How a WWII Plane Revolutionized Surfing

The first surfboards were made from woods that were heavy and unwieldy. Enter WWII, when the need for ever-lighter planes helped spur the creation of balsa wood structures blended with fiberglass, a perfect material for surfboards. Now common, foam boards, called foamies, also required technological innovation and three years of experimentation to get the foam to the ideal consistency for a surfboard. Now, the first two foam surfboards reside in a museum.