david barrish story 1

In the early 60s, the space race was on, and huge amounts of money were thrown into development, and it was this that triggered the invention of paragliders. In 1964, David Barish applied himself to the design of a parachute for bringing space capsules back to earth. To avoid manufacturing parachutes with spans of over 30 metres for carrying capsules weighing 5 tones, he made models of different sizes. He tested them behind his car, or by hand in a steady wind at Staten Island ferry.The first Sailwing was single surfaced, rectangular shaped and made up of three lobes. The front of each panel was turned under and stitched to the undersurface along the seams joining the panels. This formed a double surface of over 30 cm. when inflated, it rigidified the leading edge