Authors: Ben Ruhe
Date Submitted: February 29, 2004
Article Type: Journal

Valerie Govig, publisher of the now defunct Kite Lines magazine, recalls the first meeting of the American Kitefliers Association, in Ocean City, Maryland, in 1978 as a wonderful success. “I think of it as one of the grandest gatherings of kiting greats ever held,” she says. Attendees included Bob Ingraham, founder of the association and of Kite Lines magazine (under the name Kite Tales); English designer and kite popularizer Peter Powell, writer and historian Tal Streeter. Also, kite designer Steve Edeiken (later killed in a fall from a rogue kite); NASA’s Francis Rogallo, co-inventor of the soft kite and inventor of the hang glider; inventor Peter Waldron. Plus, kiting pioneer Wayne Brummitt; New Zealand designer and flier Peter Lynn; and Smithsonian aeronautics curator Paul Garber, inventor of the World War II target kite. A bit of brainpower there.

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