A life of hang-gliding published in 'The Wings of Men'

Robert Combs in Belize with his trike in the background. (Photo provided)

Combs in flight above Mount Aeneas in the Jewel Basin area east of Kalispell. Elevation is 7,510 feet. (Photo provided)

Combs flying his trike above the Flathead River. (Photo provided)

The storyboard from the first Wrigley's commercial, shot in Hawaii, is on the back of "The Wings of Men" by Robert Combs. (Photo provided)

Flying the NaPali coast, Kauai, Hawaii. (Courtesy photo)

Hang gliding the hills above the west lakeshore of Flathead Lake in 1978. (Courtesy photo)

Robert and son Timothy on the Water Glider at Lake Havasu, Arizona in 2002. (Courtesy photo)

Flying tandem in Makapuú, Hawaii. (Courtesy photo)

Author Robert Combs, right, with Lithuanian photographer, Marius Jovaisa, Belize Central America. (Courtesy photo)

by KELSEY EVANS
Daily Inter Lake | September 1, 2024 12:00 AM

Newly published “The Wings of Men” dives into 50 years of flying hang gliders and light sport trikes around the world.

A third-generation Montanan, author Robert Combs was born in Whitefish in 1947 and now lives in Eureka with his wife Darlene Cercil.

“It’s a unique kind of aviation and sport. We jump off the mountains and fly up and down,” Combs said. “I tried to write the book in a way that would be interesting to all people, including pilots.”

“We, mere mortals on the ground, could only gaze in awe as we watched the early hang-gliding enthusiasts. These pioneers left fears behind to satisfy a deep and somewhat transfixing desire to fly like birds,” wrote Cercil in an introduction to the book.

In the Flathead Valley, “they climbed steep mountains, bravely walked to the rocky edge of cliffs, hooked into their gliders and ... remarkably ... jumped off with nothing more than sailcloth held together by thin aluminum tubes,” Cercil wrote.

Combs said a highlight of his career was being selected as the star of a series of Wrigley's Gum commercials in the late 1970s and early 80s.

“The mountains I flew off in Mount Cook, New Zealand for the second Wrigley’s commercial were amazing. And the residuals from the success of the commercial allowed me to travel all over the world to compete,” Combs said.

After the commercials, Combs’ world travels took off.

In Rio, Combs flew around the famous Christo Statue overlooking Sugarloaf Mountain and the Ipanema and Copacabana beaches. From Rio he flew to Hong Kong, Thailand, India, and then to Germany to start his European camping and flying adventures.

Then he purchased a camper that he could strap his gliders to the top, which he took to the Bavarian Alps.

He flew over Neuschwanstein Castle, which is believed to be the inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle in Disneyland. He then traveled to Ireland, crossing the sea with his camper loaded onto a hovercraft ferry.

“He said he could look down and see tourists milling around the courtyard. They would look up in utter astonishment and wave to the man in the sky ... and the sea cliffs of Ireland were peaceful. He could see the Irish farmers looking up at him,” Cercil said.

Combs then became an entrepreneur.

“I created a hang-gliding tow boat that would allow me to mount the glider on the back of the boat and then launch into the sky when the boat reached speed,” Combs said.

Robert then started looking into motorized hang gliders nicknamed "trikes" and moved to Kauai, Hawaii to start a company called Ultralight Adventures.

Copies of “The Wings of Men'' are for sale at the Bad Rock Books in Columbia Falls and at The Bookshelf in Kalispell. The book is also available through Amazon.