Delta Wing Model 162

Delta Wing Kites and Gliders Incorporated

Australian Bill Bennett helped promote hang gliding in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Bennett's first gliders were kites for water skiers, such as the Model 162. He based these designs on a flexible wing that Francis Rogallo evaluated while working for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The space agency hoped to develop a recovery system for Gemini and Apollo capsules (see NASM collection) that allowed astronauts to steer the capsule to a landing as an alternative to unguided parachutes. The difficulties the agency experienced trying to recover the Mercury capsules (see NASM collection), and the near tragedy that followed Gus Grissom's splashdown in July 1961, no doubt encouraged NASA to investigate alternative capsule recovery systems.

Type: CRAFT-Aircraft
Medium: Wingspan: 5.2 m (17 ft 4 in)
Department: NASM
Institution: National Air and Space Museum
Object number: nasm_A19840711000
Credit: Gift of Bill Bennett

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Delta Wing Model 162

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