Aircraft playlist:
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL23A1203602337689
more at
http://scitech.quickfound.net/aviation_news_and_search.html
"The Ryan Flex Wing flying testbed is the first of an entirely new class of flight vehicles. The flexible wing is a plastic-coated nylon material attached to a keel and leading edge members, so as to form an arrow or V-shaped kite like surface..."
Marketing film for the Rogallo wing Ryan XV-8 "Fleep" flying jeep. The Rogallo wing design was later used in some of the earliest hang gliders and ultralight aircraft. XV-8A Flexible Wing Aerial Utility Vehicle Ryan Model 164 "Fleep".
see also: Ryan XV-8 Fleep Flying Jeep Flight Tests 1961
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqlF489BOmQ
see also: Flexible Paraglider Wing Research and Development 1962 NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2W-RCBchbw
Pilot's Handbook for the Flexible Wing Aerial Utility Vehicle XV-8A
http://www.australian-hang-gliding-history.com/patents/nasa-reports/AD%20B2522433.pdf
see also: Ryan XV-8: "Stalling and Tumbling of a Radio-Controlled Parawing Airplane Model" circa 1962 NASA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vio9KF3xKQ
see also: Flexible Paraglider Wing Research and Development 1962 NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2W-RCBchbw
Originally a public domain film, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_XV-8
Wikipedia license:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
The XV-8 Flexible Wing Aerial Utility Vehicle (nicknamed Fleep, short for "Flying Jeep") was an improved version of the Flex-Wing. Both aircraft were built by Ryan Aeronautical Company in collaboration with NASA for the United States Air Force and the United States Army and tested in 1961 as a STOL patrol, reconnaissance and light utility aircraft to transport people or freight when a more specialized aircraft is not required or available.
Design and development
The Fleep began as the Flex-Wing. The Flex-Wing had four-wheel landing gear, a smaller nose section behind which the pilot sat, and a single vertical tail/rudder, whereas the Fleep had tricycle landing gear, a larger nose section and a V tail/rudder. The wing was a fabric delta-shaped Rogallo wing with a fold-able frame; the wing was attached to a pod-like cockpit on a four-wheeled cargo platform. It was tested with two tail configurations — vertical fin and V-tail. The aircraft wing could be folded into a relatively small package for transport.
Specifications
General characteristics
- Crew: One pilot
- Length: 10 ft 6 in (5.94 m)
- Wingspan: 33 ft 5 in (10.18 m)
- Powerplant: 1 × Continental IO-360-A, 210 hp (157 kW)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 65 mph (105 km/h)
- Range: 120 miles (193 km)..
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogallo_wing
The Rogallo wing is a flexible type of airfoil. In 1948, Gertrude Rogallo, and her husband Francis Rogallo, a NASA engineer, invented a self-inflating flexible wing they called the Parawing, also known after them as the "Rogallo Wing" and flexible wing. NASA considered Rogallo's flexible wing as an alternative recovery system for the Mercury and Gemini space capsules, and for possible use in other spacecraft landings, but the idea was dropped from Gemini in 1964 in favor of conventional parachutes...