https://www.fai.org/news/55-years-hang-gliding-pat-crowe-honoured?type=node&id=24473

On the 8th of September 2018 we will be celebrating the 55th
anniversary of the invention of the modern hang glider. The ceremony in Grafton,
NSW, Australia, will see the FAI Hang Gliding and Paragliding Diploma given to
Pat Crowe, the driver of the boat that towed to celebrity the first ever working
model of the hang gliders we know so well.

The first public exhibition of the 1964 Mark 3a Dickenson Wing will also take
place. This is the oldest modern hang glider in existence, in the world, the
third glider that John Dickenson built in Grafton and the first glider that he
sold. This aircraft has been taken out of its bag just once, in 2009 for the
purposes of verification since its last flight at Stradbroke Island in 1972.
This will be its only exhibition in Grafton, or indeed anywhere, outside of a
suitable museum.

The sport of hang gliding really began in only in 1963 when John Dickenson
invented the modern hang glider. The glider was robust, able to withstand many
crashes and still fly, easy to transport and store. It all happened in Grafton,
Australia, when John Dickenson, an electronic engineer and a member of Grafton
Water Ski Club, while inventing a kite for the Annual Jacaranda Festival created
an absolutely new type of wing.