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==Development==
==Development==
NASA began a series of experiments testing the flexible [[Rogallo wing]] -which got renamed '''[[Parawing]]'''- in order to evaluate it as a recovery system for the [[Project Gemini|Gemini]] [[space capsule]]s and recovery of used Saturn [[Staged combustion cycle (rocket)|rocket stage]]s.<ref>Space Flight Revolution -article by NASA:[http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4308/ch11.htm#382]</ref><ref>On [[1965]] [[Jack Swigert]], who would later be one of the [[Apollo 13]] astronauts, softly landed a full-scale Gemini capsule using a Rogallo wing stiffened with inflatable tubes along the wing’s edges</ref> It is worthwhile to distinguish the Rogallo wing in a fully-flexible parawing format and the Rogallo wing incorporated in a stiffened Paresev 1, 1A, 1B, and inflated airbeam 1C. The father designer of the collapsible four-tube Rogallo wing used in the Paresev was Charles Richard in 1961-1962 as he responded to a directive by Paul Bikle; the Richard's Paresev 1B wing gave a template for the future Standard Rogallo hang glider of the 1970s; because of the fact of the Paresev 1, 1A, 1B, the standard Rogallo wing for hang gliders could not be "invented" by others. The deep father is Francis Rogallo; then further fathering came with Charles Richard in early months of 1962. The Paresev 1 wing was radially foldable from the noseplate for tight and easy transporting, had a Dacron sail after linen was discarded, was in a non-king post choice to give better over-wing performance (less drag)[in later years for the Standard Rogallo, some craftspeople would install a kingpost and tolerate more drag above the wing in order to have a quicker and lower-cost cross-bar situation; but eventually the kingpost would again stop being so popular as performance was sought in late 70s and 1980s and beyond]. A 33 page evaluation of two versions of the Paresev hang glider by "Preliminary Flight Evaluation of Two Unpowered Manned Paragliders" written by Barrison F. Layton, Jr., and Milton O. Thompson in National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Technical Note D-1826 is open to the public and can be freely copied and distributed. Report Number: NASA-TN-D-1826
NASA began a series of experiments testing the flexible [[Rogallo wing]] -which got renamed '''[[Parawing]]'''- in order to evaluate it as a recovery system for the [[Project Gemini|Gemini]] [[space capsule]]s and recovery of used Saturn [[Staged combustion cycle (rocket)|rocket stage]]s.<ref>Space Flight Revolution -article by NASA:[http://history.nasa.gov/SP-4308/ch11.htm#382]</ref><ref>On [[1965]] [[Jack Swigert]], who would later be one of the [[Apollo 13]] astronauts, softly landed a full-scale Gemini capsule using a Rogallo wing stiffened with inflatable tubes along the wing’s edges</ref> It is worthwhile to distinguish the Rogallo wing in a fully-flexible parawing format and the Rogallo wing incorporated in a stiffened Paresev 1, 1A, 1B, and inflated airbeam 1C. The father designer of the collapsible four-tube Rogallo wing used in the Paresev was Charles Richard in 1961-1962 as he responded to a directive by Paul Bikle; the Richard's Paresev 1B wing gave a template for the future Standard Rogallo hang glider of the 1970s; because of the fact of the Paresev 1, 1A, 1B, the standard Rogallo wing for hang gliders could not be "invented" by others. The deep father is Francis Rogallo; then further fathering came with Charles Richard in early months of 1962. The Paresev 1 wing was radially foldable from the noseplate for tight and easy transporting, had a Dacron sail after linen was discarded, was in a non-king post choice to give better over-wing performance (less drag)[in later years for the Standard Rogallo, some craftspeople would install a kingpost and tolerate more drag above the wing in order to have a quicker and lower-cost cross-bar situation; but eventually the kingpost would again stop being so popular as performance was sought in late 70s and 1980s and beyond]. A 33 page evaluation of two versions of the Paresev hang glider by "Preliminary Flight Evaluation of Two Unpowered Manned Paragliders" written by Barrison F. Layton, Jr., and Milton O. Thompson in National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Technical Note D-1826 is open to the public and can be freely copied and distributed. Author(s): Layton, G. P., Jr.; Thompson, M. O. It is key to note in the following report that "paraglider" was a term used for the hanging-pilot glider where the pilot and the hanging tensionals and seat and some instruments can be seen as the fuselage; the term "paraglider" is used quite differently in 2007. The control system was presaged by the control wing of George Spratt.
Abstract: '''Flight tests of unpowered, manned paragliders'''
NASA Center: Dryden Flight Research Center
Publication Year: 1963
Added to NTRS: 2006-11-06
Accession Number: 63N14429; Document ID: 19630004553; Report Number: NASA-TN-D-1826 [http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=722256&id=1&qs=Ntt%3DD-1826%26Ntk%3DReport%2520-%2520Patent%2520Number%26Ntx%3Dmode%2520matchall%26N%3D0%26Ns%3DHarvestDate%257c1 NAS-TN-D-1826]

