Flight. The Complete History of Aviation

454 Pages·2017·74.76 MB·English

by  Reg Grant

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F L I G H T
THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF AVIATION
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F L I G H T
THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF AVIATION
R. G. GRANT
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Project Editor David Summers
Project Art Editors Tony Foo, Kirsten Cashman
Editors Nigel Ritchie, David Tombesi-Walton
Designers Ian Midson, David Ball, Jörn Kröger,
Jamie Hanson, Becky Painter, Hugh Schermuly
Design Assistant Paul Drislane
Picture Researcher Louise Thomas
DTP Designer Rajen Shah
Production Controller Elizabeth Cherry
Managing Art Editor Philip Ormerod
Category Publisher Jonathan Metcalf
Special Photography Gary Ombler
Revised Edition
DK DELHI
Project Editor Nisha Shaw
Project Art Editor Vikas Chauhan
Assistant Editor Smita Mathur
Assistant Art Editor Rohit Bhardwaj
DTP Designers Pawan Kumar, Bimlesh Tiwary, Rajesh Singh
Senior DTP Designer Harish Aggarwal
Assistant Picture Researcher Jayati Sood
Managing Jackets Editor Saloni Talwar
Senior Managing Editor Rohan Sinha
Senior Managing Art Editor Arunesh Talapatra
Picture Research Manager Taiyaba Khatoon
Pre-production Manager Balwant Singh
Production Manager Pankaj Sharma
DK LONDON
Senior Editor Jemima Dunne
US Editor Margaret Parrish
Senior Art Editors Helen Spencer, Nicola Rodway
Jackets Designer Jon Durbin
Jacket Design Development Manager Sophia MTT
Producer, Pre-production David Almond
Producer Mandy Inness
Managing Editor Gareth Jones
Managing Art Editor Lee Griffiths
Associate Publishing Director Liz Wheeler
Art Director Karen Self
Publishing Director Jonathan Metcalf
Editor-in-Chief Dominick A. Pisano
Project Co-ordinator Ellen Nanney
Picture Researcher Charles O. Hyman
NASMArchives Division Melissa A. N. Keiser, Allan Janus,
B. E. Weitbrecht, Dana Bell, Dan Hagedorn, Brian D. Nicklas,
Paul Silbermann, Larry Wilson, Mark Kahn
NASM Aeronautics Division Dominick A. Pisano,
F. Robert van der Linden, Peter L. Jakab, Thomas J. Dietz, Dik
A. Daso, Dorothy Cochrane, Roger Connor, Russell Lee
NASM Space History Division Allan A. Needell, Cathleen
Lewis, Michael J. Neufeld, Valerie Neal
Consultant Steve Woolford
Contributors Steve Cross, David Lee
First American Edition, 2002
This updated edition published in the United States in 2017
by DK Publishing, 345 Hudson Street,
New York, New York 10014
Copyright © 2002, 2007, 2017
Dorling Kindersley Limited
DK, a Division of Penguin Random House LLC
17 18 19 20 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
001–305218–May/2017
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in, or introduced in a retrieval system,
or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic,
mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise),
without the prior written permission of both the copyright
owner and the above publisher of this book.
Published in Great Britain by Dorling Kindersley Limited.
A catalog record for this book is available from the
Library of Congress
ISBN: 978-1-46546-327-2
DK books are available at special discounts when purchased
in bulk for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, or
educational use. For details, contact: DK Publishing Special
Markets, 345 Hudson Street, New York, New York, 10014, or
[email protected]
Printed in China
A WORLD OF IDEAS:
SEE ALL THERE IS TO KNOW
www.dk.com
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FOREWORD 6 C
1
AGE OF THE PIONEERS 8 O
The Prehistory of Flight 10
Fight to be First 20 N
Flying Takes Off 38
T
2
AIRCRAFT GO TO WAR 66 E
Working for the Generals 68
N
Knights of the Air 80
Zeppelins and Bombers 94
T
3 S
THE GOLDEN AGE 106
Blazing the Trail 108
Passengers Now Boarding 132
Flying Boats and Airships 152
The Shadow of War 166
4
BATTLE FOR THE SKIES 186
Command of the Air 188
Battle for Britain 206
Air War at Sea 218
Death From the Air 236
5
COLD WAR, HOT WAR 260
Beyond the Sound Barrier 262
Cold War Warriors 274
Air Power in Action 296
Hi-Tech Warfare 316
6
SPACE TRAVEL 332
Journey to the Moon 334
Shuttle to Space 358
7
SHRINKING WORLD 374
Jet Passenger Travel 376
Fear of Flying 402
Small is Beautiful 412
The Future of Flight 424
GLOSSARY 440
INDEX 444
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 451
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FOREWORD
One hundred years ago the world United States. Once there, steam-driven invention – the airplane. Within the
was a very different place. The trains were the primary means of long- century that followed, humankind took to
United States was emerging as a world distance overland transport for immigrant the air, led by the pioneering example of
economic power, but had yet to realize and citizen alike. The vast rail network Wilbur and Orville Wright. First in frail
its full potential. Europe was at peace, linked most communities and enabled craft, but soon in sturdy and reliable
tenuous as it was, while trouble in Russia those who could afford it to ride across machines, aviators shattered long-standing
was a portent of war and revolution to the country in less than a week. barriers of time and distance. By
come. Much of the rest of the world Nevertheless, once settled, most Americans midcentury air travel was common, and
remained as either economic or political stayed at home and few ever traveled more by the late 1950s it had replaced the train
colonies of the dominant powers. than 25 miles from their place of birth. and steamship as the preferred mode of
Millions of Europe and Asia’s poor Transportation was taking the first transport. By the last quarter of the 20th
continued to travel days and weeks by tenuous steps that would soon change century, with large, efficient jet-powered
steamship to seek a new life in the the world forever. With the invention aircraft, air travel was commonplace
of the internal combustion engine in and affordable to all. Flying has become
the late 19th century, new possibilities second nature to hundreds of millions
of motive force became available. By of people and is so deeply intertwined into
CAPTIVATING SPECTACLE
Straining to see over the perimeter fence, spectators gaze 1903 the automobile was set to challenge the fabric of society that it is impossible
in wonder at the aircraft on display at the Hendon the horse. to imagine a world without it. The airplane
airfield, England, in 1911. By capturing the public’s
Transportation would soon change even also rapidly developed as a weapon of war.
imagination, early aviators inspired an enthusiasm
for flight that would outlast the century. more dramatically because of a new Used widely during World War I, where
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the techniques of air power were initially century – flight. Using superlative
developed, military aircraft became an historical images and extraordinary
integral part of warfare by World War II. new photography to illustrate an
The advent of jet power, and sophisticated excellent text, this book is a fitting
electronics perfected during and after the tribute to the courage and efforts of
Cold War, has now turned the aircraft the pioneering individuals and
into a feared weapon over the 21st organizations that inspired the first
century battlefield. 100 years of aviation.
More than 100 years after the Wright
brothers first took to the air in the first
powered, controlled, heavier-than-air
J. R. DAILEY
machine, the political, social, and
economic challenges are different, yet, DIRECTOR
in many respects, remarkably similar. NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM
Today, aviation and spaceflight are SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION
critical tools for the improvement of
the human condition and powerful
instruments of positive change.
This book is the story of that most
remarkable achievement of the 20th
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