Anyone who happened to be on the English Channel on the morning of June 12, 1979, must have done a double take. Moving slowly through the air, just a few feet above the choppy waters, was one of the oddest looking flying machines ever built. Almost 100 feet wide and sheathed in a shiny, semitransparent skin, the craft, called the Gossamer Albatross, had a big propeller at its back but no engine to speak of. Instead, in an enclosed pod hanging beneath that huge wing, was Bryan Allen, a bicycle racer, furiously pedaling to make the impossible craft go. After almost three hours of physical effort, and flying more than 22 miles, Allen gently landed the plane on the beaches of England. The Albatross's inventor, Paul MacCready, who had been in a boat following the slow, tense journey from the shores of France, rushed to join the celebration.