A Dream Takes Flight

by Kara Carden

Ever since graduating from Stanford University with a degree in aeronautical engineering, Francis Rogallo dreamed of designing a ultra-lightweight aircraft. His early attempts on the sands of Kitty Hawk, N.C., met with mixed results.

“I don’t tell this to everyone,” explains his wife, Gertrude, “but the first time they put a harness on me, with a tow rope, before I got more than four feet off the ground, the rope broke and I plopped back down—and that was all the flying I wanted.”

But it wasn’t enough to stop them. Not even close. And because of their determination, every hang glider, kite surfer, and ultralight pilot in the world has this couple to thank for the ability to fly as if with wings, high above the bonds of earth. The Rogallo wing made it all possible.

“They invented the technology—the concept—that made it possible for millions of people around the world to fly inexpensively,” says John Harris, director of the nonprofit Rogallo Foundation, which preserves the history of the couple’s contribution to aeronautics—the flexible wing.

Francis became enthralled with flight at age 7, when he watched an airplane fly over his home in California. At the time, flying was so new that it was enjoyed only by military personnel and those who could afford a commercial airline ticket.

The fascination persisted, however, and after college he landed the ultimate job for his field as a researcher at NASA’s Langley Research Center—then called the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA)—near Hampton, Va. He studied various aspects of flight, particularly aircraft wings, but his dream was to create a way for the ordinary man to fly at will, inexpensively.

In the beginning, his employers weren’t interested in this obsession. They encouraged him to develop his ideas at home—on his own time and with his own money. So from 1948 to 1959, Francis and Gertrude spent evenings and weekends measuring, cutting, and assembling various flexible wing forms. Francis tested them himself, catching breezes at Jockey’s Ridge, a sand dune in Kitty Hawk, N.C., where the Wright Brothers made the first successful airplane flight. (At the time, Francis and Gertrude had a summer home in the area; they now live there.)

“I got a big thrill out of flying,” says Francis, who continued the practice through his 80th birthday, long after the couple were grandparents.

Prior to the Rogallo invention, the only wings in existence were rigid—used for kites, gliders, and airplanes—which meant they were heavy, expensive, and impractical for recreational flight.

“We thought a flexible wing would be more useful, because for one thing, if you crash it into the ground you don’t break anything,” Francis explains. “Also, it’s more portable. You can fold it up and stick it in a bag, just like a parachute. So we found out how to make flexible wings that aerodynamically operated just like a rigid wing.”

A flexible wing is made with pliable material, such as fabric, with only strings or ropes to control it.

The couple obtained a patent for their new technology, but they never charged any company for the use of it.

“Since I was working for the people of the United States anyway, and my salary and now my pension comes from the government, I figured anything I did should be given to the American public,” Francis says.

Using the Rogallo wing, Du Pont and other companies began manufacturing stunt kites, which were sold to children rolled in tubes. Soon more toys and recreational aircraft were born from the Rogallo creation.

“(The Rogallo wing) led to the hang glider, the paraglider, stunt kites, and kite surfing,” Harris says. “A lot of different kites have spun off of it. It inspired ultralights, too. It just keeps happening.”

The couple has received awards from, among others, the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, but they say their greatest reward comes from knowing they helped humanity realize the dream of solo flight.

Kara Carden is a regular contributor to American Profile.

first appeared: 4/28/2002