Download or read book The Great Air Race Glory Tragedy and the Dawn of American Aviation written by John Lancaster and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2022-11-15 with total page 230 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The untold, almost unbelievable, story of the daring pilots who risked their lives in an unprecedented air race in 1919—and put American aviation on the map. Years before Charles Lindbergh’s flight from New York to Paris electrified the nation, a group of daredevil pilots, most of them veterans of the World War I, brought aviation to the masses by competing in the sensational transcontinental air race of 1919. The contest awakened Americans to the practical possibilities of flight, yet despite its significance, it has until now been all but forgotten. In The Great Air Race, journalist and amateur pilot John Lancaster finally reclaims this landmark event and the unheralded aviators who competed to be the fastest man in America. His thrilling chronicle opens with the race’s impresario, Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, who believed the nation’s future was in the skies. Mitchell’s contest—critics called it a stunt—was a risky undertaking, given that the DH-4s and Fokkers the contestants flew were almost comically ill-suited for long-distance travel: engines caught fire in flight; crude flight instruments were of little help in clouds and fog; and the brakeless planes were prone to nosing over on landing. Yet the aviators possessed an almost inhuman disregard for their own safety, braving blizzards and mechanical failure as they landed in remote cornfields or at the edges of cliffs. Among the most talented were Belvin “The Flying Parson” Maynard, whose dog, Trixie, shared the rear cockpit with his mechanic, and John Donaldson, a war hero who twice escaped German imprisonment. Jockeying reporters made much of their rivalries, and the crowds along the race’s route exploded, with everyday Americans eager to catch their first glimpse of airplanes and the mythic “birdmen” who flew them. The race was a test of endurance that many pilots didn’t finish: some dropped out from sheer exhaustion, while others, betrayed by their engines or their instincts, perished. For all its tragedy, Lancaster argues, the race galvanized the nation to embrace the technology of flight. A thrilling tale of men and their machines, The Great Air Race offers a new origin point for commercial aviation in the United States, even as it greatly expands our pantheon of aviation heroes.
Download or read book Air Race Glory written by John and published by Liveright Publishing Corporation. This book was released on 2022-12-19 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The untold, almost unbelievable, story of the daring pilots who risked their lives in an unprecedented air race in 1919―and put American aviation on the map. Years before Charles Lindbergh's flight from New York to Paris electrified the nation, a group of daredevil pilots, most of them veterans of the World War I, brought aviation to the masses by competing in the sensational transcontinental air race of 1919. The contest awakened Americans to the practical possibilities of flight, yet despite its significance, it has until now been all but forgotten. In The Great Air Race, journalist and amateur pilot John Lancaster finally reclaims this landmark event and the unheralded aviators who competed to be the fastest man in America. His thrilling chronicle opens with the race's impresario, Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, who believed the nation's future was in the skies. Mitchell's contest―critics called it a stunt―was a risky undertaking, given that the DH-4s and Fokkers the contestants flew were almost comically ill-suited for long-distance travel: engines caught fire in flight; crude flight instruments were of little help in clouds and fog; and the brakeless planes were prone to nosing over on landing. Yet the aviators possessed an almost inhuman disregard for their own safety, braving blizzards and mechanical failure as they landed in remote cornfields or at the edges of cliffs. Among the most talented were Belvin "The Flying Parson" Maynard, whose dog, Trixie, shared the rear cockpit with his mechanic, and John Donaldson, a war hero who twice escaped German imprisonment. Jockeying reporters made much of their rivalries, and the crowds along the race's route exploded, with everyday Americans eager to catch their first glimpse of airplanes and the mythic "birdmen" who flew them. The race was a test of endurance that many pilots didn't finish: some dropped out from sheer exhaustion, while others, betrayed by their engines or their instincts, perished. For all its tragedy, Lancaster argues, the race galvanized the nation to embrace the technology of flight. A thrilling tale of men and their machines, The Great Air Race offers a new origin point for commercial aviation in the United States, even as it greatly expands our pantheon of aviation heroes. 8 pages of black-and-white illustrations and 10 images throughout
