John W. Dickenson

John Wallace Dickenson AM (22 January 1934 – 5 July 2023)[1] was an Australian inventor, who developed some liquid flow measuring devices[2] and designed a successful hang glider configuration,[3] for which he was awarded the Gold Air Medal,[4] the highest award given by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale, the world governing body for air sports, aeronautics and astronautics world records.

[6][7][8] His ski kite format incorporated an airframe with a triangle control frame as used in hang gliding in Breslau 1908.

[citation needed] Having a basebar tow-point and was integrated on an already publicized four-boom stiffened Rogallo wing airfoil, where the pilot sat on a swinging seat while the control frame and wire bracing distributed the load to the wing as well as giving a frame to brace for weight-shift control.

[11] The Ski Wing was first flown in public at the 'Grafton Jacaranda Festival', New South Wales, Australia, in September 1963 by Rod Fuller while towed behind a motorboat.

[16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] It is certain that many people from many countries, made contributions to the development of the flexible wing hang glider to the extent that any global mechanical claim for invention would be untenable.