Paul's "CAN DO" attitude.
One thing that can be said about Mr. M. He truly understood how to optomize a design. We often refer to it in business as "killing the engineer." That is to stop changing a good design and getting on with working with what you have got. The Gossomer Condor showed how he worked within a buget, and the Gossomer Albatross showed what could happen when the scientist was allowed to run free. The highest compliment I ever saw MacCready paid was in a model aircraft magazine from the UK, don't even remember which one. The time was just after the team had won the second Karamer prize, for the channel crossing. (Which I am sure they thought would take decades rather that a couple years.) The compliment was actually in the form of a cartoon. It showed the Albatross in an unusual attitude pulling out of a loop! The caption reads "I TOLD you not to bet him a 100,000 pounds that he couldn't loop it!" It showed that even in England they recognized that this was a guy that could do almost anything when he put his mind to it. Some people leave little impact on the world, others will be missed. Paul MacCready will be missed, Godspeed.
Bill Jepson