WWII Vintage Gibson Girl Box Kite

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  • Опубліковано 25 чер 2011
  • An original Gibson Girl Box Kite. These came with an emergency distress radio and flare kit for soldiers stranded at sea on life rafts to signal for rescue. Unknown if any of these were actually used, but the kites flooded the military surplus market and were still sold at kite stores in the 1970's. Flown by Joe Chermushin
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КОМЕНТАРІ • 25

  • @r.kjlbey7498
    @r.kjlbey7498 10 місяців тому

    In the 1970s, my father had a US military surplus store, we used to buy these from the military by the dozen, he would bring them home and we would fly them for toys. For toys. They were a blast to fly, would love to have one now, they don't make them that good of quality anymore.

  • @curtismarean6963
    @curtismarean6963 5 місяців тому +1

    these were great kites! I had one as a kid, the only one that would actually fly for me. I don't know how my dad got one of these, but he did and gave it to me one spring day, I had it for years. Sadly, I have no idea what happened to it.

    • @RobinMcCracken
      @RobinMcCracken  5 місяців тому

      These were sold at Military Surplus stores everywhere. Kite stores also had them , probably buying them from surplus outlets.

  • @kishascape
    @kishascape Рік тому +4

    Uh no, this is not a “rEsCuE fLaRe HoLdER” it was for a 500kHz survival radio with the suspension line being made of conductive material and serving as the antenna.

  • @koborkutya7338
    @koborkutya7338 3 роки тому +1

    I read several accounts when air crews were rescued via usage of kit radios from extreme (cca 1000nm) distances, literally mid-Pacific (in one account the crew was has totally lost hope due to the immense distance and they were cranking just to pass the time till a sub picked them up)
    Kites as emergency kit sounds silly for a landlubber but as a learning from recent rescues in the Southern Ocean during the Vendée Globe race it was proposed again to maintain as an emergency kit because handheld VHF was not transmitting stable over larger distances (emergency signal was very intermittent due to high waves) plus - and here is the kit thing - the wreck was not visible for the rescuing boat until they were almost on the same wave, being so low on the water. See Pete Goss' account on Dinelli's rescue, it took him hours to locate Dinelly even with a rescue airplane on scene. A kite would have shortened the rescue by a lot, making signal stable and making the liferaft position visible in the water. Without an aircraft helping, it would have been decisive.

    • @user-xy7bt8qg8k
      @user-xy7bt8qg8k 2 роки тому

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    • @kishascape
      @kishascape 4 місяці тому

      Please. 1000nm is child's play even with low power when you got a low frequency radio and solid saltwater ground. You obviously never done anything.

    • @koborkutya7338
      @koborkutya7338 4 місяці тому

      @@kishascape Just out of curiosity, what kind and how long antenna would you deploy in an emergency raft to operate on 500kHz? (you obviously seem proficient in naval emergency radios)

  • @wightwalker2453
    @wightwalker2453 4 роки тому +2

    My dad had one from his RAF national service. It flew very well, until I broke it.

  • @neilfroggycrompton2466
    @neilfroggycrompton2466 8 років тому +2

    +robin mccracken what are the dimensions of this box kite & sail size?,what are the spars made of & how long are they?,so want to build a box kite just like the gibson girl,it looks huge! :)

    • @mikefule330
      @mikefule330 7 років тому +1

      My stepdad had one of these many years ago. Roughly speaking, it stood about waist height when it was on end. The spars were hinged aluminium, a bit like an umbrella. The kite was designed for emergency use: a pilot crashes in the sea, gets in his life raft, and puts the kite up to carry a radio aerial to signal for help. Like a lot of safety equipment, they were designed to be used once, if ever. They flew reliably, but would break down with continued use. Only a few are available now and they are changing hands on Ebay for more than $200. There are plenty of good modern box kites around, but nothing with he character and history of this one.

    • @r.kjlbey7498
      @r.kjlbey7498 10 місяців тому

      I used to have these brand new when I was a kid, my dad acquired them from the military. I can tell you this from memory, the box kite was about 18 inches by 18 in by 42 inches long. The struts were made out of aluminum tubing, the cloth was silk. Silk. They we're practically indestructible. We used to use a fiberglass reinforced string that the military used for tying wiring harnesses, in order to fly it in strong winds. The strain was about 1,000 lb test

  • @MangAsep52
    @MangAsep52 2 роки тому

    Nice kite.salam satu langit from west java Indonesia...

  • @niggle1967
    @niggle1967 10 років тому +2

    Myself and my brother had one back in the 70's too. Can you still get these?

    • @cariadwelshcakes7637
      @cariadwelshcakes7637 9 років тому

      Nigel Heath I don't know if you can get them but I have one in my garage chris

    • @kishascape
      @kishascape Рік тому

      Easily yes if you meant replicas made exactly the same but with better materials. Now if you meant original WW2 then also yes, not as easy but still fairly straightforward i find enough on ebay.

    • @r.kjlbey7498
      @r.kjlbey7498 10 місяців тому

      No. The cloth was made of silk, I haven't had any to make anything from in decades.

  • @Allan_aka_RocKITEman
    @Allan_aka_RocKITEman 2 роки тому

    👍👍

  • @KandiKlover
    @KandiKlover 6 років тому +3

    Damn that thing really took off with little effort. Were you in strong wind?

    • @kishascape
      @kishascape Рік тому +1

      Well were you!?

    • @RobinMcCracken
      @RobinMcCracken  5 місяців тому

      @kishascape these take a little more wind to fly than flat kites or delta wings. They are a cellular kite and have a metal frame. Colorado wind is UP & DOWN and all over the place. Ocean breezes are much more stable!

    • @RobinMcCracken
      @RobinMcCracken  5 місяців тому

      @@kishascape I'm also into radio