DON'T FORGET THE HORTEN SECTIONS MENTIONED IN RIGHT CORNER. ->
I had the opportunity to start a adventure. I wanted to create something that would help getting more people in the air. It had to look good, it had to fly good. And ...it had to be like me ...a bit different. ;)
DragonWing was the result. The idea was to revive a old Horten design. And ...to let it be noted. And be noted it would be for sure. As it would win the hangglider competitions one by one due to its amazing glide performance.
Sexy, isn't it. Glide ratio would have been close to 35.
Was it just a study in 3D?
No, i wanted to make this thing for real. I was planning to start a production line. I am not a engineer, but i had the needed help to get to a good result. I had Albion Bowers as wing designer and i had Kees Radius as composite expert. That was a very good start. Sadly ...i underestimated the cost of the development of a new design and the time it would take to make the first prototype. I stopped the project. I finished with 5 of the needed 9 moulds.
Making the moulds, inside of wing construction development, me carrying a wingtip of 5 meter.
The RC model
Before beginning with the real full scale model i wanted to check a few things in a smaller scale. The 1/4 scale RC model probably saved my life. Go see the test flights of the RC model on the wing design page to better understand that quote.
Top: RC model in air, Albion Bowers (NASA)(right) and Red Jensen (left) with Al's White Edition DragonWing RC model.
Bottom: Me and DragonWing model during Horten-meeting in Germany.