Download or read book Wicked Problems How to Engineer a Better World written by Guru Madhavan and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2024-03-26 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An ode to systems engineers—whose invisible work undergirds our life—and an exploration of the wicked problems they tackle. Our world is filled with pernicious problems. How, for example, did novice pilots learn to fly without taking to the air and risking their lives? How should cities process mountains of waste without polluting the environment? Challenges that tangle personal, public, and planetary aspects—often occurring in health care, infrastructure, business, and policy—are known as wicked problems, and they are not going away anytime soon. In linked chapters focusing on key facets of systems engineering—efficiency, vagueness, vulnerability, safety, maintenance, and resilience—engineer Guru Madhavan illuminates how wicked problems have emerged throughout history and how best to address them in the future. He examines best-known tragedies and lesser-known tales, from the efficient design of battleships to a volcano eruption that curtailed global commerce, and how maintenance of our sanitation systems constitutes tikkun olam, or repair of our world. Braided throughout is the uplifting tale of Edwin Link, an unsung hero who revolutionized aviation with his flight trainer. In Link’s story, Madhavan uncovers a model mindset to engage with wickedness. An homage to society’s innovators and maintainers, Wicked Problems offers a refreshing vision for readers of all backgrounds to build a better future and demonstrates how engineering is a cultural choice—one that requires us to restlessly find ways to transform society, but perhaps more critically, to care for the creations that already exist.
Download or read book The Pulitzer Air Races written by Michael Gough and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2013-05-17 with total page 249 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Three years after American raceplanes failed dismally in the most important air race of 1920, a French magazine lamented that American "pilots have broken the records which we, here in France, considered as our own for so long." The Pulitzer Trophy Air Races (1920 through 1925), endowed by the sons of publisher Joseph Pulitzer in his memory, brought about this remarkable turnaround. Pulitzer winning speeds increased from 157 to 249 mph, and Pulitzer racers, mounted on floats, twice won the most prestigious international air race--the Schneider Trophy Race for seaplanes. Airplanes, engines, propellers, and other equipment developed for the Pulitzers were sold domestically and internationally. More than a million spectators saw the Pulitzers; millions more read about them and watched them in newsreels. This, the first book about the Pulitzers, tells the story of businessmen, generals and admirals who saw racing as a way to drive aviation progress, designers and manufacturers who produced record-breaking racers, and dashing pilots who gave the races their public face. It emphasizes the roles played by the communities that hosted the races--Garden City (Long Island), Omaha, Detroit and Mt. Clemens, Michigan, St. Louis, and Dayton. The book concludes with an analysis of the Pulitzers' importance and why they have languished in obscurity for so long.
Download or read book The Big Jump written by Richard Bak and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 2011-06-24 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The trans-Atlantic air race of 1927 and the flight that made Charles Lindbergh a hero The race to make the first nonstop flight between the New York and Paris attracted some of the most famous and seasoned aviators of the day, yet it was the young and lesser known Charles Lindbergh who won the $25,000 Orteig Prize in 1927 for his history-making solo flight in the Spirit of St. Louis. Drawing on many previously overlooked sources, Bak offers a fresh look at the personalities that made up this epic air race – a deadly competition that culminated in one of the twentieth century's most thrilling personal achievements and turned Charles Lindbergh into the first international hero of the modern age. Examines the extraordinary life and cultural impact of Charles Lindbergh, one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, and his legendary trans-Atlantic flight that captured the world's imagination Explores the romance of flying during aviation's Golden Age of the 1920s, the enduring mystique of the aviator, and rapid technological advances that made for a paradigm shift in human perception of the world Filled with colorful characters from early aviation history, including Charles Nungesser, Igor Sikorsky, René Fonck, Richard Byrd, and Paul Tarascon History and the imagination take flight in this gripping account of high-flying adventure, in which a group of courageous men tested the both limits of technology and the power of nature in pursuit of one of mankind's boldest dreams.
