The first pilots from each of a hundred countries have their stories told in this work. A brief biography and description of his or her attempts to fly are provided for each early aviator, except in a very few cases where facts are hard to find. For purposes of this book, a flight is defined as that made by a heavier-than-air machine capable of taking off from ground level carrying a pilot, who controls to some degree the ascent, descent and path of the machine. To be called successful, the flight must be sustained past the point to which the machines take-off momentum would normally carry it...