Date:	Wed, 3 Nov 1993 18:32:40 -1000
From:	jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu (Jeffrey C. Burka)
Message-Id: <2ba0l8$ef1@umd5.umd.edu>
Organization: University of Maryland at College Park
Subject: Re: Rogallo ( unsparred ) parawing


Mark de Roussier asks about building a Rogallo Parawing.

I built one a few years ago from the plans in the book _Kite Craft_ by Lee
Scott Newman and Jay Hartley Newman ((c) 1974).  It flew reasonably well.
Here are the basics:

The kite is a 15" square, preferably of mylar (though fabric will work).
If you use fabric, use a 16" square with a 1/2" hem on each side.  The kite
has 6 shrouds.  On the leading edge, the shrouds should be 8" long and
attached 6.5" and 11.5" from the top corner.  The two shrouds on the "keel"
should be 9.25" long and placed 6" and 12 7/8" from the top corner.  The
tail is attached via 2 10" pieces of line.  They should be attached 6.5"
>From the bottom corner of the kite.

And here's the key.  Mark mentioned that they were trying to fly without a
tail.  Quoted from the book:

	The parawing has little drag and comparatively little lift; it is
	therefore very sensitive to size and length of the tail.  To find
	the best length and shape requires experimentation.  Begin with a
	tail 30" long, 1" wide, attached on a 10" line from the trailing
	edge of the kite fold.

(note, the mention of the 10" attachment line is different from what is
shown in the graphic plan for the kite; in the plan, the bridle is attached
via a piece of line folded in half with an overhand knot in the center.
The length from the knot to the trailing edge is 10" on each side)

As I said, I *have* successfully flown this kite.  My version was made of a
fairly heavy mylar with thread for bridle lines, with the attachment points
strengthened with scotch tape.

Good luck!

Jeff
-- 
|Jeffrey C. Burka     | "When I look in the mirror, I see a little clearer/ |
|SAFH Lite [tm]       |  I am what I am and you are you too./  Do you like  |
|jeffy@syrinx.umd.edu |  what you see?  Do you like yourself?"  --N. Cherry |



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Date:	Wed, 3 Nov 1993 14:45:46 -1000
From:	mark@murder.demon.co.uk (Mark de Roussier)
Message-Id: <752399146snx@murder.demon.co.uk>
Organization: damage
Subject: Rogallo ( unsparred ) parawing

Rogallo parawing as a Kite
==========================

A friend and I had a go at making a Rogallo parawing at the weekend. We took
the design from a photocopy of an extensive article on this topic. 
Unfortunately the article was incomplete, contained no info to identify the
journal/book from which it came, and ( you guessed it :) the kite don't
fly !

So, does anyone out there know anything about getting Rogallo parawings 
working as kites ? Or of sources for information on this subject ? I got the
original photocopy courtesy of Dan Leigh, who had got them from a Danish
guy ( hence the cryptic comments written on the plans in Danish ! ). Many 
references are cited to previous work on this subject ( but 'reference 8' is
not an enlightening phrase ! ).

I've tried gophering a number of NASA sites ( Rogallo did his research for
NASA ), but haven't turned up anything promising.

For anyone with the David Pelham book 'Kites', the thing we're dealing with
is like fig 3 on page 82, rather than fig 5 on page 83, i.e. there's no 
tail ( yet ! ), and no rigid keel ( just shroud lines ). The edge of the sail
is pulled in all around ( except the trailing edge ), giving the nose a 
bulbous appearance and the leading 'edges' a blunt curved profile. The sail
is just a single sheet ( i.e. not inflated at all ), there are about 24
shroud lines, 12 up the 'keel', six each on the leading edges.

The behaviour is that it will climb in a stiff breeze to an angle of about
45deg., before the nose starts to collapse, at which point it loops off 
left or right and down to earth.

Am I wrong in thinking that this design has been successfully flown as a 
kite ? 

Mark de Roussier
                ************************************
                Final thoughts, as breath is taken,
                Fall to rhythm, and the
                Edge of pure obsession,
                Resting in that wind blown cradle,
                Nothing moves, the world is still...
                ************************************


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