[http://www1.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Movie/Paresev/index.html Flight movies of Paresev 1B]
[http://www1.dfrc.nasa.gov/Gallery/Movie/Paresev/index.html Flight movies of Paresev 1B]


Revision as of 04:18, 23 October 2007

Template:Infobox Aircraft

Paresev 1-A with tow plane
File:Rogallo.arp.750pix.jpg
Paresev 1-B under aerotow.
File:Flex-paresev.jpg
Paresev with Gemini capsule model and inflatable Parawing.

The Paresev (Paraglider Research Vehicle) was an experimental NASA glider aircraft based upon the kite-parachute studies by NASA Langley engineer Francis Rogallo. The tests performed between 1961 and 1965 were designed to study the ability of the Rogallo wing to fly a payload such as the Gemini space capsule safely from high altitude to ground.[1][2]. The Paresev was considered as an alternate means of returning a spacecraft to Earth. The Rogallo wing would allow the spacecraft to glide under control back to Earth and land at normal airfields.

Development

NASA began a series of experiments testing the flexible Rogallo wing -which got renamed Parawing- in order to evaluate it as a recovery system for the Gemini space capsules and recovery of used Saturn rocket stages.[3][4] It is worthwhile to distinguish the Rogallo wing in a fully-flexible parawing format and the Rogallo wing incorporated in a stiffened Paresev 1, 1A, 1B, and inflated airbeam 1C. The father designer of the collapsible four-tube Rogallo wing used in the Paresev was Charles Richard in 1961-1962 as he responded to a directive by Paul Bikle; the Richard's Paresev 1B wing gave a template for the future Standard Rogallo hang glider of the 1970s; because of the fact of the Paresev 1, 1A, 1B, the standard Rogallo wing for hang gliders could not be "invented" by others. The deep father is Francis Rogallo; then further fathering came with Charles Richard in early months of 1962. The Paresev 1 wing was radially foldable from the noseplate for tight and easy transporting, had a Dacron sail after linen was discarded, was in a non-king post choice to give better over-wing performance (less drag)[in later years for the Standard Rogallo, some craftspeople would install a kingpost and tolerate more drag above the wing in order to have a quicker and lower-cost cross-bar situation; but eventually the kingpost would again stop being so popular as performance was sought in late 70s and 1980s and beyond]. A 33 page evaluation of two versions of the Paresev hang glider by "Preliminary Flight Evaluation of Two Unpowered Manned Paragliders" written by Barrison F. Layton, Jr., and Milton O. Thompson in National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Technical Note D-1826 is open to the public and can be freely copied and distributed. Author(s): Layton, G. P., Jr.; Thompson, M. O. It is key to note in the following report that "paraglider" was a term used for the hanging-pilot glider where the pilot and the hanging tensionals and seat and some instruments can be seen as the fuselage; the term "paraglider" is used quite differently in 2007. The control system was presaged by the control wing of George Spratt. Abstract: Flight tests of unpowered, manned paragliders NASA Center: Dryden Flight Research Center Publication Year: 1963 Added to NTRS: 2006-11-06 Accession Number: 63N14429; Document ID: 19630004553; Report Number: NASA-TN-D-1826 NAS-TN-D-1826

Flight movies of Paresev 1B

Design & construction

The Paresev was unpowered, the 'fuselage' an open framework fabricated of welded 4130 steel tubing referred to as a 'space frame.' The keel and leading edges of the wing were constructed of 2 1/2-inch diameter aluminium tubing. The leading edge sweep angle was held constant at 50 degrees by a rigid spreader bar. Additional wing structure fabricated of steel tubing ensured structural integrity. The basic vehicle was slightly more than 11 feet high from the top of the Parawing to the ground, while the length of the center keel was 15 feet. Total weight was about 600 pounds.[5] On August 24th. 1962, seven weeks after the project was initiated, the team rolled out the Paresev 1.[6]

Control

The rate of descent was controlled by moving the tensionally hung pilot's and fuselage's mass relative to the postion of the wing. This mass-shifting was effected by tilting the wing from side to side and fore and aft by using a control stick in front of the pilot that began from above. Another version translated the same weight-shift control via cables. [1] As the Parese was towed in a kite mode, it usually rose from the ground at about 46 mph and had a maximum air speed of about 65 mph. In released-from-tow hanging-pilot glide mode, the pilots made many controlled safe landing.