Download or read book Race to Hawaii written by Jason Ryan and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2019-11-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A century ago, a flight to Hawaii was a twenty-six-hour journey across 2,400 miles of the open Pacific. The US Navy tried first; then Army Air Corps aviators and a civilian pilot informally raced each other to Hawaii in the weeks after Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic. Finally came the Dole Derby, an unprecedented 1927 air race in which eight planes set off at once across the Pacific, all eager to claim a cash prize offered by Pineapple King, James Dole. The pilots encountered every type of hazard during their perilous flights, from fuel shortages to failed engines, forced sea landings and severe fatigue to navigational errors. Ryan chronicles these early attempts to open Hawaii to flights from the West Coast. -- adapted from Amazon.com info.
Download or read book A Broken Propeller written by Betty Goerke and published by New Academia Publishing/VELLUM Books. This book was released on 2017-12-05 with total page 174 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the riveting story of America¿s first transcontinental air race, based on memoirs of pilots, and the letters and log of the author¿s father, 1st Lt. Ralph (Baz) Bagby, who completed the race. He was a former professional baseball player and an MIT graduate.
Download or read book The Story of American Aviation written by James Zimmerhoff and published by . This book was released on 2017-08-23 with total page 104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the following pages, Jim Ray, talented in his work of presentation and a conscientious student of aviation, presents a chain of highlights in the progress of American aeronautics. The work as a whole is directed toward a sound con�ception of the steps which have been taken in aircraft development. In so far as possible, with�out being exhaustive, Mr. Ray has portrayed the engineering advancement which underlies the structure of our swiftly developing air age. The reader who thoroughly digesta the text and illua�trationa of this book will find that it is an orderly and faithful guide. GILL ROBB WILSON .4t1ialio11 Eduor, Nftfl York Herald Tribune Director of .411iatlon Scare of New Jeney It is difficult to believe that, juat a little over thirty years ago, I was a high-school student watching the pilots at the Wright Brothers'' ex�hibition of the world''s first ftying machine. That machine weighed about eight hundred pounds. It, engine developed thirty horsepower. It ffew at the then astounding speed of forty-two milee an hour, which is equal to the landing speed of our sloweet light plane today. High-school stu�dents now are accustomed to the eight of giant airplanes whose weight ie measured in tone and whose horsepower mounts to the thousands. December, 1945, marks the forty-second an�niversary of the firat flight of an airplane. The progresa of aviation since that first ftight still 1eems unbelievable, even to one who has followed it! development closely. The purpose of this book is to trace the progre88 of aviation in America and to tell the story of the men and machines that have given this country supremacy in the air. In telling the story of American aviation from Kitty Hawk to the present day, I have been able to touch only the high spots in its dramatic prog�ress. Space limitations prevent me from giving personal credit to the hundreds of pioneer air�men, engineers, and mechanics who have con�tributed so greatly to the progree1 of American aviation. Lack of space also makes it impossible to give the complete story of the great Govern�ment research organization, the National Ad�visory Committee for Aeronautic,, whoee work hae been most fruitful in the advancement of civil and military aeronautics in the United States. As we look over the record of the astounding progress of American aviation in forty-two years, let us salute our military leaders who have visual�ized the need for air power; the men who have deejgned and built our great engines and air�planes, and the leaders of commercial aviation who have made air travel fast, safe, and eco�nomical. JIM RAT The Beginninge of American Aviation 6 Aviation in America in Its Early Daye 9 First Army Airplane 23 America Becomes Air-Minded 24 The Army and Navy Spread Their Wings 28 United States Military and Naval Aviation, World War I 32 The Fint Transatlantic Flight 34 Men and Machines, World War