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Wills Wing
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Wills Wing, Inc is an aircraft manufacturer originally based in Orange, California. The company specializes in the design and manufacture of hang gliders in the form of ready-to-fly aircraft, plus hang glider harnesses and accessories.[1][failed verification][2]
Key Information
The company was founded in 1973 by brothers Bob and Chris Wills.[3]
The company sells a line of hang gliders including training and beginner gliders, intermediate and competition wings.[2]
History
[edit]
The company was formed as Sport Kites, Inc in 1973 and started doing business under the name Wills Wing in 1978.[4][3]
In 1973 Chris Wills took first place and Bob Wills won second place in the first US National Hang Gliding Championships. The next year Bob Wills won first place and Chris Wills took second place at the second US Nationals.[4][3]
Chris and Bob Wills' brother, Eric Wills, was killed in a hang gliding accident in 1974.[5][6]
Chris Wills left the company in 1976 to attend medical school and pursue a career as a physician. Bob Wills was killed in a hang gliding accident while making a Jeep commercial on 24 June 1977. The majority ownership of the company was then sold to Rob Kells, Linda and Mike Meier and Steve Pearson.[citation needed]
By 1984 the company had become the largest hang glider manufacturer in North America and then later in the world.[4][3]
A Wills Wing XC-185 hang glider is on display at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum, in Ottawa, while another Wills Wing glider is in the US Southwest Soaring Museum in Moriarty, New Mexico.[4][7]
In 2012 Wills Wing Team Pilot Dustin Martin set a new world record for Cross Country Open Distance in a Hang Glider of 475 miles flying a Wills Wing T2C 144.[8]
Opening of new production facility in Valle de Bravo, Mexico
[edit]In June, 2021 Wills Wing announced that they would be winding down operations at their Orange facility with a successor entity to be formed in Valle de Bravo, Mexico.[9] Valle de Bravo is home to one of the most consistent flying sites in the world, and there is a strong local community of hang gliding pilots. By the end of the year, gliders produced from the new facility were being test flown, and in the following year, shipments were re-established to Wills Wing's network of distributors and dealers.[10] By the end of 2024, more than 500 new gliders had been manufactured at the Valle de Bravo facility.[11]
In June, 2025, the business announced an investment led by Italian based investor, Alistair Jeffery. Mr Jeffery joins Rudy and Jose Gotes and Chris Wills as major shareholders of the business.[12]
Aircraft
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List of aircraft built by Wills Wing:
Hang gliders
[edit]Current production
[edit]Out of production
[edit]- Wills Wing Alpha (Original)
- Wills Wing Attack Duck
- Wills Wing Condor
- Wills Wing Duck
- Wills Wing Fusion
- Wills Wing Harrier
- Wills Wing HP
- Wills Wing HP AT
- Wills Wing Omega
- Wills Wing Omni
- Wills Wing RamAir
- Wills Wing Raven
- Wills Wing Skyhawk
- Wills Wing Spectrum
- Wills Wing Sport
- Wills Wing Sport American
- Wills Wing Sport AT
- Wills Wing Sport 2
- Wills Wing SST
- Wills Wing Super Sport
- Wills Wing Talon
- Wills Wing Ultra Sport
- Wills Wing XC
- Wills Wing Eagle
Paragliders
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "California Secretary of State Business Search - Sport Kites, Inc". California Secretary of State - Business Search. 3 February 2025.
- ^ a b Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04, page 47. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster UK, 2003. ISSN 1368-485X
- ^ a b c d Mike Meier. "A Brief History of Hang Gliding, Paragliding and Wills Wing". Wills Wing. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ^ a b c d "Wills Wing XC-185 - Canada Aviation and Space Museum". techno-science.ca. Archived from the original on 3 July 2016. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ^ Wills, Maralys and Chris Wills (1992), Wings Like Eagles, Longstreet Press, Marietta, Georgia, United States. ISBN 1-56352-025-7
- ^ "Soaring Above the Tragedy : Santa Ana Author Who Lost 2 Children in Hang-Gliding Accidents Recounts Her Family's Disasters and Triumphs". LA Times. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ^ US Southwest Soaring Museum (2010). "Sailplanes, Hang Gliders & Motor Gliders". Archived from the original on 20 November 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2016.
- ^ Sulzberger, A. G. (12 January 2013). "Two Men. One Sky. The Silent Realization of a Purer Form of Flight". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 June 2018.
- ^ Steven Pearson, Mike and Linda Meier, Chris Wills (8 June 2021). "The Future of Wills Wing". Wills Wing. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ "Guide to Valle de Bravo, Mexico". Cross Country Magazine (February, 2021). 18 February 2021.
- ^ "Wills Wing update". Skywings - the Magazine of the British Hang Gliding and Paragliding Association, December 2024 (428): 7. December 2024.
- ^ Alistair Jeffery (24 May 2025). "Sports aviation pioneer, Wills Wing, announces major investment". Wills Wing. Retrieved 24 May 2025.
External links
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