"Balloons to Jets: A Century of Aviation in Illinois, 1855 1955, "written by historian Howard L. Scamehorn, was originally published in 1957 by the Illinois State Historical Society and distributed only to the society s membership and to select libraries in the state. Scamehorn offers a wealth of information not only on one hundred years of aviation in Illinois but also on events leading up to the Wright Brothers initial flight in 1903. Scamehorn s history of aviation in Illinois covers such topics as amateur pilots, aviation contests and meets, the development of airmail, military...