Dr. MacCready received a Bachelor of Science in physics from Yale University in 1947, and a Master's degree in physics and a Ph.D. in aeronautics from the California Institute of Technology (1952).
He was born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1925. During his adolescence he was a serious model airplane enthusiast, who set many records for experimental craft.
At age 16, he soloed in powered planes.
In World War II, he flew in the U.S. Navy flight training program.
His interest in flight grew to include gliders.
He won the 1948, 1949 and 1953 U.S. National Soaring Championships, pioneered high-altitude wave soaring in the United States; and in 1947 was the first American in 14 years to establish an international soaring record.
He represented the United States at contests in Europe four times, becoming International Champion in France in 1956, the first American to achieve this goal.
During the decade 1946-56, MacCready worked on sailplane development, soaring techniques, meteorology, and invented the Speed Ring Airspeed Selector that is used by glider pilots worldwide to select the optimum flight speed between thermals (now commonly called the “MacCready Speed”).
Concurrently, in 1950-51 he managed a weather modification program in Arizona.
He founded Meteorology Research Inc., that became a leading firm in weather modification and atmospheric science research.
He pioneered the use of small instrumented aircraft to study storm interiors and performed many of the piloting duties.
In 1971, MacCready founded AeroVironment, Inc., a diversified company headquartered in Monrovia, California.
The company provides services, developments, and products in the fields of alternative energy, power electronics, and energy efficient vehicles for operation on land and in air and water.
MacCready became internationally known in 1977 as the "father of human-powered flight" when his Gossamer Condor made the first sustained, controlled flight by a heavier-than-air craft powered solely by its pilot's muscles.
Two years later, the Gossamer Albatross, another 70-pound craft with a 96-foot wingspan that achieved a human-powered flight across the English Channel.
That flight, made by "pilot-engine" Bryan Allen, took almost three hours.
It won the new Kremer prize of $213,000, at the time the largest cash prize in aviation history.
Subsequently, the AeroVironment team led by MacCready developed two more aircraft, this time powered by the sun.
In 1980, the Gossamer Penguin made the first climbing flight powered solely by sunbeams.
In 1981, the rugged Solar Challenger was piloted 163 miles from Paris, France to England, at an altitude of 11,000 feet.
These solar-powered aircraft were built and flown to draw world attention to photovoltaic cells as a renewable and non-polluting energy source for home and industry and to demonstrate the use of advanced materials for lightweight structures.
Some years later, first with DOD and then NASA support, his teams moved Solar Challenger technology into a series of solar-powered stratospheric fliers.
The 100' Pathfinder achieved 71,500' in 1997.
The 120' Pathfinder climbed over 80,000 feet in 1998.
August 2001 the giant 247' Helios reached 96,863' – over 2 miles higher than any plane had ever sustained level flight!
This flight was a major step toward the aim of “near eternal” (6 month) flight at 60,000 ft.
Development is ongoing for the regenerative fuel cell system that powers night flight using excess energy stored during daylight.
Eventually, such non-polluting fliers will probe conditions in the stratosphere, perform surveillance, and serve as 11 mile high, station-keeping “SkyTower™” radio relays for multichannel, wide bandwidth telecommunications.
His team's first land vehicle was the GM Sunraycer, for which AeroVironment provided project management, systems engineering, aerodynamics and structural design, power electronics development, as well as construction and testing for General Motors and Hughes Aircraft.
In November 1987, this solar-powered car won the 1,867 mile race across Australia, averaging 41.6 mph (50 percent faster than the second place vehicle in the field of 24 contestants).
The goal of the Sunraycer was to advance transportation technology that makes fewer demands on the earth's resources and environment, and to inspire students to become engineers.
In January 1990, the GM Impact was introduced, a battery-powered sports car with snappy "0 to 60 mph in 8 seconds" performance.
GM later turned the Impact into the production vehicle EV-1.
This pioneering car became a catalyst for the initial California Zero Emission Vehicle Mandate and the related intense global developments of battery-powered and alternatively-fueled vehicles.
The unique vehicles produced by MacCready's teams have received international attention through exhibits, books, television documentaries, and innumerable articles and cover stories in magazines and newspapers.
The Gossamer Condor is on permanent display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., adjacent to the Wright Brothers' 1903 airplane and Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis.
The Gossamer Albatross, after touring U.S. science museums, was for some years hung in the central atrium of the London Science Museum.
The almost-identical backup vehicle, Gossamer Albatross II now hangs at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.
The Solar Challenger is now at the Science Museum of Virginia in Richmond.
The Sunraycer is displayed at the Smithsonian American History Museum.
