Just a few days ago I read on Facebook where my granddaughter, a precocious three year old, and her dad were attempting to fly their first kite together. According to the story as told by her dad, it was a typical Charley Brown kite flying session. The kite ended up in a tree.
When I was a child there were two types of kites, or at least the only two I knew of. One was the well known diamond shaped kite and the other was the box kite so named because it resembled a box when assembled and flown. The box kite was more expensive and harder to fly so most of us kids flew the diamond kite.
We could buy these diamond kites for about a dime and all we would have to add would be string and something for a tail, usually pieces of rags that we would cut up and tie to a string to hang on the tail. Hours would be spent in a park or out in a field with friends building and flying these kites. We actually learned to do some maneuvering tricks with them such as dives and loops.
One of our favorite games was to build and fly 'fighter kites'. It went something like this. We would take some glass, usually an old pop bottle, and using a hammer or large rock we would break it up into a very fine powder. We would then put glue on about 10 to 30 feet of the kite string from just a few feet below to where it attached to the kite. While the glue was still wet we would cover the string with the crushed glass and then set it aside and let it dry. Once the glue/glass mixture dried, we would tie the clean end on to a stick and wind the string up on that stick. The other end that had the glue/glass mixture we would attach to the kite.
This is where the fun would begin. We would all get our 'fighter kites' airborne and then maneuver them in such a way where we could cross strings with another kite. The idea was to cross the part of the string that had the glue/glass mixture and saw the string back and forth until you cut through the string on your opponents kite. If you were successful then you would attack another kite. This would go on until only one kite was left flying. That person would be the winner. Or not, because quite often the winner was the kite, as we would often get them so tangled up that both would end up grounded.
It was a lot of fun. Although most of us, probably all of us, at some time or other ended up with cuts on our hands and fingers resulting from handling broken glass. Tweezers and band-aids were a part of our kite flying took kit.
Flying kites can be a lot of fun but it can also be dangerous if one does not use care. We all remember reading about Ben Franklin who flew a kite in an electrical storm to complete an experiment. He was lucky he wasn't killed. In my case, a friend was killed in Chico, CA when his kite got tangled up in a power line. And in another case a father and his son were flying a kite near Santa Barbara, CA when their kite hit a power line, caught on fire, and started a brush fire that, before it was put out, was responsible for the destruction of over 200 homes. In another case, where no harm occurred, a kid was flying a kite near a small airport when the string got tangled up in a landing aircraft.
Caution is definitely necessary when flying kites. But sometimes, even using caution, a little harmless fun can result in getting into trouble as happened to me back in 1968.
In the Navy I was stationed on the aircraft carrier USS Shangri La (CVA-38). It was during my first cruise in the Mediterranean when several of us decided to build a kite and fly it off the fantail (back of the ship). So, using newspaper, wood dowels, glue, string, and staples we put together this rather large diamond kite about 10 feet high. It was a Sunday afternoon and we were in a down period. By that I mean that there weren't any air operations or any other operations planned on board that day. Sailors were resting, sunbathing, playing basketball, etc. We decided to take this time to fly our kite.
The ship was moving along at about 15 knots so it was not hard to get the kite up and flying. Here we are, sitting on the back of the ship, flying our kite, laughing and having a good old time when the Chief Master At Arms and a few of his sidekicks came trotting back to where we were, confiscated our kite, string, and us. We were all hauled before the captain who wanted to know what we were doing. It seems that on another ship in our group, an Admiral saw our kite and called the captain to ask what we were towing behind us. Anyway, all ended good. We had our kite confiscated, was told to never do it again, and sent on our way. Leave it to an old stick in the mud Admiral to spoil our fun.
That was 40 some odd years ago and, I believe, that was the last time that I have flown a kite. I do remember watching people fly kites along the beach in Southern California. but flying kites were something that my kids were never interested in doing or maybe I just didn't take the time to make them interested. If that is so; shame on me.
I think, though, that I just might be able to convince my grandchildren to go kite flying. I have been told numerous times in my life to go fly a kite.