I 36 The First Air Mail 38 Precision Bombing la Born 40 The U. S. Navy''s First Aircraft Carrier 41 The First Flight Around the World 42 Air P~ogre88 44 America''s First All-Metal Transport 46 Better Power for America''s Airplanes 49 Record-Making Fokker Tri-Motor Transport Plane 50 Air Transport Grows 52 Donald Douglae'' Dream Comes True 54 Safety in Flight 56 Luxury Airlinen and Skysleepen Make Air Travel an Accepted Fact 58 Pan American Clippers Conquer Pacific Skies 60 Pan American Clipper Inaugurates America''s First Tranaatlantic Air Transport Service 62 Private Planes 64 Superchargers and Super-Airliners 65 Air Power for World War II 67 Naval Aviation, 1922-1935 68 Shipboard Fighten 69 Battleship of the Air 70 Naval Aviation Gets Ready 72 The U. S. Navy''s First Long-Range Flying Boats 74 Technical Progress in the U. S. Army Air Corps in the Thirties 76 Army Attack Aviation and Training 80 Superfighter 82 Man-Made Thunderbolt, Rip Wide a Path to Victory 84 Superf ortress 86 Naval Aviation in the Early Months of World War II The U.S. Navy''s Deadlieet Fighter Plane
Download or read book Sky Girls written by Gene Jessen and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2018-08-18 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "A beautiful and inspiring book...fascinatingly told." — Donna Shirley, former head of the U.S. Mars program, NASA The exhilarating story of the first women who boldly conquered the skies in the first female cross-country air race The year is 1929, and on the eve of America's Great Depression, nineteen gutsy and passionate pilots soared above the glass ceiling in the very first female cross-country air race. Armed with grit and determination, they crossed thousands of miles in propeller-driven airplanes to defy the naysayers who would say it cannot — not should not — be done. From the indomitable Pancho Barnes to the infamous Amelia Earhart, Sky Girls chronicles a defining and previously forgotten moment when some of the first women pilots took their rightful place in the open skies. For a country on the brink of defining change, they would become symbols of hope, daring, and the unstoppable American spirit. And for generations to come, their actions would pave the way for others to step into the brave unknown and learn to fly... Written by female pilot and member of the original Mercury 13 Gene Nora Jessen, Sky Girls celebrates the strength and smarts of these trailblazing women, and sits perfectly on the shelf next to The Radium Girls, Hidden Figures, or Code Girls.
Download or read book The Flight of the Century written by Thomas Kessner and published by OUP USA. This book was released on 2010-07-21 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thomas Kessner offers a revealing account of Charles Lindbergh, his iconic flight, and the lasting influence they had on American life.
Download or read book Aviation in the U S Army 1919 1939 written by Maurer Maurer and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 706 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book First World Flight written by Spencer Lane and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2011-02-21 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The incredible untold story of the first flight around the World in 1924 and a biography of the most controversial military officer ever, General Billy Mitchell, who saved military aviation from destruction by the politicians.
Download or read book Born to Fly written by Steve Sheinkin and published by Roaring Brook Press. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Born to Fly is the gripping story of the fearless women pilots who aimed for the skies—and beyond. Just nine years after American women finally got the right to vote, a group of trailblazers soared to new heights in the 1929 Air Derby, the first women's air race across the U.S. Follow the incredible lives of legend Amelia Earhart, who has captivated generations; Marvel Crosson, who built a plane before she even learned how to fly; Louise Thaden, who shattered jaw-dropping altitude records; and Elinor Smith, who at age seventeen made headlines when she flew under the Brooklyn Bridge. These awe-inspiring stories culminate in a suspenseful, nail-biting rate across the country that brings to life the glory and grit of the dangerous and thrilling early days of flying, expertly told by the master of nonfiction history for young readers, National Book Award finalist Steve Sheinkin. Featuring illustrations by Bijou Karman.
