Barry Hill Palmer (born November 10, 1937) is an American aeronautical engineer (UC Berkeley, 1961), inventor, builder and pilot of the first hang glider based on the

Rogallo wing The Rogallo wing is a flexible type of wing. In 1948, Francis Rogallo, a NASA engineer, and his wife Gertrude Rogallo, invented a self-inflating flexible wing they called the Parawing, also known after them as the "Rogallo Wing" and flexible wing ...

or ''flexible wing''. Palmer also designed, built and flew the first weight-shift

ultralight trike An ultralight trike is a type of powered hang glider where flight control is by weight-shift. These aircraft have a fabric flex-wing from which is suspended a tricycle fuselage pod driven by a pusher propeller. The pod accommodates either a so ...

aircraft.

Inventor of the first Flexible Wing hang glider

On August 1961 Barry Palmer first saw a photo of the

mounted on the

Fleep ''Fleep'' is a graphic novel by Jason Shiga. It was originally published in comic strip format in ''AsianWeek'' in 2002. It was later collected and published by Sparkplug Comic Books. Synopsis Jimmy Yee awakens to find himself trapped in a telep ...

experimental aircraft published in the

Aviation Week ''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', often abbreviated ''Aviation Week'' or ''AW&ST'', is the flagship magazine of the Aviation Week Network. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aerospace, defense and aviati ...

magazine and became interested in this flexible wing because of its light weight and simplicity. In October 1961 he completed construction and flew the first flexible wing

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 covered ...

; this took place near Latrobe, east of

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

. He used

polyethylene Polyethylene or polythene (abbreviated PE; IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene)) is the most commonly produced plastic. It is a polymer, primarily used for packaging ( plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including bo ...

sheet, aluminum tubing and no wires for construction as he did fear kinking during assembly and transport. Most flights were performed with just a set of inclined parallel bars that split his weight between his underarms and hands to experiment with the center of gravity and thus he demonstrated that the

, when used as a hang glider, could also be controlled by shifting weight alone. Palmer, who built the first modern-age foot launched hang glider, is not yet mentioned by the FAI. Palmer experimented with about 8 different hang glider versions and their wings were mostly 90 degree swept back wings. His smallest glider weighed , and had a surface area of . The flexibility in the frame caused no performance problems. His first and largest hang glider was about 45 pounds and had a surface area of . Palmer explored control of his several versions of hang gliders by using different

control frame Control may refer to: Basic meanings Economics and business * Control (management), an element of management * Control, an element of management accounting * Comptroller (or controller), a senior financial officer in an organization * Controlling ...

s: pilot in front of the control frame, pilot behind the control frame, and control frame in front of the pilot in a swing seat, which inadvertently approximated the George A. Spratt mechanism from 1929. NASA’s

Paresev The NASA Paresev ("Paraglider Research Vehicle") was an experimental NASA glider aircraft based upon the kite-parachute studies by NASA engineer Francis Rogallo. Between 1961 and 1965 the ability of the Rogallo wing (also called "Parawing") to ...

glider came to light after Palmer’s gliding flights, so it bore no influence on him. During the period from 1961 to 1963 Barry Palmer made tens of flights using the

concept. His flights were usually long and his longest flight was about . He flew at altitudes up to . His best glider had an overall

glide ratio In aerodynamics, the lift-to-drag ratio (or L/D ratio) is the lift generated by an aerodynamic body such as an aerofoil or aircraft, divided by the aerodynamic drag caused by moving through air. It describes the aerodynamic efficiency under give ...

of 4.5 to 1 at the speed of 29–32 km/h (18–20 miles/h). The last of Palmer’s hang gliders flew in the summer of 1963 and it had a single point suspension ski-lift type of seat mounted to the keel with a

universal joint A universal joint (also called a universal coupling or U-joint) is a joint or coupling connecting rigid shafts whose axes are inclined to each other. It is commonly used in shafts that transmit rotary motion. It consists of a pair of hinges lo ...

; the seat could be forced fore and aft, and laterally, but allowed for no twisting of the seat relative to the wing due to lateral stick movement. That is why a single control stick could be used to replace the control frame. Palmer relates that he had a good paying

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...

job at the time and he was flying on a minimalist and inexpensive glider purely for curiosity and fun. He did not attempt to modernize or market the flexible wing hang glider; there was no attempt to publicize on the media, except for an 'accidental' report made by a small local

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

. In fact, Palmer concealed his efforts to the American aviation bureaucracy (

FAA The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic m ...

) of flying without credentials in a pre-

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with ailer ...

era, but freely gave information about the wing to any person interested, including Francis Rogallo and Richard Miller, who develop the famous ''Bamboo Butterfly''

hang glider, the plans of which circulated in some American magazines in the mid 1960s; Tara Kiceniuk's followed with plans for the bamboo ''Batso''

Inventor of the ultralight trike aircraft

In March 1967 Palmer built and flew the first true weight-shift powered

aircraft: the ''Paraplane'' (FAA Registered N7144) and it was controlled by a single vertical control bar. The Paraplane used two West Bend-Chrysler 820 engines (8 hp at 6000 rpm, reduced to 4700 rpm for about each, for a total of 13 hp). Each engine had a direct drive to a 27in diameter two-blade propeller made of polyester & fiberglass. On March 24, 1967 Palmer registered the trike at the American

as the ''Palmer Parawing D-6'', serial 1A, N7144; No restrictions were noted. The second Palmer trike, the ''Skyhook'' (FAA registered N4411) in spite of its early date of origin, had most of the attributes of a modern ultralight trike, except it used a single cylinder

snowmobile A snowmobile, also known as a Ski-Doo, snowmachine, sled, motor sled, motor sledge, skimobile, or snow scooter, is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. It is designed to be operated on snow and ice and does not ...

engine, as the two-stroke twin cylinders were not available yet. It was powered by a at 5000 rpm single cylinder JLO L297 two stroke engine, driving a composite propeller designed and built by Palmer himself and driven by a 2.1/1 reduction gearbox. The engine had electric start and the craft had fiberglass composite spring landing gear. The

airframe The mechanical structure of an aircraft is known as the airframe. This structure is typically considered to include the fuselage, undercarriage, empennage and wings, and excludes the propulsion system. Airframe design is a field of aerospa ...

consisted of bolted 6061-T6 aluminum tube, with 6061 T-6 extruded angle. The craft took off, flew, and landed at about . Palmer’s trikes were not developed further and remained in obscurity. Rolland Magallon from France is sometimes thought to have invented the

aircraft because it was Magallon who first marketed it from October 1979 through 1981. Palmer moved on to design a successful line of personal

hovercraft A hovercraft, also known as an air-cushion vehicle or ACV, is an amphibious Craft (vehicle), craft capable of travelling over land, water, mud, ice, and other surfaces. Hovercraft use blowers to produce a large volume of air below the hull ...

.Sevtec hovercraft Waybackmachine version

References

External links

*Print: ‘’Hang Gliding & Paragiding’’ magazine. April, 2005. Published by the United States Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association (

USHPA The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association ''(USHPA)'' is a non-profit organization supporting foot-launched soaring flight in the United States. It began in 1971 as the Southern California Hang Gliding Association and became natio ...

). * *

A-frame for hang gliders, trikes, and ultralights An A-frame is a basic structure designed to bear a Structural load, load in a lightweight economical manner. The simplest form of an A-frame is two similarly sized Beam (structure), beams, arranged in an angle of 45 degrees or less, attached at ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Barry Hill Aviation inventors Hang gliding American aerospace engineers Living people 1937 births

Inventor of the first Flexible Wing hang glider

Inventor of the ultralight trike aircraft

See also

References

External links