Contact! The Story of the Early Aviators

As we approach the centennial of the Wright brothers' historic 1903 flight, Dover's already popular series of books on the history of aviation is certain to find a wider audience than ever. This new addition was proclaimed by a director of the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum as "one of the most exciting that I have ever encountered." Thanks to the author's extensive research and his lively characterization, the many inventors, pilots, and other personalities involved in the history of aviation spring to vivid life in these pages, all of them charged with the passion for flight. Among the significant and colorful figures covered are the Wright Brothers, Alberto Santos-Dumont, Henry Farman, Glenn H. Curtiss, and other aviators from around the world. This informative account recaptures the thrill of the pioneering days of aviation, back before flying was taken for granted, and its scores of historic photographs further enliven the tales of the visionaries whose imagination, ingenuity, and spirit brought us beyond the skies. Unabridged republication of the revised edition published by Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, D.C., 1987. Appendixes. Selected Reading List. Index. 84 black-and-white illustrations.Villard, Henry is the author of 'Contact! The Story of the Early Aviators' with ISBN 9780486423272 and ISBN 0486423271.