Originally Posted by
Top_Gunn
Sure you did. "taking off downwind" is meaningless unless you are talking about a mass of air moving relative to the ground you are taking off from. Go up in a hot air balloon on a day with a strong but steady wind, and launch your glider from that. Any direction will do.
no I didn't. Gliders can be launched in the air being towed by an airplane.
Try this. Make a paper airplane. Hold it backwards into the windstream of a fan and release. See how well it flies.