When another taller Black Mountain, north of Ramona, came into use as a soaring site, the UFO began to refer to this site, the smaller of the two, as Little Black, as it’s still affectionately known among local pilots today. A picture of his Waterman/ Fronius Biplane hang glider was featured on the cover of the February 1974 “Flier”. Waterman continued to design and build gliders well into the 1970’s. He was the first pilot to fly a glider within the city limits of San Diego. In 1909, at the age of 15, he built and flew his first glider. One of the founding members of this club was Waldo Waterman. This club continues to thrive under the name the San Diego Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association (SDHGPA). The sparsely developed slopes of Black Mountain were quite popular with the numerous local pilots who formed a club in 1973 known as the Ultralight Flyers Organization (UFO). The Rancho Penasquitos area came back into regular use as a soaring site when a renaissance in hang gliding, spurred by the invention of the Rogallo wing, returned to San Diego in the late 1960’s. In the 1940s, Black Mountain was popular as a tow launch site because the gliders could then use the hill to remain aloft and gain altitude. Brown, members of the largest registered glider club in the United States, the San Diego based Bowlus Glider Club, chose the hillside of Black Mountain to fly their licensed homebuilt primary glider. Two San Diego Senior High School students, Richard H. Several glider clubs sprang up, including the first all female group led by 20 year old aviatrix Peaches Wallace. The participation of this famous couple fired the imagination of local San Diegans. He then proceeded to lure Charles Lindburg and then his wife Anne Morrow Lindburg (who became the first woman to earn a soaring license) to the delights of un-powered soaring flight. Harry Bowlus, who had for years displayed a passion for designing and flying gliders, set several duration records within the space of a few days. In the 1920’s wide media interest was generated as glider records for duration were set and then broken again and again by various San Diego pilot-inventors.ġ930 was a special year for soaring in San Diego. The hang glider pilot shifts his or her weight laterally to control direction, and moves fore and aft to control airspeed. The bird-like aircraft shared the same unique control method as modern hang gliders known as pilot weight-shift. Montgomery, for whom Montgomery Field in Kearny Mesa is named, first flew his Gull Glider in 1883 from Otay Mesa. The hang glider is the earliest known airplane flown in the United States. Helix, Crest, Sorrento Valley, and the original Palomar Mountain site). Unfortunately m any San Diego area flying sites have been lost in recent years, due primarily, to the encroachment of development (including the bluffs of Del Mar, Cowles Mountain, Mt. This history and tradition of motor-less free flight is worth preserving. The high-tech, computer designed gliders that fly Black Mountain today owe much to San Diego’s aviation pioneers. Many are not aware, of the importance of San Diego’s contribution to American gliding and soaring. San Diego has long played an important role in the development of aviation in the United States. Residents consider the sight of silently soaring hang gliders and paragliders a positive part of the experience of living in Rancho Penasquitos and the surrounding communities. This unique flying site is one of the most consistently flyable sites in the United States and is visited by pilots from around the world. Silent, low-speed gliders have enjoyed soaring flight on the west facing slopes of what is now Black Mountain Open Space Park Glider Port since the 1930’s.
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