Dreams of Flight

by Bednarek, Janet R. Daly; Bednarek, Michael H.

• ISBN13: 9781585442577
• ISBN10: 1585442577
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-05-01
• Publisher: Texas A & M Univ Pr

Summary

General aviation encompasses all the ways aircraft are used beyond commercial and military flying: private flights, barnstormers, cropdusters, and more. Janet R. Daly Bednarek and Michael H. Bednarek have taken on the formidable task of discussing the hundred-year history of this diverse field by focusing on the most important figures and organizations in general aviation and the major producers of general aviation aircraft and engines. This history examines the many airplanes used in general aviation, from early Wright and Curtiss aircraft to the Piper Cub and the Lear Jet. The authors trace the careers of birdmen, birdwomen, barnstormers, and others who shaped general aviation--from Clyde Cessna and the Stinson family of San Antonio to Olive Ann Beech and Paul Poberezny of Milwaukee. They explain how the development of engines influenced the development of aircraft, from the E-107 that powered the 1929 Aeronca C-2, the first affordable personal aircraft, to the Continental A-40 that powered the Piper Cub and the Pratt and Whitney PT-6 turboprop used on many a

Author Biography

Janet R. Daly Bednarek is currently an associate professor and chair of the department of history at the University of Dayton.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	ix
Preface	xi
From First Seeds to Early Blossoms	3	(22)
The ``Golden Age'': 1926--39	25	(40)
For the Duration: 1939--45	65	(22)
Up from the Ashes: 1945--80	87	(34)
Dreams Once Again Deferred: Post-1980	121	(32)
Notes	153	(16)
Sources for the History of General Aviation	169	(14)
Index	183