Kite Lines - Vol.1 No. 3 - KiteLife

Letters(Continued)Nuesslein family/kite group scene :Ground front: Nicole and rotor kite .Left to right: Gibson Girl box, Larry, Jr., SteiffRoloplan, Larry, Sr., and Anniversary delta,taken so long to become popular . Flexikiteshave been built for either one or twolines since 1948 and our children preferredtwo-line flight . One day about twentyyears ago we demonstrated flight into andout of the water with a two-line Flexikiteat the end of a pier in the James Rivernear our home . Repeatedly we were able todive the kite into the water, turn it aroundand "fly" it back to the surface and intothe air again . We didn't feel that it wasmuch of an accomplishment, however,because flying fish and water fowl do it allthe time . They had flexible folding wingsbefore we did . I guess the only human usefor such a capability would be a flying submarineor submersible airplane .I'll leave you with that thought .Francis M . RogalloKitty Hawk, NCPERFECT KITE DEFINED FURTHERMel Govig asked the question, "Which isthe perfect kite?" (Summer 1977 Kite Lines) .Thank you for an interesting article, butwhy no mention of challenge or of pilotadaptability? The article was so smooththat I didn't even feel the wind on me' face!My wife has the answer to Mel's question .She says the perfect kite is one whichdoesn't take me out of the house or awayfrom home .I might add that one of my favorite kiteshandles like a B17 Flying Fortress .Clive C .O . Rawlinson,B .A . (Hon .), D .M .A .Essex, EnglandHIGHEROGLYPHICSThey do quite a bit of kiteflying here inCairo . I have observed as many as ten kitesflying in one group in the heart of oldCairo, from the tops of apartment buildings. They are rather colorful kites andmost are of the three- stick or star variety .I have flown a "foil" at the great pyramida couple of times but really haven'thad much time to fly anything else . Mywife and I spent the first two weeks ofJune in Dublin, Ireland, with our son andhis wife ; his wife Anne is an avid kiteflier .While spending a few days in WesternIreland near Galway, my daughter- in-lawand I built a UFO kite and flew it off thefamous cliffs of Mohr. Right in the middleof it all a bird watcher came out frothingat the mouth about our scaring the sea gulls!Secret ambition : To fly a kite off the topof the Great Pyramid of Cheops-462feet high!Capt . W . R . LangstonCairo, EgyptKITE COLLECTIBLESI am 43 now and as a child I and my dadused to fly kites quite a bit . Some of theold timers that we have flown and stillhave are :1 . A six-foot Steiff kite Roloplan (madeby the company that makes German stuffedanimals) and a smaller version . It is atleast 35 years old and one of the best fliersI have .2 . A collapsible Gibson Girl box kite .3 . A Navy Target Kite -flew super in astiff breeze at the shore .4 . Rotating wing kites made from cardboardthat fly like the dickens in goodwind . They are my copies from a post-warmodel with cardboard "pie plates" at eachend of the rotating wing .Currently my son and I fly all thesekites plus Indian fighters, Peter Powellstunters, various assorted garbage bagsleds (we have a Zammo sled from Englandwhich is a superb flier and has threeround vents) .We love it all and even won a prize at theannual Ocean City, NJ, kite contest, 4th ofJuly, 1976 . My son won for the smallest, a2"x2" paper kite with a three-foot tail, andI won with the Anniversary delta towing anAmerican flag ., It's all fun and a goodpastime to see what something will doup there .Lawrence A . NuessleinAllentown, PANON-STOP MOTSThank you for the Spring 1977 Kite Lines.It's a chair warmer. Mr . Mots, the KiteFlying King of Milwaukee, has greatlyenjoyed reading it, and when he left hischair, I'd sneak in and pick up Kite Linesand enjoy it greatly . It seems that comfychair never cools off . Your magazineis great .We have immensely enjoyed the articlesby and about our very good friend, PaulEdward Garber .The article "Talking Tails" was interestingto me . Our kites are heavy wind kitesand require four tails, each 50 feet long,for ordinary wind about 14 miles per hour .More tails are needed for heavier wind .Our greatest kiting was in Winnipeg,Manitoba, Canada, in 1967, where we werepaid $40 per day for nine days, for an hourand a half of kiteflying . One day therewas barely enough air to breath, so wecouldn't fly our kites . However, we displayedthose we had in our station wagon,and we talked kites .We were packed to leave, and my husbandsaid, "We'll wait a bit . I smell fresh air, andmaybe we can fly yet today ." We didn'twait long . He always said he couldn't smellanything, but he had a good sense of smellthat day. About ten minutes later, awhoosshh of fresh air, and a half of oneroof came off, tents were being blowndown, and Mr. Mots said, "Stay in the car,I'm going to test my kite in a wind likethis ." He guessed, and put on 12 tails, each50 feet .He fed the kite to the wind, did all hisacrobatics, and brought the kite downsafely to his feet . The man who hired ussaid, "Now I know you are professional ."Next day we read in the Winnipeg paper :"Wind, 79 miles per hour ." Part of a boardfence near our exit gate was blowing towardus like a cardboard in a breeze, and theelectric sign over the midway was flat inthe roadway.I bet nobody has done more work in thefancy kite tail department over the lastyears to excell my record . My beautifulkite tails are pinked on both sides andsewed together and some I have evenstarched and ironed for Special Occasionsand Special Customers . My tails haveadded spectacular beauty to Mots OriginalAcrobatic Kites . I've called myself Mrs .Kite Tails .Frank is the King of Spring . One day aphotographer phoned to talk to Frank,saying, "Let me talk to the Bull of theWoods ." I said, "Sir, you have his titlewrong . He is Bull of the Winds . Ya can'tfly kites in the woods ."Mr. Mots was 87 years young on Mayfirst this year, 1977 . He lost his hearinglast year flying kites at a Summerfestwith all that percussion noise . People allover those grounds were thrilled withhis acrobatics .With his loss of hearing, too much of aload is on my shoulders, so it's time tofind a buyer. We have developed MotsOriginal Acrobatic Kites nationally andare proud of what we built up since 1961when someone told Frank to go fly a kite-