23rd July 2012
THE inventor of the modern hang-glider, John Dickenson, has been awarded aviation's highest award, putting Grafton firmly on the world map as the birthplace of hang-gliding.
Mr Dickenson is the 2012 recipient of the distinguished FAI Gold Air Medal awarded by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale, which recognises the role he played as the engineer of the hang-glider, then known as the "ski-wing", which debuted in Grafton in 1963.
http://www.dailyexaminer.com.
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22nd May 2012
The Hang Gliding Federation Australia
Acknowledged that John Dickenson was the inventor of the Modern Hang Glider in 1963 and presented him with an award
The United States Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association
Awards their 2011 Presidential Citation to
Lisa Tate and John Dickenson
To enlarge click onto photo repeat to shrink
From Ken de Russy (USA)
Ken de Russy's Hang Gliding Museum
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2006
The FAI awards John Dickenson their 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.
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. |
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