I’m Don Monroe and I witnessed and photographed much of Dr. Paul MacCready’s work with human-powered flight and solar-powered flight in the late 1970s and the early 1980s. I photographed the development and many flights of the Gossamer Condor, which was flown by Bryan Allen in August, 1977 to win the first Kremer Prize for human-powered flight. I also photographed the development and the flight across the English Channel of the Gossamer Albatross on June 12, 1979, which won for MacCready and his team the second Kremer Prize. A 3/4-scale version of the Gossamer Albatross became the Gossamer Penguin, the first successful, manned solar-powered aircraft. This led to the Solar Challenger, a more conventional-looking aircraft, which was flown from near Paris to England, using solar power. Finally, the Bionic Bat was developed and flown. This aircraft was human-powered, but stored energy was also allowed. This aircraft was designed for speed, and was flown in pursuit of another Kremer prize.

Some of this photography has been published in books, magazines, and newspapers around the world. The purpose of this site is to present some images of these aircraft, which may be found to be of some historical interest. Photos in the gallery are shown in low-resolution form.

If you are a writer or editor or other interested individual and would like to see high-resolution pictures of MacCready’s aircraft, please contact me.

For more information on MacCready's Gossamer aircraft, see Morton Grosser's book, Gossamer Odyssey: The Triumph of Human-Powered Flight. I believe the only edition in print is paperback, but if you look hard enough, you may be able to find the hardcover version, published in 1981.

Check out Ben Shedd's Academy Award-winning film, the Flight of the Gossamer Condor. See the links page for a link to Ben Shedd's website and more info on the film.

Please see the links page for some very interesting interviews with Paul MacCready and a talk by him, and for more info on these aircraft and related subjects.

Paul B. MacCready, the father of human-powered flight, died in his sleep during the night of August 28, 2007.