Reconsidering a Century of Flight

by Launius, Roger D.; Bednarek, Janet R. Daly

• ISBN13: 9780807828151
• ISBN10: 0807828157
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2003-10-01
• Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Pr

Summary

On December 17, 1903, Orville and Wilbur Wright soared into history during a twelve-second flight on a secluded North Carolina beach. Commemorating the 100th anniversary of the first flight, these essays chart the central role that aviation played in twentieth-century history and capture the spirit of innovation and adventure that has characterized the history of flight. The contributors, all leading aerospace historians, consider four broad themes relating to the development of flight technology: innovation and the technology of flight, civil aeronautics and government policy, aerial warfare, and aviation in the American imagination. Through their attention to the political, economic, military, and cultural history of flight, the authors establish that the Wrights' invention--and all that followed in both air and space--was one of the most significant technologies of the twentieth century, fundamentally reshaping our world. Supported by the First Flight Centennial Commision The contributors are Janet R. Daly Bednarek, Tami Davis Biddle, Roger E. Bilstein, Hans-Joachim Braun, David T. Courtright, Anne Collins Goodyear, Roger D. Launius, William M. Leary, David D. Lee, W. David Lewis, John H. Morrow, Dominick A. Pisano, and A. Timothy Warneck.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	xi
Introduction: Whither a Century of Flight	1	(14)
Roger D. Launius
Janet R. Daly Bednarek
Part 1: Innovation and the Technology of Flight
The Technology of Flight: Three Sides of a Coin	15	(35)
Roger E. Bilstein
The Wright Brothers, Government Support for Aeronautical Research, and the Evolution of Flight	50	(20)
Roger D. Launius
Innovation in Flight from the Perspective of Europe	70	(19)
Hans-Joachim Braun
Part 2: Civil Aeronautics and Government Policy
Herbert Hoover and Commercial Aviation Policy, 1921--1933	89	(29)
David D. Lee
Edward V. Rickenbacker's Reaction to Civil Aviation Policy in the 1930s: A Hidden Dimension	118	(14)
W. David Lewis
A Perennial Challenge to Aviation Safety: Battling the Menace of Ice	132	(21)
William M. Leary
Part 3: Aerial Warfare
The Wright Brothers and the U.S. Army Signal Corps, 1905--1915	153	(15)
A. Timothy Warnock
Brave Men Flying: The Wright Brothers and Military Aviation in World War I	168	(22)
John H. Morrow
Strategic Air Warfare: An Analysis	190	(19)
Tami Davis Biddle
Part 4: Aviation in the American Imagination
The Routine Stuff: How Flying Became a Form of Mass Transportation	209	(14)
David T. Courtwright
The Effect of Flight on Art in the Twentieth Century	223	(19)
Anne Collins Goodyear
The Spirit of St. Louis---Fact and Symbol: Misinterpreting a Historic Cultural Artifact	242	(21)
Dominick A. Pisano
Selective Annotated Bibliography	263	(28)
Roger D. Launius
Janet R. Daly Bednarek
Contributors	291	(2)
Index	293