Brilliant, self-trained engineers, the Wright brothers had a unique blend of native talent, character, and family experience that perfectly suited them to the task of invention but left them ill-prepared to face a world of skeptics, rivals, and officials. Using a treasure trove of Wright family correspondence and diaries, Tom Crouch skillfully weaves the story of the airplane's invention into the drama of a unique and unforgettable family. He shows us exactly how and why these two obscure bachelors from Dayton, Ohio, were able to succeed where so many better-trained, better-financed rivals...
Brilliant, self-trained engineers, the Wright brothers had a unique blend of native talent, character, and family experience that perfectly suited the...
When Orville and Wilbur Wright soared over Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina's outer banks and solved the problem of aerial navigation, they wrote the last chapter in a long story. For decades prior, a small community of engineers, scientists, and dreamers men named Chanute and Langley and Herring had tried to make the ascent in every conceivable craft, from kites and gliders to an assortment of powered flying models. This fascinating assortment of characters and contraptions comes to life in Tom Crouch's classic A Dream of Wings. In the quest for flight, aeronautical societies were formed...
When Orville and Wilbur Wright soared over Kill Devil Hills in North Carolina's outer banks and solved the problem of aerial navigation, they wrote th...
The invention of the airplane ushered in the modern age--a new era of global commerce, revolutionary technologies, and total war. Whatever the practical consequences, the sheer exhilaration of flight captured the imagination. No longer bound to the surface of the earth, humans took the first steps on a journey that would eventually carry them to other worlds. Tom Crouch weaves the people, machines, and ideas of the air age into a compelling narrative. He tells how the enthusiasm of amateurs spawned an industry that determined the rise and fall of nations. Yet this is not a tale of unalloyed...
The invention of the airplane ushered in the modern age--a new era of global commerce, revolutionary technologies, and total war. Whatever the practic...
Tom D. Crouch AIAA (American Institute of Aeronautics
Commissioned on the occasion of its 75th Anniversary, here is the fascinating historical account of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and its predecessor organizations--the American Rocket Society and The Institute of the Aeronautical Sciences--and the significant contributions each has made to the evolution of flight. From the early struggles to create and distinguish aeronautics as a distinct profession, through the technological necessities brought on by two world wars, to the incredible advances spawned by the Space Age, this book covers it all in a highly readable,...
Commissioned on the occasion of its 75th Anniversary, here is the fascinating historical account of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronau...
This richly illustrated book chronicles lighter-than-air flight from Archimedes' discovery of the principle of buoyancy to the latest in sport balloons and plans for future airships. Far more than a timeline of events, Lighter Than Air focuses on the people--flamboyant and daring, heroes and scoundrels--who made history in the sky. Here are the eighteenth-century pioneers who first took to the skies, the peripatetic aeronauts who criss-crossed two continents a century later, the airmen who manned the great rigid airships, and the intrepid balloonists who flew their craft across...
This richly illustrated book chronicles lighter-than-air flight from Archimedes' discovery of the principle of buoyancy to the latest in sport ball...
