FLYING WITNESS
Prix régulier 65,00 € TTC 6%
Characteristics
| Book cover finish(es) | Hardcover ( rounded spine binding ) Dust jacket |
| Condition | Good |
| Author(s) | Graham Wallace |
| Publisher | Putnam |
| Number of pages | 272 |
| Published date |
First published 1958 |
| Language(s) | English |
| Collection / Series | PUTNAM |
| Size | 14 X 22 cm |
Description
FLYING WITNESS is the story of the Golden Age of Aviation, the period from 1906 to the outbreak of World War I, as seen by Harry Harper, the first aeronautical correspondent in the world. His career began in 1906, at the age of 26, when he was engaged by Lord Northcliffe to write wholly on aeronautical topics for the Daily Mail. Today, aged 78, Harry Harper is actively writing on subjects ranging from man's first attempts to fly to the latest in space-travel. This book is based on his personal recollections.
He met and talked with Wilbur Wright at Le Mans in 1908 when the American was astounding all Europe with his masterly flying. He watched Hubert Latham's unsuccessful attempt to fly the Channel, and saw Blériot's history-making flight. The Hon. C. S. Rolls was killed before his eyes at the Bournemouth flying meeting in 1910, and he personally participated in the great £10,000 contest for the first London-Manchester flight between the Frenchman Paulhan and the Briton Grahame-White in 1910.
On the day when all London was paralysed by the sudden appearance of Britain's first army airship, the little Nulli Secundus, in 1907, he chased it through the streets from Fleet Street to the Crystal Palace to get his story. He covered the first aviation meeting in the world, at Rheims; Britain's first aviation meetings at Blackpool and Doncaster in 1909; and the Round-Britain seaplane race for £10,000 in 1913.
Amongst the many pioneers of flight whom he knew well are Santos-Dumont, the Brazilian who was the first man to fly an aeroplane in Europe; S. F. Cody, the barn-storming American ex-cowboy and actor who flew the first aeroplane in Britain; Harry Hawker, T. O. M. Sopwith and Grahame-White.