The Great International Paper Airplane Book; The official record, analysis, and fly-it-yourself compendium of high-achievement paper airplanes from the Scientific American 1st International Paper Airplane Competition, held during the winter of '66-'67, an event that has already taken its proper place in aeronautical history. Told by the men who were there. (Illustrated and annotated)

New York: Simon and Schuster, 1967. First Printing [Stated]. Trade paperback. Fair. The format is approximately 9 inches by 12 inches. 128 pages. Illustrations. Wraps/trade paperback. Cover is worn, soiled, with small tears at spine. Ink notation on fep. The contents include Preface, Introduction, Brief Annotated History of Aeronautics, Prologue: In Tribute to Rufus Porter, the Inventor of the Aeroport, Chapter, Appendix I. Letters, Special Added Chapter: A Fly It Yourself Compendium, and Epilogue. Jerry Irwin Mander (May 1, 1936 - April 11, 2023) was an American author, known for his use of advertising. Mander earned an M.S. in international economics from Columbia University in 1959. In 1966, he joined Howard Gossage's advertising agency, which became Freeman, Mander & Gossage. After Gossage's death in 1969, Mander became independent. He joined the Public Media Center, where he remained for 20 years. Howard Luck Gossage (1917-1969) was an advertising innovator. Independent, he proved to be one of the industry's most inventive innovators- and often its greatest critic. A non-conformist who railed against the norms of so-called scientific advertising in his day, Gossage introduced several innovative techniques to the advertising practice that would only become appreciated decades after his death. Gossage is credited with discovering the media theorist Marshall McLuhan, introducing him to media and corporate leaders thereby providing McLuhan his entry into mainstream renown. Co-founder at age 36 of the advertising agency Wiener & Gossage, Howard Gossage is listed by Advertising Age at number 23 of its 100 advertising people of the 20th century. Paper airplanes as serious science? No longer shamefully relegated to the back rows of elementary-school sports stadiums, paper airplanes come into their own with this amusing -- and instructive -- book. The first contest of the scientific sport of flying paper airplanes is reported with photos and diagrams showing how to make several of the entries. 'The Great International Airplane Book' by Jerry Mander, George Dippel and Howard Gossage may be the first book about paper planes to be published. The book contained details of, and diagrams for folding, the winning entries of the 1st International Airplane Competition which had been organized as an advertising stunt on behalf of 'Scientific American' the previous year. In the mid 1960s Scientific American began to look for ways to increase circulation and, perhaps more importantly, to expand their roster of advertisers. To help the publisher Gerald Piel hired the iconoclastic marketing genius Howard Luck Gossage. Gossage became known for ads that engaged readers through brilliant copyrighting and unusual contests and promotions. He decided to target airlines as potential advertisers for magazine and created the "1st International Paper Airplane Contest." Gossage's timing could not have been better. Boeing was working on the SST and the French, British and Russians all had announced similar projects. Aeronautics and supersonic travel had become frequent news topics. In December 1966 he placed ads in 'The New York Times, 'The New Yorker', and 'Travel Weekly, and in only six weeks received nearly 12,000 entries from 28 countries. Those entries found to fly particularly well in trials were sent forward to the Final Fly-offs held at the New York Hall of Science on 21 Feb 1967. The contest had transcended advertising to become a news story itself. It was covered by the major news outlets including all three of the TV networks. Five months later the results were compiled into The Great International Paper Airplane Book. There were four categories of competition, for duration aloft, distance flown, aerobatics and origami. According to the Origamian for ..... entries in the origami category did not actually need to be able to fly. Each category was subdivided into entries submitted by air travel professionals (including subscribers to 'Scientific American') and non-professionals. The winners were awarded a trophy called 'The Leonardo'.