouver, and Randy Rauck could tell you more about him.

Vern at the training hill

Waiting to launch

Vern launching at Cawsten

The Mitchell Wing B-10 designed by a California based homebuilt Aircraft designer named Don Mitchell. It used a wing profile similar to that in the renowned Douglas DC-3 Aircraft.

George Worthington was a retired US Navy fighter pilot that had also flown sailplanes. He took up flying hang gliders in retirement, then took his Mitchell wing on a successful hunt for world distance records in hang gliding, setting four of them in the years between 1977 and 1980. If you're interested, here they are:

Early 1990s paragliding at Savona, BC

The Easter meet ran for many years and was always considered the start of the competition season in Western Canada. At first only hang glider pilots were involved, but soon the early paraglider pilots started joining in. Here is paragliding cross country pioneer Sean Dougherty with hang glider pilot Martin Henry at Savona BC. They are on the east-facing slope overlooking Kamloops lake, above some railway tracks. I recall it being very windy, and not many would fly. But that didn't stop Sean! By the way, Sean is flying an Apco Astra 27.

Sean Dougherty and Martin Henry

Sean soaring his Apco Astra

Lastly, I found another Photo of the same paraglider. In this case, it is one of me flying at the Cuchi Corral site in Córdoba Province, Argentina, in 1994. I had a couple of scares with large unexpected wing folds with this glider and decided to only fly European certified wings after that. (some other pilots referred to this model as the Dis-Astra!).

Stewart flying a similar Apco Astra in Argentina

Early 1970s in the Fraser River Valley near Vancouver

Martin Henry sent me a couple of pictures from his very early days flying hang gliders in the Fraser River Valley near Vancouver. He's even more of a dinosaur than I thought he was!

Here he is on Burnaby Mountain in a suburb of Vancouver in 1971 or 1972. The hang glider appears to be made of bamboo tubes and black plastic sheeting!

And here he is in a gravel pit at Fort Kells, near Langley along the Fraser River, probably later in 1972. He has the latest technology of the day, namely a real control bar and metal tubing! However, I see that he is still using plastic sheeting for sail material.

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.

Georgian Peaks 1977

Chris Mills was my instructor in 1974, at which time I learn to fly hang gliders in the Gatineau Hills north of Ottawa Ontario. Chris and I both went to the same high school. Later, he moved to the area near Guelph Area and continued to fly hang gliders for a number of years. Here is a shot of him launching his Delta Wings Phoenix 8 off the top of the Georgian peaks ski hill, overlooking Georgian Bay in Lake Huron, in 1977.

As the aspect ratio of hang gliders increased from the basic standard rogallo design, gradually the length of the leading-edge tubes also increased and it became harder to keep them straight and not flex with slight loads. At that time, manufacturers used fairly small diameter tubes, perhaps 1.5-1.75 inches. Little stays and bracing cables were installed along the leading edges, called deflexors. If you knew what you were doing, you could actually tune cable tension differentially on each one of the deflexors in order to get rid of a turn in the glider.

1980 Lumby Meet

The winners. L-R - Don Miller, Willi Muller, Randy Rauck, Andrew Barber- Starky, Howard Vandall

1980 Canadian Nationals at Mont St. Pierre, Quebec

Stewart Midwinter - Just landed after setting a new Canadian Duration record of 7:56.

Doug Keller launching above the clouds.

Leo Salvas posing with the pig which was wearing a Lumby Airforce T-Shirt courtesy of Willi Muller

All photos taken by Karen Keller.