Gibson Girl

Kite Making

Kite Flying

Single Line

Multi Line

Miscellaneous

[?] Subscribe To This Site

The Box Kite, Not The Radio!

This being a kite site, I won't even mention the original Gibson Girl. Instead, let's just perpetuate the kiting myth of the Gibson Girl Box Kite. You see, it was actually the hand-cranked radio transmitter in a sea-rescue kit that was given that name.

During the Second World War, a downed U.S. Navy crew-member would loft the kite to get the aerial up to a working length. If a friendly craft was within range, and picked up the Morse SOS signal, the guys in the sea stood a chance of being rescued. In light winds, the aerial could be lifted with a balloon instead.

A short while after starting this page, and seeing a few photos of the war-time kite, it struck me how the dimensions were so similar to my own MBK Dowel Box.

Standing on end, the historic box kite is just above door-knob height. About as long as the 1.2 meter (4 feet) long MBK Dowel Box. The gap between the upper and lower cells is slightly less than on my design. Even the original metallic spars look quite thin and spindly, as do the 5mm (3/8") dowels on the Dowel Box kite.

However, the Gibson Girl was made of relatively heavy and strong materials and thus was a moderate to strong-wind kite.

Quite a contrast to my original Dowel Box which was capable of floating overhead in a thermal, but hated even fresh wind!

Specs And Other Details

The American version of this historic kite was the latest, and followed the original German and English versions. The Germans actually used a winged Box based on the French Military kite! As usual, the details are spread far and wide over the Web in all sorts of sources. Also as usual, I have thrown it all into a melting-pot and boiled it down to just one info-packed list, for your convenience...

Color: Bright yellow for maximum visibility.
Longitudinal spar length: About 1.2 meters (48 inches)
Cross pieces: Pre-fitted, to be later folded and snapped into position like an umbrella.
Spar material: Aluminum.
Sail material: Silk probably - can anyone correct me on this, or confirm it? The military would have used plenty of silk for parachute manufacture.
Flying line and bridle: Silk probably, since very similar to the sail material apparently. It was even the same bright yellow color.
Cell panel dimensions: About 0.4 meters (along spar) x 0.5 meters (15 inches x 20 inches)
Wind Range: 13 - 64 kph (7 - 40 mph)
Adjustable bridle: Recommended towing point position was marked onto the sail for a low (7 - 20 mph) and a high (15 - 40 mph) wind range.
Military serial number: Kite M-357-A

While looking all this up, I came across some first-hand accounts of guys who actually owe their life to this kite. Fascinating.

And yes, the image below is of an original Gibson Girl kite. It's still in almost as-new condition, after having been packed away for more than half a century. Military enthusiasts like to collect these things!