Charles Richards (NASA engineer)
Charles Richard was a design engineer, who designed the collapsible four-tube Rogallo wing used in the experimental NASA Paresev glider.[1] The wing configuration he created was used for manned hung-pilot kite-gliders and was to be found copied only with slight ornamental variation in a decade of hang gliders.[2] Richards was of the Flight Research Center's Vehicle and System Dynamics Branch. The four-beamed wing folded from the nose plate; one of the beams was the spreader beam that kept the flexible-wing's sweep.[3] Those in the following decade copying the Charles Richard wing configuration expanded kiting, hang gliding, ultralight, and trike flight.
Timeline[edit]
- 1961 December : Charles Richard is given a directive from NASA's Paul Bikle to build quickly a cheap kite glider that could be used to give pilots practice in flying in free flight using simple weight-shifting that would change the attitude of the wing relative to the hung position of the pilot and payload.[4]
- 1962 February 12 : Charles Richard and his team completed a first kite-glider that achieved obtaining an FAA registration. Many versions followed first flight tests.[5]
- 2004 Charles Richard name was included in the space Stardust (spacecraft) chip. .[6]
References[edit]
- ^ Richard Hallion (1984). On the Frontier: Flight Research at Dryden, 1946-1981. Scientific and Technical Information Branch, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. p. 138. Retrieved 14 February 2021.
- ^ "NASA Dryden Paresev Photo Collection". Archived from the original on 2008-09-21. Retrieved 2008-10-01. NASA Dryden Paresev Photo Collection
- ^ Charles Richard and his key designing is noted in the 407 page online-available book On the Frontier at https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4303.pdf
- ^ "Aviation News Magazine - the Transall C.160". Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2010-01-09. Aviation Journal's Aviation News, The Rogallo Parasev: A revolution in flying wings
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2011-05-20. Retrieved 2008-10-01.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) NASA Images Detail View - ^ "Stardust - NASA's Comet Sample Return Mission".