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David Barish, The Forgotten Father of Paragliding

By Xavier MurilloIn the early 1960s, the USA and USSR were fully engaged in a race to get the firstman on the moon. David Barish, an American aeronautical engineer, invented anew parachute for bringing spacecraft gently back to earth. He tested his new wingshape by self-launching, and was so excited by its possibilities that he set offround the ski resorts of the USA demonstrating his newly found summer sport.During research that has spanned twelve years and three continents, XavierMurillo has discovered the true birth date of paragliding - 1965 - and went to talk tothe man that started it all.

Published in X-C Mag.com 17-Jan-01

February 1988, Annemasse, FranceWhilst researching my book "La folle Histoire du Parapente", I met a parachutistfrom Annemasse: Andr Bohn, one of the three pioneers of paragliding in France.On Sunday 27th June 1978, Andr had launched from Mieussy and glided all theway down to the football pitch in the valley 1000 metres below. When I asked howhe came upon he idea of foot-launching a ram-air parachute, Andr told that hehad seen it described in the "Parachute Manual", a technical magazine by DanPoynter written for professional parachutists. This was a revelation to me, as it was

now obvious that contrary to popular belief, paragliding wasnt invented in Mieussy,France even though it was there that the concept flourished through the passionand dedication of pioneers like Jean-Claude Btemps, Grard Bosson and the"Choucas" club of Mieussy.

January 1992, Melbourne, AustraliaAfter a competition in Victoria, I paid a visit to the meet director who ran a small

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parachute factory in Melbourne. I discovered his complete year-on-year collectionof the Parachute Manual, and I leafed through them, hungry for more information.The 1972 edition carried a description of "slope soaring", described as a method oftesting parachutes after a repair. In the courtyard of the factory, I laid the book onthe ground and photographed the pages. It served as proof that foot-launching had

started as early as 1970! The black and white photographs show an astonishinglyshaped wing. This was David Barishs Sailwing machine, but I would only learn thisfact eight years later. I would long regret my blatant lack of curiosity as to who thepilot was. Like me, no-one would push the investigation further.January 1998, Muse de lAir et de lEspace, FranceRummaging around in the museum library, I found another book by Dan Poynter,titled "Hang Gliding" and dating back to 1973. What a find! More than two pagesare dedicated to "paragliding", which is described as being very similar to hanggliding. They are illustrated with the same photos as were used in the "ParachuteManual". And here, the inventor of paragliding had a name -David Barish - and wasdescribed in the captions as being the promoter of the activity, having madeseveral flights in the ski resorts of the USA. I announced my discovery in the April1998 issue of Parapente magazine in a story titled "Paragliding was born in theUSA." But the editor refused to publish my poor photo - the glider was too ugly!Fellow journalist Jean-Paul Budillon picked up on my lead and sniffed out thecontact details of Dan Poynter and David Barish. I bought a plane ticket to NewYork.3rd June 2000, Manhattan, USA51st Street, New York. 12th floor. A smiling gentleman opens the front door of hisapartment 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 hismany inventions, amongst which is the paraglider. In the spare room, where I amstaying, 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, ofthe first paramotor!David Barish started his flying career at the age of 18-years-old. In 1939 the USgovernment was suffering a shortage of pilots, and was offering a free trainingprogramme to new recruits. 'I was soon a co-pilot for TWA, flying transatlanticroutes,' he recalls. 'My brother, was three years older than me, was a bomber pilotflying the B17 flying Fortress, and was killed in the Normandy landings in 1944. I

joined the US Airforce soon after, and trained as a fighter pilot on the Mustang. Butluckily, the day I graduated was the day Japan surrendered. The war was over.'David then gained a place at the prestigious Cal Tech university, where heobtained a Masters degree in theoretical aerodynamics. He put it into good use byworking for the Air Force's Research and Development division at Dayton. In 1953,he left the armed forces, but remained a consultant for the Air Force and NASA. In1955, he designed the Vortex Ring, a revolutionary parachute consisting of fourflexible wings rotating on an axis, producing the same effect as the blades of ahelicopter. With a better sink rate, a reduced opening shock, half the weight, andno oscillation, the Vortex Ring was dubbed 'the perfect parachute.' Anotheradvantage is that on landing, the Vortex Ring immediately folds itself up, even in a

