A valuable collection of late 19th and early 20th century manuscript and printed materials gathered by Abbott Lawrence Rotch is be preserved and catalogued by the Blue Hill Observatory Science Center. The material offers much insight into the state of aeronautics—-and in particular kites—-during the years immediately before and after the invention of the airplane.

Of the many kites and kite-hybrids used during World War II, one of the more novel was the rotary wing kite—-the Bachstelze, or Sandpiper—used by the German submarine service. A free-turning three-blade rotor mounted on a vertical pylon attached to a simple framework, the kite was used as an observation post. The observer’s seat was unprotected. The 24-foot kite was carried aft on a tubular boom and consisted of a rudder and horizontal stabilizing surface. The observer had controls for operating the rudder and for tilting the rotor head.

When Eric Muhs, a physics and geometry teacher at the Seattle Academy of Arts and Sciences, goes to the South Pole next December, he’ll do cosmic ray research dealing ultimately with the question: What is the fate of the universe? He’ll be there on behalf of the National Science Foundation’s ongoing Teachers Experiencing Antarctica program.

Although it is all too easy to do, kite fliers are cautioned against looking at the sun for any length of time. Pilots use special sunglasses and aircraft have protective windscreens, so be advised. Australians have a mantra about exposure to sun, a real problem in a basically desert country where one might not even see a cloud in days. Slip, slop, slap is the word from Oz. Slip on a shirt, slop on a hat, and slap on the sunscreen lotion—rated 15 or higher. Sunglasses are advised as well.

Will Tefft, 44, of Santa Barbara, California, travels the world as a representative of a map company. He organizes mapping crews and purchases maps for resale. As a convert to kites years ago and fighters in particular, he always carries some small Indian fighters with him. He has happily flown at such disparate locales as Tiananmen Square in Beijing, where hundreds of people had kites up when he was there, and in Uzbekistan, where children only—no adults—-flew odd circular kites.

For several years now there has been talk in international kite circles of a primitive cave painting in Indonesia showing kite flying. The cave is on Muna Island, off the island of Sulawesi (formerly the Moluccas).

Because he has photographed many disasters and sees the world imperiled by pollution, hatred and war, Hans Silvester has embarked on a major kite book project to convey the other side of the equation—hope, beauty, friendship, peace. Creator of more than 25 photographic volumes, including the best-selling Chats du Soleil (Cats of the Sun), which has sold a half-million copies worldwide, Silvester enrolled artist-kitemakers Philippe Cottenceau, Claudio Capelli, and Robert Trepanier to fly for him where kites could be shown as symbols of purity.

Big kite festivals draw a wide range of fliers, from professionals to skilled amateur enthusiasts—-hobbyists, craftsmen, aerodynamicists, artists, poets, teachers, outdoors people. Following are biographical sketches of six of the kiters, selected rather randomly although all proved to be interesting subjects, who attended last spring’s international festival at Cervia, Italy. Iqbal Husain:

Cervia is a classy beach town on the Adriatic two hours south of Venice. Jammed in summer with vacationing Italians and other Europeans, it is tranquil and underpopulated in the spring, with a gentle breeze blowing in from offshore. Perfect for kiteflying, in short.

The common wisdom is that kites were unknown in black Africa, that is in the vast region south of the Sahara desert, until introduced some hundreds of years ago by occupying European colonial powers. The wisdom seems to be that kites were unknown too in the northern rim of Africa, mostly Moslem countries stretching from Algeria to Egypt, until introduced hundreds of years ago from the Middle East, where they may have arrived from India.