Download or read book Anthony Fokker written by Marc Dierikx and published by Smithsonian Institution. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comprehensive biography of Anthony Fokker, the famed Dutch pilot and daredevil aviator Anthony Fokker: The Flying Dutchman Who Shaped American Aviation tells the larger-than-life true story of maverick pilot and aircraft manufacturer Anthony Fokker. Fokker came from an affluent Dutch family and developed a gift for tinkering with mechanics. Despite not receiving a traditional education, he stumbled his way into aviation as a young stunt pilot in Germany in 1910. He survived a series of spectacular airplane crashes and rose to fame within a few years. A combination of industrial espionage, luck, and deception then propelled him to become Germany's leading aircraft manufacturer during World War I, making him a multimillionaire by his midtwenties. When the German Revolution swept the country in 1918 and 1919, Fokker made a spectacular escape to the United States. He set up business in New York and New Jersey in 1921, and shortly thereafter became the world's largest aircraft manufacturer. The U.S. Army and Navy acquired his machines, and his factories equipped legendary carriers such as Pan American and TWA at the dawn of commercial air transport. Yet despite his astounding success, his empire collapsed in the late 1920s after a series of ill-conceived business decisions and deeply upsetting personal dramas. In 1927, aviator Richard Byrd solicited a Fokker three-engine plane to be the first to fly non-stop across the Atlantic. The plane was damaged on a test flight and Charles Lindbergh beat him to it. Lindbergh's solo adventure in the Spirit of St. Louis earned him--and cost Fokker--a lasting place in the history books. Using previously undiscovered records and primary sources, Marc Dierikx traces Fokker's extraordinary life and celebrates his spectacular achievements.
Download or read book Command Of The Air written by General Giulio Douhet and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the pantheon of air power spokesmen, Giulio Douhet holds center stage. His writings, more often cited than perhaps actually read, appear as excerpts and aphorisms in the writings of numerous other air power spokesmen, advocates-and critics. Though a highly controversial figure, the very controversy that surrounds him offers to us a testimonial of the value and depth of his work, and the need for airmen today to become familiar with his thought. The progressive development of air power to the point where, today, it is more correct to refer to aerospace power has not outdated the notions of Douhet in the slightest In fact, in many ways, the kinds of technological capabilities that we enjoy as a global air power provider attest to the breadth of his vision. Douhet, together with Hugh “Boom” Trenchard of Great Britain and William “Billy” Mitchell of the United States, is justly recognized as one of the three great spokesmen of the early air power era. This reprint is offered in the spirit of continuing the dialogue that Douhet himself so perceptively began with the first edition of this book, published in 1921. Readers may well find much that they disagree with in this book, but also much that is of enduring value. The vital necessity of Douhet’s central vision-that command of the air is all important in modern warfare-has been proven throughout the history of wars in this century, from the fighting over the Somme to the air war over Kuwait and Iraq.
Download or read book The Aviators written by Winston Groom and published by National Geographic Books. This book was released on 2013 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Written by gifted storyteller Winston Groom (author of Forrest Gump), The Aviators tells the saga of three extraordinary aviators--Charles Lindbergh, Eddie Rickenbacker, and Jimmy Doolittle--and how they redefine heroism through their genius, daring, and uncommon courage. This is the fascinating story of three extraordinary heroes who defined aviation during the great age of flight. These cleverly interwoven tales of their heart-stopping adventures take us from the feats of World War I through the heroism of World War II and beyond, including daring military raids and survival-at-sea, and will appeal to fans of Unbroken, The Greatest Generation, and Flyboys. With the world in peril in World War II, each man set aside great success and comfort to return to the skies for his most daring mission yet. Doolittle, a brilliant aviation innovator, would lead the daring Tokyo Raid to retaliate for Pearl Harbor; Lindbergh, hero of the first solo flight across the Atlantic, would fly combat missions in the South Pacific; and Rickenbacker, World War I flying ace, would bravely hold his crew together while facing near-starvation and circling sharks after his plane went down in a remote part of the Pacific. Groom's rich narrative tells their intertwined stories--from broken homes to Medals of Honor (all three would receive it); barnstorming to the greatest raid of World War II; front-page triumph to anguished tragedy; and near-death to ultimate survival--as all took to the sky, time and again, to become exemplars of the spirit of the "greatest generation."
Download or read book The Winged Gospel written by Joseph J. Corn and published by JHU Press. This book was released on 2002 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Exploring these early years of aviation, Joseph Corn describes the fascinating, and often bizarre, plans for the future of manned flight and brings back to life the famous and lesser-known aviators who became American heroes.