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strong wind, which avoids being dragged along the ground- which could be quitean advantage for paraglider pilots! It was produced by Pioneer, the worlds leadingmanufacturer, and is still used today by the American army.In the early 60s, the space race was on, and huge amounts of money were throwninto 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 spacecapsules back to earth. To avoid manufacturing parachutes with spans of over 30metres for carrying capsules weighing 5 tonnes, 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 threelobes. The front of each panel was turned under and stitched to the undersurfacealong the seams joining the panels. This formed a double surface of over 30 cm.when inflated, it rigidified the leading edge.David Barish comments: "NASA wouldnt buy a double surface chute. But they alsowanted a better glide. Thats why, in 1966, we progressed to the version with 5lobes. Then, the double surface part was extended to one third of the chord. It wasDomina Jalbert who invented the entirely double surface parachute. What elseabout the design? Well, I thought the enormous stabilizers were necessary. Andspinnaker cloth was an obvious choice, if you want a wing, you need the lowestpossible porosity. I determined the length of the lines came from the experience ofkite-flyers who already knew all there was to know on this subject.'The first flight, in the company of his son and friend Jacques Istel, took place inSeptember 1965 at Bel Air in the Cats Hills. This is a ski resort two hours from NewYork and not far from Woodstock (where Hendrix had not yet played 'Purple Haze'and 'Little Wing'!). David often flew the slopes of Mount Hunter, in the same area. Akeen skier, David Barish had a crazy idea: a new summer sport which wouldconsist of skimming down the grassy slopes of the ski pistes. The new sport waschristened "slope soaring.' At the suggestion of a friend who was a journalist on"Ski Magazine', he and his son did a tour of American ski resorts, from Vermont toCalifornia in the summer of '66. The aim was to demonstrate that "slope soaring"could be a viable summer activity in ski resortsOf these barnstorming days, David remarks, 'It was probably too soon! At that time,slope soaring, was just for fun. We didnt know that it might be possible to soar inthermals or dynamic wind. We just pushed the sport as being a fun way to racedownhill. We raced down the ski slopes, skimming the ground, rarely more thanthirty metres up. I still managed to end up in the trees several times!'In 1966, NASA was trying to finalise its choice for recovering the capsule of the

Apollo space shuttle. For the next two years, David worked hard on his project,trying to convince NASA of its benefits over the Rogallo design. 'Francis Rogallocame to the wind tunnel one day during my tests', remarks David. 'He didnt sayanything, but seemed very interested. In fact, we had both constructed what wouldlater be called a paraglider. The Air Force had organized a demonstration day forthe different projects in California. It was there that the glide ratio of 4.2 of my wingwas officially measured.'But a week after the demonstration, NASA HQ totally abandoned the idea of usingparachutes. 'They change their mind sometimes!', David comments with a ryesmile. 'Now, thirty years on, NASA has returned to the use of parachutes. The most

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recent, the X34 or "space life boat", designed for recovering the Space Shuttlecrews, is 30 metres across. The same size as Dave Barishs design from 1966!"When the contract was terminated I just gave up,' recalls David. 'As far asparachutes are concerned, I have never thought that I designed anything whichwas really much better than those of Jalbert or Snyder. There were already 30 or

