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More copies of this ISBN:This title in other formats:The Airplane: How Ideas Gave Us Wingsby Jay Spenser
Synopses & ReviewsPublisher Comments:
Who were aviation's dreamers and from where did they draw their inspiration? What lessons did inventors learn from birds, insects, marine mammals, and fish that helped us fly? How did the bicycle lead to the airplane, and hot water heaters to metal fuselages?And who figured out how to fly without seeing the ground, setting the stage for scheduled airline services in all weather conditions? In this entertaining history of the jetliner, Jay Spenser follows the flow of simple yet powerful ideas to trace aviation's challenges. He introduces us to pioneers across continents and centuries, sheds new insights on their contributions, and evokes those key moments in history when, piece by piece, such innovators as Otto Lilienthal, Igor Sikorsky, Louis Blériot, Hugo Junkers, and Jack Northrop collectively solved the puzzle of flight. Along the way, Spenser demystifies the modern jetliner. From wings to flight controls to fuselages to landing gear, he examines the parts of the airplane to show how they came into being and have evolved over time. The Airplane culminates in a discussion of Boeing's 787 Dreamliner and explores the possibilities for aviation's future. Review:"This history of the development of the airplane by Spenser, a former curator of the National Air and Space Museum and author of 747, recasts the Wright brothers' contribution as he widens the scope to aviation history in France, Germany and beyond. Spenser starts with the pioneering work of Yorkshire gentleman Sir George Cayley in the late 18th century, delineates the competitive race between inventors in the early 1900s and culminates (somewhat abruptly) in the world of modern jet airliner travel. Spenser's history reads like a textbook for young, aspiring engineers. Instead of a general chronological approach, Spenser divides the book into sections that each track the development of a different part of the airplane, from the fuselage to landing gear. While this allows him to show how the modern airplane is not a singular invention but rather the cumulative result of thousands of different inventors, trials and errors, it does diffuse the narrative. Still, Spenser's book stands as a smart, and occasionally wonkish, history of a thrilling machine all too often taken for granted." Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.) Book News Annotation:Spenser (former curator at the National Air and Space Museum and now
a writer specializing in aerospace) describes how one pioneer
inspired another in an astounding network of ideas, opinions and
experiments. Along with the Wright Brothers, whom most Americans
think invented the airplane in an intellectual vacuum, Spencer
follows the true international cast from designers to inventors to
pilots, from Sir George Cayley to his disciple William Henson and
from the aforesaid Wrights to the daring Bleriot. He sorts his
information by parts of the airplane, so readers learn how water
heaters became fuselages, whale flukes became empennages, and a
flimsy assemblage of wood and cloth became the 787 Dream Liner.
Spenser has chosen unusual and rarely seen illustrations, and his
text should satisfy fanatics as well as the casually curious.
Annotation ©2009 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) About the AuthorJay Spenser has spent a lifetime studying aviation as a museum curator at the National Air and Space Museum and the Museum of Flight, and subsequently as an aerospace industry writer. He is the co-author of 747 and lives in Seattle. What Our Readers Are SayingBe the first to add a comment for a chance to win!Product Details
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