Celebration of Flight with Dr. Paul MacCready
One of my dreams as an RC pilot came true. My club and its president (Sierra Madre RC Modelers—Kathy Martin, president), my church (Altadena United Methodist Church, Altadena, CA), an AMA representative (Jim Scarborough, District X vice-president), and an international leader in aviation, Dr. Paul MacCready, joined together on May 16, 1982 in a rather unique event called a "Celebration of Flight." Its purpose was to bring together members of the modeling community, the scientific community, the religious community, and the public schools to celebrate what human flight has meant to human evolution.
Dr. Paul MacCready, president of AeroVironment in Pasadena, CA, is the inventor of the highly recognized human-powered aircraft the Gossamer Condor and Gossamer Albatross, as well as the Solar Challenger. He was named Engineer of the Century in 1980 by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Inventor of the Year in 1981 by the Association for the Advancement of Invention and Innovation, and received the Kremer Prize for the first successful crossing of the English Channel by a human-powered aircraft. An outstanding civic leader, this "Wright brother" of our decade has been sharing his concerns about teaching creativity in our public schools to help the next generation find peaceful solutions to global problems.
Mixing model airplanes, flying, church, and faith may at first seem strange, but is it really? I was pastor of the Altadena United Methodist Church and am myself an RC sailplane flier, so I do not think so—and I share this report to show how these interests can come together in a meaningful way.
Event program
The Celebration of Flight included:
- A keynote address from Dr. MacCready on "Global Implications of Impractical Aircraft."
- A static display of award-winning recent designs in RC sailplanes.
- Demonstration flying.
- A model hot-air balloon event sponsored by local youth.
- Door prizes of models and equipment to encourage youth and beginning modelers.
- A special church service to observe the importance of flight and the values of model aviation.
The setting for this day of celebration was a typical neighborhood church whose pastor and members worked with MacCready and modelers to give birth to this public event. On May 16 it looked more like a contest field waiting for the CD to hold a pilots' meeting than your usual church. Its cross-beams supported the 16-ft. model of the Gossamer Albatross. Also suspended around it were winning designs from the recent Model and Craft Show (MACS), including:
- Richard Hann's best-of-show White-Tailed Kite (a V-tailed 62 in. span thermal-type RC sailplane).
- R. C. Owens' Zepher Deuce (which won best original thermal sailplane design in the 1981 show).
- Ron Leon's Shadow (64 in. aileron sailplane, winner in the slope/aerobatic category; now being kitted by Fly By Night Models).
- Mitch Schwartzburg's Stealth (a flying-wing sailplane which won best original slope division).
As an RC sailplane modeler and pastor of the church, I originally became interested in sponsoring such an event for very personal reasons: bringing together my vocational and hobby interests in one place at one time. I sensed a need for some major public institution to call attention to the fact that we, as a human race, are somehow different because we have entered the age of flight. In studying the history of flight, it bothered me that so frequently inventions in aviation have been viewed in terms of their usefulness for warfare and defense. I was convinced that human flight in its purest form is a gift from our Creator to be enjoyed and to lift us by calling forth our creativity, ingenuity, and resourcefulness.
Through the AMA and local clubs I have become acquainted with many individuals who share that gut-level thrill or uplift that comes through building a plane and having it fly right. Nothing beats the feeling of freedom, achievement, and self-satisfaction. I believed that people who felt this way could create an awareness in our schools and communities that flight is more than a means of transportation, defense, and warfare. It represents the very spirit of humanity.
With this in mind, I approached Paul MacCready, a public figure known for his achievements in the realms of human and solar-powered flight. At first he was skeptical about the church wanting to step forward and celebrate the values of flight. Once convinced, however, he gave generously of his time and resources for this public Celebration of Flight. His name and visibility were instrumental in gathering people of a variety of interests.
With the support of local modeling clubs, the public schools, model manufacturers, distributors, and local hobby shops, as well as good media coverage, the Celebration of Flight was a success. Festivities began at 10:00 a.m. when Sunday School and public school children, under the direction of their teacher Priscilla Lett, launched a series of hot-air balloons 6–12 ft. in diameter which they had made while studying the history of flight. An art exhibition of sculptural and graphic designs by Russ Miller on various flight themes provided another gathering point. Meanwhile, Montrose Hobby Shop had donated a hand-launched glider to every school-age child in attendance, so the air traffic outside was a swarm of miniature craft!
Indoors, the church's special celebration service included prayers, hymns, and readings on flight themes that had been written for the occasion. All the manufacturers, modelers with winning designs, and hobby shop owners were introduced. Jim Scarborough brought greetings on behalf of the AMA and noted that this was a unique and fitting occasion for fellow modelers to meet and share with non-modelers in the larger community. He pointed out the goals of reliability, safety, and good citizenship that the AMA promotes.