40 companies and as many legal fights. My whole professional career has beenrooted in subsonic and supersonic aerodynamics. In the science of low speedflight, there has been little innovation in the last 100 years. Most of what we needto know today has already been written in the books of Ludwig Prandtl, of theGerman school of aerodynamics. "Slope soaring" was a hobby. In order to developit, I would have had to dedicate myself to it full-time. I had other inventions which Ididn't want to neglect.'---Closed cells, the profile, trim tabs, spinnaker fabric, flaps, 8 m lines, high aspectratios, launch techniques, tree landings, the paramotor it all existed as long agoas the '60s! But the explosion in popularity of the sport wouldnt happen for another20 years. During the 1980s, David Barish manufactured another paraglider withsemi-closed cells, and then a hang glider for his son. Then, one summer's day in1993, whilst driving near the site of Ellensville, just outside New York, Davidspotted thirty paragliders in the air, and suddenly realized that slope soaring hadgrown into a huge sport. His interest was rekindled.During a skiing trip to Europe, he noticed how popular paragliding had become atresorts like Gstaad (Switzerland). "I was impressed by the number of companiesselling equipment' he says. 'Technically, I noticed the Airwave gliders with theirdiagonal cells.'The following year, he visited St. Hilaire in France, where the number of wings laidout on the carpet finally convinced him of the sport's size. At over 70 years of age,he returned to the drawing board and his sewing machine. "I did it to satisfy myintellectual curiosity. I looked at every aspect of current design to maximizeperformance, starting with a completely closed cell glider, and then adding a 30degree sweep- but that didn't work out!"

And in the last two years, David has even started to fly again! When he explainsthat he only flies himself because he 'ran out of test pilots', you may think hes

joking, but David did actually lose one of his best friends, when his aircraft hit amountain during foggy conditions. An exciting clip from a video shot by Johannaduring the summer of 1999 shows him taking off and flying at 100 m above theground in turbulent conditions. The wing is an incredible prototype, very flat andwith an aspect ratio of 8.

He reports, "higher aspect ratio is one way to increase performance. I would notsay its the easy way. But it is obvious that the result is a rather sensitive machine."

Always discreet, David Barish has never promoted his discoveries. PhilippeRenaudin, the SupAir importer for the USA, had met him many times with his wingand "homemade" harness, before learning that this amazing old gentleman hadinvented paragliding 35 years ago! And paramotoring too! And he still has things toteach us. When Phillipe told him that his paramotor mysteriously climbs less wellwhen facing into wind, David replied straightaway that it was to be expected,

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because the angle of the propeller has been designed for a single pitch angle. Thesame problem existed for small propeller aircraft during the thirties, and wasresolved by variable pitch propellers.David has a daughter from his first marriage. When Johanna met David, shewarned Johanna straightaway; 'My father does a lot of mad things, you dont have

to follow him!' Thousands of paraglider pilots, without knowing it, have followedDavid Barish in their quest to fly like a bird. And its Johanna again who has the lastword on her many years living with David: 'We laughed a lot!' One of the secrets oflife!But the story cannot be closed here. It is David himself who says: "I wouldnt besurprised if one day someone finds a Russian or a Japanese engineer who did thesame thing before I did!"SIDEBOX:David Barish at the St Hilaire FestivalGuest of honour and president of the jury of the film festival, David Barish delightedeverybody he met with his modesty, his kindness and his limitless curiosity. Heplunged into many passionate discussions with Gin Seok Song (Gin Gliders),Xavier Demoury (Nervures) and Jean-Louis Darlet (The Cage). When flyingtandem with Sandie he immediately asked to fly it himself and was eager to flyagain the following day and play with some thermals. Sandie commented "I wasvery flattered to fly with him. He flew the tandem until the last turn of our approach.On the drive back back up again we talked about skiing in Chamonix, where I amfrom. One day, he got lost in the fog skiing the Valle Blanche!" Ever available, hegave interviews and press conferences, and had even brought his high aspect ratioprototype for a few inflations and to ask the opinion of other manufacturers. XavierDemoury knew the pedigree of David Barish and his Sailwing: "I didnt think it couldfly. It seemed crazy. But David, he made it fly 20 years in advance of everybodyelse. The long lines, ripstop material, the deformation of the material under thepressure between interior and exterior; his work enabled us to arrive to where weare today. He is a true inventor. As for us, we are only improvers! When I see him,I tell myself that I still have 30 good years ahead of me. Its reassuring! Outside,David and Gin opened up their gliders. Gin admired Davids incredible wing, withan aspect ratio of 8, and its two rows of lines with pyramid cascades. On the brandnew Boomerang prototype, David studied the little plastic rods which reinforce theleading edge, designed for high speed using the accelerator