Historical note on October 31, 2010, by hang gliding historian Neil Larson:

Blackbird story line as I can recall after 37 years: Tom Valentine Senior at Hawthorne High School was an avid Sailplane pilot, and had begun preliminary construction of his Wright replica.  Tom solicited the assistance of two other seniors, Steve Lewis and Rick Lesh in a class project for science. Tom had gained some knowledge of Wright Brothers, aerodynamics, and construction from new mentor Jack Lambie. The class project would ace the three into an A+ grade for the semester.

With muslin “doped’ cloth and wood ailerons from the Wright build – this Blackbird was a ultra short cord high aspect ratio double sided wing surface –genetic mutation of the Lambie Hang Loose- The width of the glider from tip to tip was 36 feet plus. This used a very thick airfoil profile which would allow slow flights off Playa Del Rey-I do not recall if the tail was controllable ? But the wide narrow ailerons at the lower wing gave super control against unwanted gusts & roll .

This photo was taken during the first flight attempt – it began to soar before Tom’s feet left the sand at the crest of the bluff. Everyone who witnessed the flight said it was grand  and rising gracefully – in a upward moment. However, due to caution…
Tom felt the easy lifting glider under his arms and mistakenly assumed the ship was in a radical STALL.
His reaction to prevent a major back flip (which we had seen on numerous occasions at Dockweiler!)
was to do a bail-out, thus the plane made a kite like assent after Tom ejected and this is therefore the only photo of the Blackbird in flight –

Tom , Rick, and Steve got their A+ ; by the way, most of the people around the event in the photo were from that science class .

Shown: (Photo credit: __submitted by Tom Valentine , from HG historian Neil Larson's archives, taken by unknown person, perhaps either Bob Valentine or …Allan Hamblin.)      Tom Valentin in his Blackbird.       Tom Valentine was also one of our original attendees at the big era-changing Otto Lilienthal meet in 1971.  Tom is
Special effects – et al – as Supervising Art Director – FAST FIVE movie to be released
You may want to run a image of the Blackbird – Dockweiler one & only flight image – in LIFT – ( as link or actual photo .. to Tom V. hang glider pilot designer/ early bird … )
(( he was at the Otto Meet with camera – ))