Vale Bill Moyes

[Peter Ward]

I was saddened to read about the passing of the inventor of the modern hang glider, an Aussie no less, that was reported in none-other than the New York Times.

Sad not so much because of Bill's passing (he had full life and an excellent score, 92) but the fact our local media had pretty much ignored his wonderful contribution to recreational flying....in very much the true sense of "flying"

Perhaps my wife is right: I'm getting to be a grumpy old man, but it does irk me when the people to have truly shown innovation and excellence simply don't get a mention in the local tabloids.

P.S. To be fair, the SMH did note Bill's passing.

[Saturnine]

Thanks for passing on the news about Bill Moyes, as you say, not reported in the local media yet which is a shame . Some of us may remember early video of his flights from Stanwell Tops, among other localities. should be held in the same regard as Lawrence Hargraves, as pioneers of flight in its unpowered forms , in Australia.
Vale indeed.

[wasyoungonce]

Unfortunately our 75SQN XO J P Condon died in a hanglider accident near Darwin area I think ~92/3(edit much later 97). The Pilots had way too much free time on weekends and got up to rather ….dangerous things. Flying home made ultralight etc. CO and above stopped at that behaviour.

Still I can understand them doing such things. I used to wonder if the SQN was jinxed we lost Ross Fox the CO in 1990

Nice guy very unassuming. I used to cycle with him lots.

[Bobbyoutback]

Myself & 2 mates bought a hang glider from Bill back in the early 70 , we didn't have a clue & kept crashing it . Back in those days any idiot like me could try flying one without any license or training .

Lucky for us Bill said go & set it up at a close by park ' he had a look and smiled saying it was bound to crash the way we had rigged it !

After that I flew at many places including Long Reef , Stanwell park etc
till having a bad crash a year later that almost killed me .

RIP Bill you were a real pioneer .
Bobby

[wasyoungonce]

We he’s an absolute innovator the likes of Leonardo’esque to recognise the concept and bring it to flight that’s enjoyed world wide by millions.

I can understand it’d be a rush

[gary]

A friend in high school was an early adopter and would hang glide out of Stanwell Tops. We referred to the friend as one of the "Moyes Boys".

At any one time the friend had an arm in a sling.

I remember also visiting the friend's flat at Coogee when we were at uni. The hang glider took up much of the room. His arm was in a cast and a sling at the time.

[Bobbyoutback]

https://moyes.com.au/bill-moyes

What a great life !:)

bobby