The Art of Kite Flying (1430–1929) | Hacker News Reader

The Art of Kite Flying (1430–1929)

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29 pointsbenbreen11 comments

As seen in the 1969 film The Red Tent set in 1928, kites have also been used for lifting antennas into the air. https://youtu.be/b08-LFcZ98M?si=oAZF9203e6CGotYX&t=3327

We used to fight kites when I was a kid. Bamboo frame, shield kites, really maneuverable. We’d line the first 20m of string with a mix of glue and ground glass.

If a kite was cut loose, whoever caught it could keep it, so naturally everyone ran after a free floating kite.

If you were really good you could entangle the freed kite in your kite tail or string and reel it in.

this reminded me of my childhood.

Can be very dangerous: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-37115032

Actually, a large kite (I know fighters are not large) can be dangerous without glass on the string.

i barely see kites on my neighbor nowadays but when i was a teen, we had a group that never fought with each other and our signature against other kites nearby was (translated directly) to shout "fall out thrash!" when we cut/captured them. some got pretty mad at us. we had various techniques like bringing their kite closer to the ground and then someone throwing a line with a stone at the end over their line, so we could capture it etc. if i'm not mistaken we even slingshot some kites as a way of disabling. my record was to stay up after 8 won battles. that day i felt heroic hahaha

From Della Portia’s 1560 Natural Magic— a description of explosive kites, kites for lofting animals and the prediction of human flight: https://sourcelibrary.org/book/natural-magic-or-on-the-mirac...

IMHO, you can't do better than The Penguin Book Of Kites: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Penguin-Book-Kites-Original/dp/0140...

Covers history, and building kites using all sorts of easily available materials.

you can get some amazing kites on aliexpress these days, the (innovative to me) reel winder took the last annoyance of kite flying out of the equation and the kids love them. I seems like the rigging from flying wings is the big innovation that could have been solved(discovered?) years ago but was not...

Can you recommend some specific ones?

I guess "Orca Kite" for beginner/with kids but if you want to have fun get a small flying wing, aka "kite surfing trainer"

Emmakites on aliexpress is a well recommended seller in the kite community

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