Airwave Gliders
 | |
| Privately held company | |
| Industry | Aerospace |
| Fate | Out of business |
| Founded | 1979 |
| Defunct | circa 2009 |
| Headquarters | Fulpmes, Austria |
Key people | Markus Villinger, Bruce Goldsmith |
| Products | Hang gliders, paragliders |
| Website |
www |
Airwave Gliders was an Austrian aircraft manufacturer based in Fulpmes. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of hang gliders and paragliders.[1]
The company was founded in 1979 and went out of business circa 2009.[2][3] The Airwave website still existed in 2016, but it just refers visitors to Bruce Goldsmith Design for support for Airwave products.[4]
The company produced a wide range of aircraft including Bruce Goldsmith paraglider designs, such as the Airwave Magic, Scenic, Sport, Ten and the Wave.[1]
History
Airwave was formed in 1979 in the United Kingdom as a hang glider manufacturer. Its early designs were flown by the leading British hang glider pilots to many World Hang Gliding Championships.
Bruce Goldsmith started the paragliding division of the company's business in 1989. In 1997 John Pendry took first place in the World Paragliding Championships with an Airwave paraglider. Goldsmith later left Airwave to work for other companies.[1][3]
In November 1999, Markus Villinger bought the company and moved it to the Stubaital, Austria, located in the Central Eastern Alps region. He had previously run Wills Wing Europe, the distributor for Wills Wing hang gliders. Villinger persuaded Goldsmith to return to Airwave in May 2000 and his paraglider designs were produced by subcontractors. Goldsmith worked from his home in Gréolières, France, which has a climate that permits year-round paraglider flight. Villinger eventually sold the company and went into the field of real estate development instead.[3]
Villinger later bought the company back and relocated it to Fulpmes, where he produced his own hang glider designs and Goldsmith's paraglider designs.[3]
By 2008 company had ceased production of its own hang glider designs and became an importer of Wills Wing hang gliders, while continuing to have paragliders manufacturered by contractors.[5] It seems to have gone out of business about 2009 as part of the Great Recession.[2]
As of 2016 Goldsmith was still providing technical support and spares for Airwave gliders, though his new company Bruce Goldsmith Design.[4]
Aircraft
Summary of aircraft built by Airwave Gliders:[6]
- Paragliders
- Airwave Alpine Extreme
- Airwave Burn
- Airwave Gecko
- Airwave Kiss
- Airwave Magic
- Airwave Mustang
- Airwave Scenic
- Airwave Slingshot
- Airwave Sport
- Airwave Ten
- Airwave Wave
References
- 1 2 3 Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04, page 12. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster UK, 2003. ISSN 1368-485X
- 1 2 "Internet Archive Wayback Machine". archive.org. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
- 1 2 3 4 "company". airwave-gliders.com. Archived from the original on 15 February 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
- 1 2 Experta Evolution. "Airwave". airwave-gliders.com. Archived from the original on 15 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
- ↑ "hanggliders". airwave-gliders.com. Archived from the original on 31 January 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
- ↑ "paragliders". airwave-gliders.com. Archived from the original on 31 January 2008. Retrieved 19 March 2016.