Considerable correspondence was held with many inventors long since gone, and much of this material, never before in print, appears here for the first time. Rather its stands as a challenge for the future, where many more astounding flights under muscular power are surely in store for adventurous souls who still long to fly with the freedom of the birds. While telling the human side of the story, it also has detailed drawings of both aircraft and includes lots of construction details. The first few paragraphs cover a brief history of human powered flight. The Story of Paul B. MacCready and his airplane, the Gossamer Condor.
Description follows soon.
Just received my copy of Human-powered Vehicles, Abbott and Wilson, 1995. What a wonderful summary of the history, technology, and future of land, water, and air HPVs. This is a must-have book for anyone who subscribes to this newsgroup. It is full of details on the technical development of bicycles, with many figures and charts showing significant designs for all parts of the vehicles. The first three chapters deal with human power in history and theory, complete with physiological basis and data.