SPEED IN THE AIR
Prix régulier 50,00 € TTC 6%
Characteristics
| Book cover finish | Hardcover ( square back binding ) |
| Special features | Dust jacket, First edition |
| Condition | Used very good (top right corner slightly damaged, see attached pictures) |
| Number of pages | 192 |
| Published date | 1974 |
| Language | English |
| Author | David W. Wragg |
| Editor | Osprey Publishing Ltd |
Description
Only six years after the world gasped at the Wright Brothers' feat of flying a heavier-than- air machine, the first official world speed record was established at 34.04 m.p.h. Three months later Louis Bleriot emerged from the world's first aviation meeting, at Rheims, as the new holder at 47.85 m.p.h. Not until 1921 did the air speed record overtake the land speed record, marking the beginning of public fascination in air speeds which did not decline until after the Second World War.
Speed is still the most important, perhaps the only, advantage that aircraft has over other methods of travel, and the well-known aviation writer David Wragg tells this fascinating story in all its picturesque aspects- aviation meetings, the Federation Auronautique Internationale, the Wright Brothers and Louis Bleriot, the rise of the monoplane, the 'unofficial' speeds of the two World Wars, the Schneider Trophy races and the dominance of the seaplane, the first airliners, the Messerschmitt and the Spitfire, pistons giving way to turbojets and then to rockets, the sound barrier, the supersonic era and the air-launched aircraft, Mach 6 and over.
It has gone way beyond a sport, now, and it is a serious tale David Wragg has to tell, but by no means a solemn one. He yearns for the days when it was still fun, and delights in recounting tales of the great individualists such as Lord Brabazon who took a pig for a flight to prove that pigs could fly, and the Hon. Charles Rolls, of the Rolls-Royce partnership, who had the frugal habit of dining each day on the free rolls, butter and water at the tables of the Royal Aero Club.