Paul MacCready

(Photos are of Blaine Rawdon working on MacCready projects)

I read today that Paul MacCready Jr., known as the "father of human-powered flight," for designing the first aircraft to make a sustained, controlled flight powered solely by a human, has died. He was 81. I had the opportunity to hear Paul at the San Mateo Unitarian Church several years ago, and after the service he demonstrated several very small airplanes, one of which was literally made of matchsticks and cellophane. It was powered by a rubber band and fluttered like a bat around the church auditorium. Everyone wondered why this marvelous machine wasn't available at the local hobby shop, but Paul said it was too delicate for production. As I recall his comments were inspirational from the standpoint of celebrating the power of human innovation, but paradoxically quite pessimistic about the outlook for mankind and our world. When I was looking for photos of the Gossamer Condor and the Gossamer Albatross, I came across these photos of Blaine Rawdon working on the Gossamer Penguin and the Solar Challenger, two of MacCready's projects. Both photos are from 1980. While in St. Louis this summer I heard from Dad that Blaine had undergone very painful surgery for cancer of the jaw. I hope he is doing well. More wonderful pictures of MacCready projects are Here. More on Blaine's Gossamer work Here