interested to know how bad it flew - if it was real bad or ok.. or whatever... thx

(i know the science behind foil design by the way - well vaguely..)

I think Bruno's 4.5m bow proto had straight struts with the aerofoil shape given to the canopy by the web of material joining it to the strut, but I'm not entirely sure that was the case.

http://www.inflatablekite.com/sitebow/movies.php

I am not sure I understand your question ?

Do you mean if anyone has made a kite with no profile (foil) at all - just flat ?

If so, I can tell you it flies really lousy with almost no lift, both backstalls and can overshoot easily
Worth nothing IMO.

Then you can of course use a really thick leading edge, with straight struts on the top side of it, to create a profile with more lift.
It will work much better, but still really lousy compared to a curved profile - as the airflow will separate quite early and the kite will either stall violently, OR have huge drag at high AOA's if it reattaches - or most likely both
And the drag will be huge with such a big front tube. But it could work

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If you mean if anyone has designed "normal" kites with straight struts, then yes, it is a thing used by some.

I had a kite from JN with straight struts and webbing up to create the foil - flies excellent

See/read page 18 here f.ex: http://www.jn-kites.com/download/jn-datenblaetter.pdf

Peter

whats a "no foil"

By "no foil" he means a flat profile, no camber at all (as I understood)

PF

That's the way I understood it also.

I think a low AR kite would fly fine with No struts .
B

i am just interested how much a classic foil profile makes a difference in reality, not theory, and wanted to know if a kite existed without one and if someone had flown one. c quads fly well but i guess by their nature the profile ends up slightly classic foil anyway.. I guess i am a little skeptical about how much difference it makes to lift. Many riding styles don't need a kite with much lift at all.