MichaelAbrams 0 #1 August 25, 2003 Hello Skyflying Friends, Yes, I'm writing a book about birdmen of the past and present and I can use all the help I can get. If any of you have stories about how you got into it, tales of first flights or close calls, information about anyone doing new things with wings, "shop talk" about different brands of wings, or just inspirational jabber, I'd love to hear from you. I'm also looking for information about historical birdmen and possibly contact information for their relatives. Here's just the beginnings of a list of the pioneers I hope to find out about: Salvador Canarrozo, Rudolf Boehlen, Red Grant, Tommy Boyd, Don Molitar, Lyle Cameron, Manos Morgan, Tommy Boyd, Soro Rinaldi, Spud Manning, Red Digit, Harry Ward, John Carta and of course, Clem Sohn, Leo Valentin, and Patrick De Gayardon. If you know of any articles or any books about these people or of any important people I've left out, please let me know. (I do have a copy of Valentin's *Birdman* and Harry Ward's *Yorkshire Birdman*). For what it's worth, I'm the guy who wrote about Jari for Forbes FYI and about the Skyray for Wired. I'm not yet "one of you" but hope to be eventually. Please don't let my current outsider status scare you off. Thanks much and keep flying, Michael michael_abrams@hotmail.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
leroydb 0 #2 August 25, 2003 you've come to the rigth area...Leroy ..I knew I was an unwanted baby when I saw my bath toys were a toaster and a radio... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Christoph 0 #3 September 4, 2003 Hey Michael, so you made it back home. The article was pretty good. Let me know if there is something new. Take care Christoph Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gus 1 #4 September 4, 2003 If you haven't done so already it would be worth reading as many posts from the forum as you can, lots of people have written about their first jumps and about wacky prototype designs - an inflatable wing being tested at Empuriabrava and Niels Brusgaard's wrist-to-ankle suit spring to mind. I'm sure if you contacted Robi or Yari at Birdman they'd have some stories to tell you. There's also a wingsuit forum over on Blinc but it's pretty quiet. For what it's worth I think the real innovation at the moment is being driven by the BASE community where even small improvements in flight performance are very noticeable. Not that I know what I'm talking about (yet Good luck with the book. GusOutpatientsOnline.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ManBird 0 #5 September 4, 2003 Hey Michael, I don't know if you were aware of it or not, but Niels was flying his wrist to ankle suit while you were down in DeLand. We went on a flight the same day you did your jump and article on BirdMan. Did you meet up with him at all?"¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cpoxon 0 #6 September 5, 2003 Quote Niels was flying his wrist to ankle suit while you were down in DeLand Steve, Can you confirm whether or not it is the L&B Niels (which is quite a common Danish name, as I understand) with the wrist to ankle suit. There seems to be an impression on this forum that it is (although I'm not saying you are implying it) which I'm not so sure about. This is a picture of Niels from L&BSkydiving Fatalities - Cease not to learn 'til thou cease to live Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gus 1 #7 September 5, 2003 Quoteseems to be an impression on this forum that it is I only thought it was the L&B Niels because of a previous post. My apologies to both Niels' if I was wrong! GusOutpatientsOnline.com Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ManBird 0 #8 September 6, 2003 Yep, that's him."¯"`-._.-¯) ManBird (¯-._.-´"¯" Click Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cpoxon 0 #9 September 8, 2003 Cool. Thanks. Glad we've straightened that one out! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
