Flexible Wings for Transportation

Flexible wings for transportation involves the use of flexible fabric-like lifting surfaces that can be folded or packaged before and after use. This paper is limited to uses of flexible wings for transportation of passengers and cargo from point to point on earth and to emergency use of flexible wings in connection with more conventional aircraft. It covers the following subjects: gliding and soaring, towing, powered flight, air-dropped wings, rocket-launched wings, and emergency wings.