So I believe that I will do just that. I am going to go and get one of those fancy kites and learn to fly it. Yup, I am going to 'go fly a kite'.
When I was a child there were two types of kites, or at least the only two I knew of. One was the well known diamond shaped kite and the other was the box kite so named because it resembled a box when assembled and flown. The box kite was more expensive and harder to fly so most of us kids flew the diamond kite. We could buy these diamond kites for about a dime and all we would have to add would be string and something for a tail, usually pieces of rags that we would cut up and tie to a string to hang on the tail. Hours would be spent in a park or out in a field with friends building and flying these kites. We actually learned to do some maneuvering tricks with them such as dives and loops. One of our favorite games was to build and fly 'fighter kites'. It went something like this. We would take some glass, usually an old pop bottle, and using a hammer or large rock we would break it up into a very fine powder. We would then put glue on about 10 to 30 feet of the kite string from just a few feet below to where it attached to the kite. While the glue was still wet we would cover the string with the crushed glass and then set it aside and let it dry. Once the glue/glass mixture dried, we would tie the clean end on to a stick and wind the string up on that stick. The other end that had the glue/glass mixture we would attach to the kite.
This is where the fun would begin. We would all get our 'fighter kites' airborne and then maneuver them in such a way where we could cross strings with another kite. The idea was to cross the part of the string that had the glue/glass mixture and saw the string back and forth until you cut through the string on your opponents kite. If you were successful then you would attack another kite. This would go on until only one kite was left flying. That person would be the winner. Or not, because quite often the winner was the kite, as we would often get them so tangled up that both would end up grounded.
It was a lot of fun. Although most of us, probably all of us, at some time or other ended up with cuts on our hands and fingers resulting from handling broken glass. Tweezers and band-aids were a part of our kite flying took kit.
Flying kites can be a lot of fun but it can also be dangerous if one does not use care. We all remember reading about Ben Franklin who flew a kite in an electrical storm to complete an experiment. He was lucky he wasn't killed. In my case, a friend was killed in Chico, CA when his kite got tangled up in a power line. And in another case a father and his son were flying a kite near Santa Barbara, CA when their kite hit a power line, caught on fire, and started a brush fire that, before it was put out, was responsible for the destruction of over 200 homes. In another case, where no harm occurred, a kid was flying a kite near a small airport when the string got tangled up in a landing aircraft.
Caution is definitely necessary when flying kites. But sometimes, even using caution, a little harmless fun can result in getting into trouble as happened to me back in 1968.
In the Navy I was stationed on the aircraft carrier USS Shangri La (CVA-38). It was during my first cruise in the Mediterranean when several of us decided to build a kite and fly it off the fantail (back of the ship). So, using newspaper, wood dowels, glue, string, and staples we put together this rather large diamond kite about 10 feet high. It was a Sunday afternoon and we were in a down period. By that I mean that there weren't any air operations or any other operations planned on board that day. Sailors were resting, sunbathing, playing basketball, etc. We decided to take this time to fly our kite.
The ship was moving along at about 15 knots so it was not hard to get the kite up and flying. Here we are, sitting on the back of the ship, flying our kite, laughing and having a good old time when the Chief Master At Arms and a few of his sidekicks came trotting back to where we were, confiscated our kite, string, and us. We were all hauled before the captain who wanted to know what we were doing. It seems that on another ship in our group, an Admiral saw our kite and called the captain to ask what we were towing behind us. Anyway, all ended good. We had our kite confiscated, was told to never do it again, and sent on our way. Leave it to an old stick in the mud Admiral to spoil our fun.
That was 40 some odd years ago and, I believe, that was the last time that I have flown a kite. I do remember watching people fly kites along the beach in Southern California. but flying kites were something that my kids were never interested in doing or maybe I just didn't take the time to make them interested. If that is so; shame on me.
I think, though, that I just might be able to convince my grandchildren to go kite flying. I have been told numerous times in my life to go fly a kite.
So I believe that I will do just that. I am going to go and get one of those fancy kites and learn to fly it. Yup, I am going to 'go fly a kite'.
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