Variants

Paresev 1[7]
Space frame fitted with a linen membrane wing and the control stick coming from overhead in front of the pilots seat.
Paresev 1A[8]
Used a rebuilt space frame from the Paresev 1 but had a regulation control stick and a Dacron membrane wing.
Paresev 1B[9]
The 1A fitted with a smaller Dacron membrane.
Paresev 1C[10]
Modified space frame with a half-scale version of the inflatable Gemini parawing.

Operational history

Foot-launching a modern flexible wing hang glider.

The Paresev in early 1962 with hanging pilot Robert Apgar Champine, a first release from tow for gliding flight forever gave a first for hanging gliding the wing format that would show in the 1970's 'Standard Rogallo' hang glider. The Paresev completed nearly 350 flights during a research program from 1962 until 1964.[11][12] Using the fully-flexible parawing or the tube-stiffened paraglider of the Paresev 1A, 1B, 1C sorts as an alternate to spacecraft recovery was deemed too unreliable and round parachutes for water landings were used instead. The Paresev and other flexible-wing projects such as the Fleep stopped being funded by NASA on 1965. Although Francis Rogallo wrote about, modeled, and spoke about recreational applications including hang gliding, NASA was not in the business of applying Rogallo's family of airfoils to personal aircraft such as kites, hang gliders, and powered light aircraft. But the proven Rogallo wing format used in the Paresev 1A-B Rogallo's wing simplicity, radial foldability, ease of construction, capability of slow flight and its gentle landing characteristics did not go unnoticed by hang glider and ultralight glider enthusiasts. The founding fathering of hanging pilot flight in Rogallo wings had begun with the intrepid pilots of the Paresev project; the wing designed by Charles Richard would carry many sorts of hung devices as craftspeople around the world used common extant art to satisfy particular needs and dreams. Extant art included parallel bars, Gottlob Espenlaub triangle control bar, manned flat-kite trapeze control bars, tetrahedral cockpits, simple-tethered-no-fuselage hung piloting, etc.

Publicity from the parawing (fully-flexible Rogallo wing) and the stiffened tube-framed Rogallo wing in the Paresev's successful hanging-pilot gliding of 1962 sparked interest in the design among several tinkerers, including American Barry Palmer who became the first in documented application of the stiffened Rogallo wing to a manned foot-launched flexible-wing hang glider. The Australian John Dickenson made a motorboat towed kite version and later showed that his version of the stiffened Paresev-like design could be flown released from powered towing. A significant period of time from Dickenson's first kite's showing to the time of a formal drawing, gave him and his associates time to become aware of the earlier Paresev wing. [13] which advanced the already-invented hang glider with a balanced combination of tethered-pilot and smart triangle control frame borrowed from manned flat-kiting; like Platz and Paresev wing, folding to a tight tote package was accomplished; like the Paresev wing, the Dickenson kite/glider was radially folded from the noseplate so the two leading edges and keel tote side-by-side. See also:[14]

Test pilots

Survivors

The Paresev was legally transferred to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum located in Washington, D.C.

General characteristics Performance

References

  1. ^ a b Aviation News article:[1]
  2. ^ Re-entry glider:[2]
  3. ^ Space Flight Revolution -article by NASA:[3]
  4. ^ On 1965 Jack Swigert, who would later be one of the Apollo 13 astronauts, softly landed a full-scale Gemini capsule using a Rogallo wing stiffened with inflatable tubes along the wing’s edges
  5. ^ Specs: [4]
  6. ^ Construction & dated NASA images: [5]
  7. ^ [6]
  8. ^ [7]
  9. ^ [8]
  10. ^ [9]
  11. ^ Total of 350 flights performed: [10]
  12. ^ Paresev project description: [11]
  13. ^ Smithsonian National Air & space Museum: [12]
  14. ^ [13]
  15. ^ Apgar Champine, biography:[14]
  16. ^ Neil Armstrong - Test flies the Paresev: [15]
  17. ^ Bruce Peterson: [16]

Related content

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