The Granger Collection 
Genesis of the 
Gossamer Condor 
A careful look at soaring birds suggested an innovative 
path toward human-powered flight 
by Morton Grosser 
Adapted from Gossamer Odyssey: The Triumph of Human-powered Flight, by Dr. Morton Grosser, 
to be published in April by Houghton Mifflin Company. Copyright © 1981 by Dr. Morton Grosser. 
Aviation history was made in August 1977 when a fragile aircraft 
called the Gossamer Condor won the £50,000 Kremer Prize for human- 
powered flight, successfully negotiating a figure-eight course that de- 
manded both maneuverability and sustained flight. Less than two years 
later, the team that built the Condor captured the headlines again 
with the Gossamer Albatross, an improved human-powered airplane 
that flew across the English Channel. This second airplane will be 
exhibited at the American Museum of Natural History from March 
4 to May 31. 
Tracing the beginnings of the Gos- 
samer Condor is like spiraling down 
through a thermal, diving against the 
rising column of air to the small circle 
of warm sand where a minimal twist 
of wind started the whole thing. For 
Paul MacCready the circle of sand 
was probably on a beach in the town 
of Nokomis, Florida, in July of 1976. 
The MacCreadys took a family va- 
cation that summer, driving from Pas- 
adena to the east coast of the United 
States and back in a blue-and-white 
GMC van. Their route went through 
White Sands National Monument and 
Carlsbad, New Mexico, and across the 
southern part of the country. For the 
first time in many years Paul Mac- 
Cready felt relaxed enough to forget 
his business problems and let his mind 
float. 
One of the subjects that floated up 
repeatedly was ultralight aircraft. 
MacCready had just written an article 
on hang gliders, titled “Developments 
in Ultralight Gliding,” and the subject 
was on his mind. Although his main 
professional activity was in meteor- 
ology, aviation was his passion. When 
still a boy in Connecticut, MacCready 
had designed and built trophy-winning 
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