Hang-gliding pioneer Bill Bennett, 73

Bill Bennett, an Australian hang-gliding pioneer who introduced the modern controllable hang glider to the United States in 1969 and, dubbed the "Birdman," helped popularize the fledgling sport through exhibitions and publicity stunts, has died. He was 73.

Mr. Bennett, who at one time owned the world's largest hang-glider manufacturing company, died Oct. 7 in an ultralight accident at Lake Havasu City Airport in Arizona, said Margo Brown, his fiancée.

Brown said Mr. Bennett, who was being recertified in a powered hang glider, was taking off with instructor Drew Reeves when the glider lost power and dived into the ground. Reeves received multiple injuries.

As owner of Delta Wing Kites and Gliders in Van Nuys, Calif., in the 1970s and '80s, Mr. Bennett manufactured hang gliders and related equipment and was instrumental in developing innovative hang-glider concepts and designs.

"Even after he introduced the sport, he brought innovation after innovation that made the sport really what it is today," said Richard Boone, Mr. Bennett's chief designer from 1973 to 1980.

Boone said the basic shape of modern gliders was pioneered by Mr. Bennett and his company, along with innovations including emergency parachutes used by hang-gliding pilots, Mylar-coated sail cloth and numerous improvements related to handling and performance.

Mr. Bennett also co-developed hang-glider flight parks in California and Tennessee.

Boone remembered him as "a charming, funny guy" who was a promoter and an adventurer. "He would always be dreaming up a new stunt," he said.

Indeed, Josh Criss, a hang-glider pilot who interviewed Mr. Bennett for a documentary on the history of hang gliding, said that "probably his most significant role is he helped to make hang gliding a household word."

One of the Australian "Birdman's" best-known stunts in the United States was on the Fourth of July, 1969, when he glided around the Statue of Liberty and landed on Liberty Island.

Born in Korumburra, Australia, Mr. Bennett served in the Australian Navy and worked as a mechanic and boat builder. He also was a professional water skier who was once ranked eighth in the world in barefoot skiing.

In the early 1960s, he and fellow Australian water skier Bill Moyes began experimenting with flat kites — large diamond-shaped kites that were attached to a ski boat by a tow rope.

Later, another Australian water skier and an inventive electronics engineer, John Dickenson, read an article in a magazine about a wing designed by National Aeronautics and Space Administration aeronautical engineer Francis Rogallo.

Rogallo's foldable wing, made of flexible material covered over three tubes spread in a fan shape, was designed as a potential means of returning orbiting space capsules to Earth.

Thinking that Rogallo's wing might be applicable to being pulled behind a ski boat, Dickenson went to work designing an A-frame, weight-shift control system that would allow for free flight. The system would become standard for hang gliders.

In 1966, Dickenson made news with his modified Rogallo wing for his two-hour towed "ski wing" flight on a river on the outskirts of Sydney. Both Bennett and Moyes, according to Criss, heard about it and within a year had not only mastered flying the ski wing but had begun modifying it and selling their own gliders. The two friendly rivals constantly tried outdoing one another by setting new glider records.

Mr. Bennett introduced the Dickenson-modified Rogallo wing to the United States in 1969.

In addition to Brown, Mr. Bennett is survived by sons Gary and Glenn of Australia; daughters Michelle Martin and Nicole McKinney, both of Lake Havasu; stepson Dennis Firestone of Loma Linda, Calif.; brother Raymond and sister Cheryle Winkler, both of Australia; seven grandchildren and one great-granddaughter.