Awards

The FAI Hang Gliding Diploma

This Diploma was established by the FAI in 1979

It may be awarded every year to an individual who is considered to have made an outstanding contribution to the development of hang gliding by his or her initiative, work or leadership in flight achievement.

John Dickenson

2006 Winner

The Diploma reads

John Dickenson invented the modern hang glider at Grafton, Australia. It was flown on 8 September 1963. John built scale models to determine design concepts, until a full sized glider was towed behind a speedboat. He incorporated the control bar into the airframe by designing the A-frame to distribute flight, refining this further when he invented the pendulum weight-shift control system. John developed the piloting techniques, and taught all the early pilots, including Hang Gliding pioneers Bill Moyes and Bill Bennett, to fly the wing. John Dickenson’s invention has been copied by every manufacturer globally, with few minor changes for over a decade.

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The Space Technology Hall Of Fame

Award

John found this in a box on his doorstep.

There has never been any explanation from anyone

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The Hang Gliding Federation of Australia

Life Membership

Presented after he was awarded the Order of Australia

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The Hang Gliding Federation of Australia

.Certificate of Recognition

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The Grafton Town Memorial

NSW Australia

Acknowledging John was the inventor of the hang glider

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John's Order of Australia.

John was nominated by his workmates who felt that he deserved recognition for inventing the modern hang glider.

 

Sorry about the poor quality

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This poster turned up at John Dickenson's home without warning or explanation. A precursory investigation shows that it most likely came from Kitty Hawk Kites in the USA, although how it got to John's home is a mystery (As of this time no explanation or comment has been received from Kitty Hawk Kites.) As Kitty Hawk Kites credits Francis and Gertrude Rogallo with inventing the Dickenson Wing, it is something of an insult, as things currently stand. This mis-understanding is the result of the failure, of both Bill Bennett and Bill Moyes, to tell the true story of where they got their hang gliders from, and Francis and Gertrude Rogallo's acceptance of the credit, when they could have perhaps done more to set the story straight. Certainly the Rogallo's influenced one part of the design, but to credit them with inventing the Dickenson Wing is an overstatement of their contribution. Note; This poster is and has been left in John Dickenson's car shed since it turned up, it has no significant meaning for John and was received with bemused ambivalence. But it is a further example of the way John Dickenson has been treated by the people involved in the sport of hang gliding.