In the history of the world, aeronautics is one of the most mind-blowing inventions of humankind. Imagine a heavy material flying thousands of feet above the ground at fast speeds. How awesome is it?
But it took 200 years of collaborative efforts and extreme education, experiments, labor, studies, successes, and failures before the aeronautics that we know today came into existence. Some even placed their lives on the line for the industry to learn new safer ways.
Norman Currey’s Airplane Stories and Histories tries to reveal the many efforts done by amazing men and women who built the industry of aeronautics in the world. The book chronicles 200 years of aviation highlights, including the exploits of pioneers such as Sir George Cayley, the Wright brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Wiley Post, Amelia Earheart, R. J. Mitchell, Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, Allan Loughead, Frank Whittle, and Kelly Johnson.
Notable events and developments are discussed including the first Atlantic flights, the airplanes of the World Wars, jet engine development, and post-war designs. It concludes with a discussion of new designs and directions in which the industry is heading.
Currey was born in Yorkshire, England, in 1926. He graduated as an aeronautical engineer in 1948 and was a stress engineer on the de Havilland Comet. He went to Canada and helped design the Jetliner and Arrow. He spent 30 years at Lockheed, working on the C-130 JetStar, C-5 and special projects. He is a Chartered Engineer and a Fellow of the Royal Aeronautical Society, and has lectured in the U.S. and abroad. He is also the author of Aircraft Landing Gear Design: Principles and Practices, AIAA1988. ◊
You can buy the book here.
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