CONTACT! — The Story of the Early Birds — Man's first decade of flight drom Kitty Hawk to World War I
Prix régulier 40,00 € TTC 6%
Characteristics
| ISBN-10 | 0213178001 |
| Book cover finish(es) | Hardcover ( round back binding ) Dust jacket |
| Condition |
Near-fine condition; dust jacket slightly worn, but the interior is faultless. |
| Author(s) | Henry Serrano Villard |
| Publisher | Arthur Barker Ltd |
| Number of pages | 264 |
| Published date | 1968 |
| Language(s) | English |
| Size | 19 x 25.5 x 2 cm |
Description
In today’s age of space flight, it is hard to believe that the aeroplane is scarcely sixty years old. In The Early Birds of Aviation, Henry Serrano Villard, who knew many of the pioneer pilots and flew in their “bits of stick and string,” re-creates the romantic era when man first dared the miracle of flight.
His anecdotal account, illustrated with 125 photographs—many from his personal album—covers the decade and a half of aeronautical history from the Wright brothers’ exploits at Kitty Hawk to the outbreak of World War I.
The story of the aeroplane begins with Wilbur and Orville Wright and their now-famous flight of 1903. Inspired by the Wrights, other inventive Americans, including Glenn Hammond Curtiss, began achieving success. Curtiss, a builder of monster motorbikes, developed engines suitable for planes and attracted the attention of Alexander Graham Bell, who formed the Aerial Experiment Association to “build a practical aeroplane which will carry a man and be driven through the air on its own power.” Among the successes of this group was the history-making June Bug, designed by Curtiss, which won a prize by flying one kilometre in a straight line.
It was not until 1906 that the first powered flights were made in Europe, spurred by prizes and sponsorship from visionaries such as Ernest Archdeacon. European pioneers included the brothers Gabriel and Charles Voisin and Captain Louis Ferdinand Ferber. The Brazilian aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont achieved fame with the first official European flight of a heavier-than-air machine in 1906. In 1908, Henry Farman proved that planes could be navigated by flying around a closed circuit, and in 1909, Louis Blériot crossed the English Channel, thrilling the continent.
Villard also recounts the first international aerial meets, the Gordon Bennett Trophy races, and daring contests that tested altitude, endurance, precision landing, and cross-country flight, accelerating aeroplane design. The book explores sensational exhibitions and flying circuses organized by John B. Moisant, long-distance rallies making pilots like Jules Védrines famous, and record-breaking speed feats that placed France at the forefront of aviation by 1912.
Innovative machines of the era are also described: the ornithopter, the helicopter, the gyroplane, the aviette (a winged bicycle), and the first large passenger plane built by Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky.
“At the close of Europe’s ‘Belle Époque,’ rung down by the guns of August 1914,” Villard explains, “flying for sport or for record-taking was eclipsed by combat use, the commercial airliner became part of everyday life, and bombers rained terror from the skies. Yet an imperishable record remains: the story of the early birdmen and their flying machines.”
This richly illustrated and vividly recounted volume preserves the daring, innovation, and human spirit of aviation’s formative years.