One of the great innovators and flying devotees of our time, and an essential piece of the jigsaw that enabled our sports to come about, Francis Rogallo died on 1 September, aged 97.
An aeronutical engineer and Nasa employee for more than thirty years, Francis was passionate about aviation, and wanted to make flying possible at very low cost to ordinary people. He and his wife Gertrude made their first triangular shaped prototype from a kitchen curtain back in 1948, but were unable to get commercial backing to make the real thing so the technology was used only in kites, and the patents donated to the federal government. It was fellow Californian Barry Palmer who used the idea to create the first hang glider, in 1961, and from which modern hang gliders, paragliders and kites have developed.
Ever dedicated, Francis retired to Kitty Hawk, N Carolina (where the Wright brothers took their famous flight from) and flew hang gliders until the age of 80.
