3rd June 2000, Manhattan, USA

51st Street, New York. 12th floor. A smiling gentleman opens the front door of his apartment to greet me. "Xavier?", he enquires, stretching out his hand in welcome. It is the culmination of 12 years of searching for the legitimate father of paragliding. And over the next three days David Barish tells me the story of his life and his many inventions, amongst which is the paraglider. In the spare room, where I am staying, David shows me the sewing machine he used to stitch his first designs, now stowed away under the bed. And sat on the shelf lies the wooden propeller, of the first paramotor!