Channelling my inner Carl ...

During the 1970s, three dual-line kites became popular. Everyone knows about Peter Powell kites, some know about Dunford Flying Machines, but the third one is far less known: the Cambridge Combat. It was basically a fighter kite, adapted to dual-line flying. 

Years ago, I managed to get my hands on a Cambridge Combat; they pop up on sites like eBay only very rarely!

Fast forward to very recent, and I saw on eBay a kite listed as 'K-tel Stunt Kite'. Looking at the photos in the listing, it was clear that this was a Cambridge Combat under a different name. So I put in a bid, and got it for very little, being the only bidder.

And here it is, on the ground and flying.

Both the Cambridge Combat and the K-tel Stunt kite are flown from a control bar.

Obviously, the two had to be flown together.

But, given that they're flown from a control bar, I felt I could take this flying together one step further: channel my inner Carl Wright by flying both at the same time!

Carl, eat your heart out! But I have to be honest, and say that I managed to launch first one kite, then the other, keep them in the air together, and just move them back and forth at the top of the wind window a bit. Then one started to dive, and as I tried to stop that dive, the other went the other way, my brain froze and both kites came down ...

I'll leave it to the one and only Carl Wright to fly two (or three) kites properly, although I guess he's never flown a Combat / K-tel pair!