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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
Unlike commercial air transport and military aircraft, the high performance glider was developed as an end in itself so that individual pilots could achieve extended flights using only energy present in the air. From modest beginnings in the first two decades of this century the best gliders available today are able to fly 60 miles from a height of about 6000 ft in no wind and without upcurrents. Using thermals and other available lift in the air these gliders are capable of flying a distance of 1000 miles in a day. The realisation of such performance efficient gliders was possible because the design problems attracted top quality aerodynamicists. Germany led, and still leads, because German universities saw, in glider development, a fine training ground for young aeronautical engineers — initially encouraged, of course, by the Versailles Treaty which forbade the manufacture of powered aircraft at the end of WW1. Now superb gliders exist but because of their cost, complexity and size they can be afforded and/or flown by only a relatively small number of pilots. This paper follows the historical development of gliders, the arrival of hang gliders and paragliders and considers the way forward for motorless flight.
