Description An authoritative new history and analysis of the Wright Brothers' pioneering aircraft, from their triumph in 1903, through their string of achievements in the next decade, to their eclipse in the 1910s.
Orville and Wilbur Wright, two bicycle-making brothers from Dayton, Ohio, secured their place as the most famous names in aviation history when, on December 17, 1903, they made the first powered, controlled, and sustained heavier-than-air flight.
But their success over the cold and windswept Carolina dunes that day has overshadowed their many other accomplishments before and after that historic flight.
The Wrights' progression from theory to analysis to ground-testing components and wing shapes, and to then flight-testing kites, gliders, and their first powered aeroplane, marked the world's first successful X-Plane research and development program.
They established a template all subsequent aircraft have followed, one still relevant in the era of hypersonic flight and drone research.
This book traces the Wright Brothers' story, from their first success on that cold December day throughout their glory years to their eventual eclipse by other aviators.
It explores in detail the process that lead them to their pioneering craft and their many subsequent achievements over the following years, and highlights their enduring importance in the age of modern flight.
About the Author Richard P.
Hallion holds a Ph.
in history from the University of Maryland, and has completed specialized governmental and national security programs at the Federal Executive Institute, and the John F.
Kennedy School of Government.
He has held many high-profile posts, including as a Curator at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum; as the Charles Lindbergh Professor at the National Air and Space Museum; and as The Air Force Historian.
He is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, the Royal Aeronautical Society, and the Royal Historical Soc.
The wright flyers 1899-1916: the kites, gliders, and aircraft that launched the air age, paperback/richard p. hallion
