The Kasperwing is a rigid wing model similar in design, or possibly derived from, the Manta Fledgling. The Kasperwing had a unique control system that, combined with a special airfoil, was reputed to allow control, and landing approaches, at speeds much lower than normal. No other information is available yet, so if you have some old pictures or more information, please send it along.
Joe Evens writes: "The Kasperwing was flown as a hang glider. I saw one in 1980 at Oceanside. It performed as well as anything else. Maxi's, Floaters, etc. It was the first time I saw someone fly supine. He used a sling seat between rails and twist grips for rudder. Butch Walters lives near Kelso Washington. He flew Kasperwings extensively, mostly powered. It was probably him at Oceanside. Butch should be in the phone book ."
Red (see his website at: http://www.xmission.com/~red/) writes: "I flew (hang glider) chase-plane for Witold Kasper & John Nebbeker, flight testing the fabric KasperWings, through thousands of vertical feet of altitude. It was all informal and friendly; I witnessed about half of the test flights made at Point of the Mountain, Utah. I can't say if I was more impressed, or more baffled, by all that I saw. How little we know!
"What your web site says is true. Still, it get much "worse" than that. :-) Sink rate was not quite double that of normal flight, in a vertical descent. Sink rate then was about half of an equivalent parachute, so *something*, somewhere, was still generating considerable lift. There was *no* discernible transition from normal flight to vertical descent; the KasperWing just flew slower, slower, and slower until it had no forward speed at all. "Glide angle" was then a trade-off between sink rate and forward speed; you could ask for, and get, any possible value in between. Between what? Zero forward speed @ twice the normal sink rate, or the speed and sink rate of a conventional double surfaced hang glider.
"In a vertical descent, "turning" the KasperWing was a 100% yaw action, rotating about the kingpost. Multiple "360s" were often done at will, in alternating directions, during a single vertical descent. At any low forward speed, a "turn" resulted in a steep corkscrew path though the air.
"All "turns" at less than normal gliding speeds occurred at zero bank angle, completely flat in roll axis. As you may recall, there were no ailerons on the motorized (fabric) KasperWings.
"Long before there was a motorized (or not) version of the KasperWing made of fabric on the basic Fledgling frame, there was a full-on tailless sailplane version, built like the conventional aircraft of the day. Check these sites, and also "The Wing Is The Thing" (TWITT) website for more on the sailplane version. The vortex theory of lift is well demonstrated by the "tufts" web photo below. Conventional theories of flight, lift and aerodynamics are void when a KasperWing does its' unique vertical or near-vertical descent.
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Cheers,
Red
There is a 3-view of the motorised version of the Kasperwing available here or here.
Last modified: Wed 1969-12-31 05:00:00 pm
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