It all started back when I was 3,
it was 1968 and we were on our way to the moon. My father
owned a Jack and Jill grocery store in Cooperstown,
North Dakota. The Green Giant vegetable company was
giving away premiums when you would buy 3 cans of vegetables
of their brand. The premium was a paper kite with the
Jolly Green Giant printed on the front. One day my dad
brought one home for me. I ran with that kite all around
the block. I told my dad I was going to fly that kite
up to the moon. My dad told me, "Son, you are going
to need a lot of string." In
the seventies growing up I continued to learn more
about kites and I experimented building my own kites
and more than 20 rockets, some 2 and 3 stages. In
the early 80's I built several electric balsa wood
gliders. Sometimes it would take 6 months to build
them and then they would crash on the first flight.
So when I was 18 I seriously got back into kites,
especially Box Kites and Parafoils.
My senior year in high school
I went looking for high quality kites to buy and I
could not find any. So, I decided I would design and
sell the kites that I made. On April 12th, 1983 WindMueller
Kites was born.
In 1985 at the age of 20, I saw
a news clip on a man from California who was building
a flying car that could take off and land vertically.
I knew back then that this was what I wanted to do,
but I also knew it would take a lot of money.
So in 1986 I became a Licensed Real Estate Agent.
In August of 1987 I became a Licenced Stock Broker.
I learned all I could about bringing companies public
and raising money.
Between 1987 and 1988 on several
occasions when I went flying kites, people would come
up to me and ask if I knew Dom Jalbert; The inventor
of the Parafoil. At the age of 23 on 8-8-88 I met
the man I had heard so much about. Since he was trying
to retire, over the next 2 1/2 years, I slowly bought
his supplies and equipment. In January of 1991 we
began work on an highly advanced retractable wing
for the Paracar 1204, which could be deployed for
lifting the Paracar for forward flight. Five months
later he died at the age of 86.
Since then I have designed and
tested over 100 different types of parafoils for performance
and stability for the Paracar 1204. It is now 1999,
I hope to have a working prototype by 2003/04. The
pursuit continues. |