Bede Wing

Bede Wing
Role Inflatable hang-glider
Manufacturer Bede Aircraft
Designer Jim Bede
Unit cost
$890[1]

The Bede Wing was an inflated hang glider, designed in the 1970s by aeronautical engineer Jim Bede. Intended as a safer alternative to conventional hang gliders,[2] it resembled an early ram-air parachute, but instead was an inflatable structure, that could be filled with air for gliding, or with helium to act as a gas balloon.[3]

The aspect ratio of the Bede Wing was low, in the area of 1.8. Fitted with unusually long suspension lines, the Bede Wing had almost no dihedral.[4] It was also reported to have a lower sink rate than conventional hang gliders of the time.[5]

Although Bede intended to start full production of the Bede Wing,[5] the project came to naught. However, it foreshadowed the introduction of ram-air inflated paragliders in the mid-1980s.

See also


References

  1. ↑ Bede Wing Purchase Offer-Sales Contract PDF (54.6 KB) retrieved 2010-10-13
  2. ↑ Pelham, David (2000). Kites. Overlook Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-1-58567-017-8.
  3. ↑ "What's New", Popular Science (New York: Times Mirror Magazines) 207 (3), September 1975: 78, retrieved 2010-10-12
  4. ↑ Patent number 3,944,169, the Bede Wing
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Air Facts: the magazine of safe flying, volume 37. Air Facts, Inc., 1974.