Len Gabriels and Skyhook Sailwings

Skyhook chief engineer Len Gabriels started his aviation career in his teens during World War Two. He flew free flight model aircraft in his time off from working in an aircraft factory. 'First they were powered by rubber band motors' he says, 'but rubber was scarce during wartime so we used to strip old inner tubes in desperation.'

Changing to tow-launched free-flight gliders he found they were sometimes carried upwards by thermals. 'If you were very lucky it would come out of the thermal without having drifted very far from the launch point. Usually however there was a breeze and the model would drift down wind which resulted in a cross country chase after it, sometimes for two or three miles.'

Like a number of individuals who forged the technology of hang gliding, Len had little formal engineering education. 'World War Two arrived just before I left school at fourteen. I had to go straight into work in an aircraft factory, therefore I didn't have any academic qualifications. However I don't regret this at all. An engineering apprenticeship and four years night school three times each week helped of course.'

Before hang gliders and powered ultralights, Len built his own miniature tape recorders, black-and-white televisions, aero diesel engines and radio control units.

'In 1972 I heard about hang gliding which originated in California. I had to have a go. As I couldn't find anyone who was doing it in the UK I had to design and make my own -- based on the meagre information which trickled across from the USA and my own knowledge of aerodynamics. After a few false starts a successful design was produced. Others became interested and as a result I sold hundreds of sets of plans. I supplied materials and eventually got into full manufacture along with a couple of partners.'

A variety of experimental hang gliders was flown at the British Championships held at Mere, Wiltshire, in August 1975. This Skyhook monoplane was one.

[ Link to Len in a powered Safari over London! ]

Len flew an early powered hang glider from London to a field near Paris in 1979.

The Skyhook Gipsy was a lightweight, single-surface hang glider.

When it ceased trading in 1997 Skyhook was Britain's longest established hang glider manufacturer. Yet it had always been a part time business. (Len was by this time managing director of a small specialist engineering firm.)

Now retired, Len is active in a sailing club and he runs their web site. 'I can say that I've had a very full and interesting working life,' he concludes. 'And all because of my hobbies.'