Airwave Gliders was an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

aircraft manufacturer An aerospace manufacturer is a company or individual involved in the various aspects of designing, building, testing, selling, and maintaining aircraft, aircraft parts, missiles, rockets, or spacecraft. Aerospace is a high technology indust ...

based in

Fulpmes Fulpmes is a market town and a municipality in Stubaital, Tyrol, Austria. In 2015 it had a population of 4,250, of whom 14.5% did not have Austrian nationality. Fulpmes is the center of iron production in the area, and lies at the base of the Sch ...

. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of

hang glider Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised foot-launched heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame cover ...

s and

paraglider Paragliding is the recreational and competitive adventure sport of flying paragliders: lightweight, free-flying, foot-launched glider aircraft with no rigid primary structure. The pilot sits in a harness or lies supine in a cocoon-like ' ...

s.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 12. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster UK, 2003. The company was founded in 1979 and went out of business circa 2009. As of 2019, the Airwave website still exists, but it just refers visitors to Bruce Goldsmith Design for support for Airwave products. The company produced a wide range of aircraft including Bruce Goldsmith paraglider designs, such as the

Airwave Magic The Airwave Magic is an Austrian single-place, paraglider that was designed by Bruce Goldsmith and produced by Airwave Gliders of Fulpmes. It is now out of production.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003 ...

, Scenic,

Sport Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, ...

, Ten and the

Wave In physics, mathematics, and related fields, a wave is a propagating dynamic disturbance (change from equilibrium) of one or more quantities. Waves can be periodic, in which case those quantities oscillate repeatedly about an equilibrium (re ...

History

Airwave was formed in 1979 in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

as a hang glider manufacturer. Its early designs were flown by the leading British hang glider pilots to many World Hang Gliding Championships. Bruce Goldsmith started the paragliding division of the company's business in 1989. In 1997,

John Pendry Sir John Brian Pendry, (born 4 July 1943) is an English theoretical physicist known for his research into refractive indices and creation of the first practical " Invisibility Cloak". He is a professor of theoretical solid state physics at Impe ...

took first place in the World Paragliding Championships with an Airwave paraglider. Goldsmith later left Airwave to work for other companies. In November 1999, Markus Villinger bought the company and moved it to the

Stubaital The Stubaital is an alpine valley in Tyrol, Austria. It is the central valley of the Stubai Alps. The river Ruetz flows through the valley. This 35-km long valley runs in northeastern direction from the main chain of the Alps to Schönberg im S ...

, Austria, located in the

Central Eastern Alps The Central Eastern Alps (german: Zentralalpen or Zentrale Ostalpen), also referred to as Austrian Central Alps (german: Österreichische Zentralalpen) or just Central Alps, comprise the main chain of the Eastern Alps in Austria and the adjacen ...

region. He had previously run Wills Wing Europe, the distributor for

Wills Wing Wills Wing, Inc. (legally Sport Kites, Inc) is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Orange, California and previously located in Santa Ana, California. The company specializes in the design and manufacture of hang gliders in the form of r ...

hang gliders. Villinger persuaded Goldsmith to return to Airwave in May 2000 and his paraglider designs were produced by subcontractors. Goldsmith worked from his home in Gréolières,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, which has a climate that permits year-round paraglider flight. Villinger eventually sold the company and went into the field of

real estate development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw land and the sale of developed land or parcels to other ...

instead. Villinger later bought the company back and relocated it to

, where he produced his own hang glider designs and Goldsmith's paraglider designs. By 2008, company had ceased production of its own hang glider designs and became an importer of Wills Wing hang gliders, while continuing to have paragliders manufacturered by contractors. It seems to have gone out of business about 2009 as part of the

Great Recession The Great Recession was a period of marked general decline, i.e. a recession, observed in national economies globally that occurred from late 2007 into 2009. The scale and timing of the recession varied from country to country (see map). At ...

. As of 2016, Goldsmith was still providing technical support and spares for Airwave gliders, though his new company Bruce Goldsmith Design.

Aircraft

Summary of aircraft built by Airwave Gliders: Paragliders *

Airwave Alpine Extreme Airwave(s) may refer to: Telecommunication * Radio wave, particularly artificial waves generated for human communication * Airwave (communications network), a mobile communications network dedicated for use by emergency services in Great Britai ...

* Airwave Burn * Airwave Gecko *

Airwave Kiss Airwave(s) may refer to: Telecommunication * Radio wave, particularly artificial waves generated for human communication * Airwave (communications network), a mobile communications network dedicated for use by emergency services in Great Britai ...

* Airwave Logic *

* Airwave Mustang * Airwave Scenic *

Airwave Slingshot Airwave(s) may refer to: Telecommunication * Radio wave, particularly artificial waves generated for human communication * Airwave (communications network), a mobile communications network dedicated for use by emergency services in Great Britai ...

* Airwave Sport *

Airwave Ten The Airwave Ten is an Austrian single-place, paraglider that was designed by Bruce Goldsmith and produced by Airwave Gliders of Fulpmes Fulpmes is a market town and a municipality in Stubaital, Tyrol, Austria. In 2015 it had a population of 4,2 ...

* Airwave Wave

References

External links

*
Company website archives
on

Archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{Airwave aircraft Defunct aircraft manufacturers of Austria Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United Kingdom Hang gliders Paragliders