Barry Hill Palmer

Barry Palmer, 1961. Inventor of the hang glider based on Rogallo's flexible wing.

Barry Hill Palmer (b. Nov 10, 1937 - ) is an American aeronautical engineer (UC Berkeley, 1961), inventor, builder and pilot of the first hang glider based on the Rogallo wing or flexible wing. Palmer also designed, built and flew the first weight-shift ultralight trike aircraft.

Inventor of the Flexible Wing hang glider

On August 1961 Barry Palmer first saw a photo of the Rogallo wing mounted on the Fleep experimental aircraft published in the Aviation Week 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; this took place near Latrobe, east of Sacramento, California. He used polyethylene 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 Rogallo wing, when used as a hang glider, could also be controlled by shifting weight alone.

Richard Miller flying his new Bamboo Butterfly hang glider. Vista Del Mar. California, 1966.

Palmer experimented with about 8 different hang glider versions and their wings were all 90 degree swept back wings. His smallest glider weighed 24 lbs. and had a surface area of 205 ft². The flexibility in the frame caused no performance problems. Hist first and largest hang glider was about 45 pounds and had a surface area of 342 ft².

During the period from 1961 to 1963 Barry Palmer made tens of flights using the Rogallo wing concept. His flights were usually 110 meters (120 yards) long and his longest flight was about 180 meters (590 ft). He flew at altitudes up to 24 meters (80 ft). His best glider had an overall glide ratio of 4.5 to 1 at the speed of 29-32 Km/h (18-20 miles/h). Barry Hill Palmer explore control of his several versions of hang gliders; he explored the A-frame for hang gliders, trikes, and ultralights (triangle control frame (TCF) in three ways: pilot far in front of the TCF, pilot behind the TCF without swing seat, and finally TCF with pilot in a swing seat behind the TCF (which inadvertently approximated the George A. Spratt mechanism from 1929).

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; the seat could be forced fore and aft, and laterally, but allowed for no torsion, that is why a single control stick could be used to replace the control frame. The Bensen gyrocopter had been around with a similar setup and having seen it before, this configuration seemed an obvious choice.

NASA’s Paresev glider came to light after Palmer’s gliding flights, so it bore no influence on him. Palmer relates that he had a good paying aerospace 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. In fact, Palmer concealed his efforts to the American aviation bureaucracy (FAA) of flying without credentials in a pre-ultralight era, but freely gave information about the wing to any person interested, including Francis Rogallo Richard Miller who develop the famous Bamboo Butterfly Rogallo wing hang glider, the plans of which circulated in some American magazines in the mid 1960s; the same was followed by Tara Kiceniuk's plans for the bamboo Batso Rogallo wing.

Inventor of the ultralight trike aircraft

File:Palmer-Paraplane.jpg

Barry Palmer’s Paraplane twin engine. Homestead, Florida, USA, 1967.

File:Palmer-Skyhook.jpg

Barry Palmer’s Skyhook. Homestead, Florids. USA, 1967.

In March 1967 aeronautical engineer Barry Palmer built and flew the first true weight-shift powered ultralight trike 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 (8hp at 6000rpm, reduced to 4700rpm for about 6.5hp each, for a total of 13hp). Each engine had a direct drive to a 27in diameter two-blade propeller made of polyester & fiberglass. On March 24th, 1967 Palmer registered the trike at the American FAA 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 engine, as the two-stroke twin cylinders were not available yet. It was powered by a 17hp at 5000rpm 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 consisted of bolted 6061-T6 aluminum tube, with 6061 T-6 extruded angle. The craft took off, flew, and landed at about 30mph. Palmer’s trikes were not developed further and remained in obscurity. Rolland Magallon from France is sometimes thought to have invented the ultralight trike 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.

External references

• Print: ‘’Hang Gliding & Paragiding’’ magazine. April, 2005. Published by the United States Hang Gliding & Paragliding Association (USHPA).
• Barry H. Palmer’s web site: [8]
• Video of B. Palmer's first flights in 1961 loaded in YouTube: [9]
• A-frame for hang gliders, trikes, and ultralights