The Gulp

Miles Handley was the designer the ‘Gulp’. Its performance was better than that of the standard Hang Glider, but it had control problems, and only a few were ever built. Miles went on to produce the Gryphon which was then built by Wasp.

Tony Fuell was for a while the proud (and at times, terrified) owner of a ‘Gulp’. Here’s an excerpt from an E-mail from Tony about its flying characteristics

Take-off was - make sure every bit of the wing is flying and that it's quite level (drop a wing-tip and you're history). Lean into it and run, hoping that it'll lift you into clean air quickly). Also hope the tail plane assembly is flying, or the wing will pitch nose-down and plough you in hard!
Turning - (seated) - whang the control frame as far over as you can in the opposite direction to the intended turn. Get an arm extension and grab the side wires too, if necessary. The glider will continue to fly straight and level for a second or two, but as soon as it starts to turn, get yourself across to the high side and balance it out in pitch and roll as the nose drops into the turn. Grab a handful of opposite side wire to stop it turning, if necessary. Yes, Gulp! Did have some handling problems. Or mostly no-handling problems, since it didn't really. At all... The problem was the very high aspect, low-billow, unbattened wing which was firmly anchored to the keel at the centre-point, making billow-shift a very slow process. And the large fixed tail assembly made it very resistant to changes of direction. But on the right day, it could get well away from the hill and a lot higher than anything else. On the right day. But I spent so much time sitting on the hill in marginal or turbulent conditions when people on easier-handling ships were skying-out that in the end I sold it and went for a new Scorpion 1, which was really sweet. Ah me...happy days!

Tony Flying his yellow 'Gulp' at Mill Hill

Johnny Carr flying his orange 'Gulp' at Mill Hill

Video filmed during 1975

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