Sermon: "Living at the Right Altitude"
In my sermon that morning, entitled "Living at the Right Altitude," I drew upon Bryan Allen's experience during the historic crossing of the English Channel by the Gossamer Albatross on June 12, 1979. As he raised the craft from one to 15 feet altitude so that it could be hooked and drawn down, he found flying at that higher altitude was much easier and more efficient. I suggested his experience might serve as a parable for our lives.
Many passages in the Bible tell us we are created to live at a higher, more efficient level than we normally live at. The prophet Isaiah wrote that we could rise up with wings like eagles, and Jesus himself was said to have promised that when he was lifted up he would, in turn, provide a lift for all of us. This lift is reliable and constant and is manifested when we are creative, when we go beyond our former limits, and when our planes become an extension of our desire to be free of forces that would pull us down. Realizing the need to live at a higher altitude helps us avoid a global abort due to nuclear war or famine. Like Bryan Allen, each of us can stand to rise a bit higher, exceed past limits, and, even through our modeling, express a concern for peace and the common good. This expresses more of the freeing creativity we were made to have.
Following the celebration service, Bob Martin of Bob Martin RC Models commented on the designs that had won in the Model and Craft Show contest he sponsored to encourage creativity and innovation. He noted that the reason he and others are in their line of work is to see people build and fly something that adds happiness and pleasure to their living. "People express their creativity in many ways," he said. "Modeling is one of those ways that we create something that makes a statement about ourselves and our values."
Dr. MacCready's remarks
Many people came to hear Paul MacCready speak about modeling and some of the larger lessons he learned from his inventions, which he referred to as "impractical aircraft." He began:
"In 1976, I began with family and friends on a fantastic journey featuring some odd, very impractical airplanes. These are not very useful... but they do have considerable value as symbols. All the people involved got to thinking in some different ways. They are thinking differently now than when the projects began."
MacCready went on to emphasize the role of model airplanes in this bigger picture:
"... it is very appropriate today to start with a comment on the role of model airplanes in this bigger picture. You'd really be amazed, when you think about it, what wonderful things model airplanes are as they teach you a lot... they stimulate you to do things. It's a magnificent hobby. It's fun. It stretches the mind. A child or grown-up designs a flying model airplane, builds it, flies it, breaks it, repairs it, modifies it, loses it, builds another, and so on.
"He takes responsibility and learns to accomplish a lot of things. He learns about nature, the atmosphere; he understands a little more about birds and also about engineering, and in general he really grows because of it. It's not some weird hobby, but it's a wonderful slice of life. It also deals with reality... both models and larger aviation somehow connect you with greater issues."
MacCready explained how, in the summer of 1976, he conceived of the first successful human-powered aircraft that later became the Gossamer Condor. "The idea was very simple. Just make a large, light plane; very large and very light. And the other part of the idea was that it was possible to make such a large, light plane by using model airplane techniques from indoor models that I had played with many years before."
He observed that others in the quest for successful human-powered flight had too many blinders on. His team succeeded because of its ability to break through and conceive of novel ways to build and lighten basic structural designs. Therein lay the value of these craft as symbols: if in one area of life, say aviation and modeling, we can learn creative solutions to old problems, those same thinking skills can be applied to solving international conflicts with political rather than military solutions, to ecological problems where we need to conserve more energy by using less (as exemplified in the Solar Challenger), and to exploring alternative energy sources.
After MacCready's probing address, many sailplane kits were given away as door prizes. Michelle Hann of Orange, CA was first to receive a Goldberg Models Gentle Lady and Cannon RC system. It was pleasing to see that another young lady was showing interest in flying. That was fitting, because the following year our first woman astronaut was to fly the Columbia Space Shuttle.
The celebration concluded indoors with the showing of the film of the Albatross' crossing of the English Channel. After lunch, Dr. MacCready was guest of the sailplane pilots at their local hill slope site in Highland Park. It was a beautiful day overlooking Los Angeles, and the lift was good enough for some impressive demonstrations of aerobatics and high-performance sailplane flying. This part of the day was coordinated by members of the Sierra Madre RC Modelers, and everyone present seemed to have a good time. Paul MacCready thanked them for the opportunity of being integrated into their end of aviation.
The day ended so perfectly that the only mid-air collision—one between a Hobby Hawk and a Savage—saw both planes rebound and fly unharmed. The award-winning White-Tailed Kite took to the air and showed good flight characteristics as a new V-tailed floater.
All in all, the Celebration of Flight with Paul MacCready was a wonderful time of building community relations between modelers, schools, and church. It is my hope that many of you in other areas will use your creativity in planning similar public celebrations to honor the values of human flight and modeling. There are helpful things we have learned from organizing and publicizing ours—we would be more than happy to assist you with yours.
(The author is an active RC sailplane modeler, completing instruction for a full-size sailplane license; and has now been appointed as the new pastor of University United Methodist Church in Redlands, CA.)
Transcribed from original scans by AI. Minor OCR errors may remain.
