Airplane Racing : A History, 1909-2008

by Berliner, Don

• ISBN13: 9780786443000
• ISBN10: 0786443006
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-05-30
• Publisher: McFarland & Co Inc Pub

Summary

This is the history of air racing from its beginnings in 1909 at Reims, France, to the end of the 2008 racing season at Reno, Nevada. The history of air racing is very much the history of aviation, with glamorous pilots, some of military fame (e.g., Jimmy Doolittle), and builders (e.g., Glenn Curtiss), machines that captivated the national imagination, and many relatively unknown tinkerers and designers.

Author Biography

Don Berliner is the author of several air racing books and has written more than 300 magazine articles. He is the editor of Golden Pylons, the newsletter of the Society of Air Racing Historians and has officiated at air races in the United States, England, and France. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. 1
Introduction	p. 3
Before World War I
The First Race at Reims	p. 9
Overly Ambitious European Cross-Country Races	p. 16
Weekly Handicap Races in England	p. 27
The 1909-1913 Gordon Bennett Cup and Speed Records	p. 33
The 1913-1914 Schneider Cup for Seaplanes	p. 42
Between the Wars
The Last Gordon Bennett Race, 1920	p. 47
Streamlining and Power Light Up the 1919-1923 Schneider Cup Series	p. 51
The 1920-1925 Pulitzer Trophy Races Stimulate American Military Racer Development	p. 57
The 1922-1929 Kings Cup Races: Jolly Competition in a Garden Party Setting	p. 63
The 1927 Dole Race Disaster: On to Hawaii and into the Pacific	p. 67
The 1925-1928 Military-Oriented U.S. National Air Races	p. 72
The 1929 U.S. National Air Races and the Thompson Trophy Race	p. 76
The 1925-1931 Schneider Cup Races: Rampant Nationalism	p. 87
The 1930-1934 National Air Races: GeeBees and Wedell Williams	p. 93
The 1934 MacRobertson Race: The World's Greatest Air Race?	p. 108
The 1933-1936 Coupe Deutsch de la Muerthe and the Sleek Caudrons	p. 114
British Racing of the 1930s	p. 124
The 1935-1939 U.S. National Air Races: Dwindling Participation	p. 127
Post-World War II
The 1946-1949 Cleveland National Air Races	p. 133
The 1950-1960 Period: Midget Racing Keeps the Sport Alive	p. 147
The Reno Air Races Era
1964: The National Air Races Return in the Desert	p. 153
The 1960s	p. 160
The 1970s	p. 176
The 1980s	p. 191
The 1990s	p. 204
The 2000s	p. 216
Formula One Invades Europe	p. 229
Short-Lived and Minor Classes	p. 233
Summary and Outlook	p. 239
Chapter Notes	p. 243
Bibliography	p. 247
Index	p. 249
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.