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Chargus of Buckinghamshire, England
This related topics menu links to material in the main hang gliding pages. The links here are in chronological order.
- Chargus in Hang gliding 1976 part 1
- Super-E and Spyder in Hang gliding 1977
Related
Birdman and Solar Wings of Wiltshire, England
External link
1977 Powered Hang Gliders photo album by Don Liddard on Flickr, featuring the Soarmaster-powered Chargus Midas at Mere in Wiltshire, summer 1977. I must have been standing near Liddard at the time. Murray received applause from those watching after he landed and shut down the engine.
That Chargus Midas looks remarkably similar to the Albatross Sails ASG-21 of about the same period. Very pretty gliders.
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The ASG-21 (by Tom Price) looks more advanced to me in that it had an airfoil stand-up keel pocket instead of the (slightly) curved keel tube of the Midas. The ASG-21’s tips were aerodynamically cleaner too. While I have no reason to doubt that the Midas was an original design by top British pilot Martin Farnham, most British wings were copies of American designs. Indeed, the later Midas Super-E bore an uncanny resemblance to the UP Spyder. (See the third link in the preceding list.) However, in late 1976, British genius Miles Handley unveiled his bowsprit-rigged double-surface Gryphon. Thoroughly original and of unmatched performance among contemporary flex-wings. See Hang gliding 1976 part 1.
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Fairly sure it was a Gryphon we flew with one day in the late 70’s. Something I never expected to see outside of the magazine, and certainly not in Vermont.
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