The Wills Wing Talon is an American

high-wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing config ...

, single-place,

hang glider Hang gliding is an air sport or recreational activity in which a pilot flies a light, non-motorised, fixed-wing heavier-than-air aircraft called a hang glider. Most modern hang gliders are made of an aluminium alloy or composite frame covered ...

that was designed and produced by

Wills Wing 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.Bertrand, ...

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...

in the early 2000s. Now out of production, when it was available the aircraft was supplied complete and ready-to-fly.Bertrand, Noel; Rene Coulon; et al: ''World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2003-04'', page 50. Pagefast Ltd, Lancaster Oklahoma, 2003.

Design and development

The Talon was designed as competition-level glider. It is made from

aluminum Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

tubing, with the double-surface wing covered in

Dacron Polyethylene terephthalate (or poly(ethylene terephthalate), PET, PETE, or the obsolete PETP or PET-P), is the most common thermoplastic polymer resin of the polyester family and is used in fibres for clothing, containers for liquids and foods ...

sailcloth. Its wing is a topless design, lacking upper rigging and the supporting king post. The nose angle is 132°. The models are each named for their wing area in square feet.

Operational history

The Talon series placed highly in the 2002 competition season.

Variants

;Talon 140 :Small-sized model for lighter pilots. Its span wing has a wing area of and the

aspect ratio The aspect ratio of a geometry, geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the aspect ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side—the ratio of width to height, when the rectangl ...

is 7.3:1. The pilot hook-in weight range is . The glider model is HGMA certified. ;Talon 150 :Mid-sized model for medium-weight pilots. Its span wing has a wing area of and the

is 7.5:1. The pilot hook-in weight range is . The glider model is HGMA certified. ;Talon 160 :Large-sized model for heavier pilots. Its span wing has a wing area of and the

is 7.2:1. The pilot hook-in weight range is . ;Talon 2002 140 :Small-sized model for lighter pilots. Its wing has an area of . The glider model is HGMA certified. ;Talon 2002 150 :Mid-sized model for medium-weight pilots. Its wing has an area of . The glider model is HGMA certified.

Specifications (Talon 140)

References

External links

Photo of a Talon in flight
{{Wills Wing aircraft

Talon Talon or talons may refer to: Science and technology * Talon (anatomy), the claw of a bird of prey * TALON (database), a database maintained by the US Air Force * Brodifacoum, a rodenticide, also known as the brand Talon * an anti-vehicle-ramming ...

Hang gliders