Smithsonian Frontiers of Flight

Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books, 1992. First Edition [Stated], First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. 256 pages. Oversized book, measuring 9-1/4 inches by 11 inches. Profusely illustrated (many in color). Includes Introduction, Index, Picture Credits, Acknowledgments, and Colophon. Topics covered include Powered Flight; Coast to Coast; The Atlantic and the World; USA to Europe Nonstop; Air Transport for All; Golden Air Frontiers; Rocket Power; Jet Power; The Sound Barrier; The Jet Airliner; The Threshold of Space; To Space and Back; and The Last Great World Record. Jeffrey Ethell (1947-1997) was an American aviation author and pilot who wrote extensively on aviation and military matters. Starting at a remarkably young age, Ethell, published an extensive series of technical studies of WWII-era aircraft and eventually authored 60 books and over 1,000 magazine articles covering all aspects of aviation. He soloed at 18 and logged over 4,800 hours in over 210 different types of aircraft, including most of the various warbirds of the allied and Axis sides from WWII. His works on color photography of the World War II era brought to life an era which too many thought had only been filmed in black and white. While attending college in the 1960s, Ethell received several research grants from the National Air & Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution, and went on to lecture at numerous academic institutes. His co-authored study of the first American daylight attack on Berlin has often been compared to the works of Cornelius Ryan and Stephen Ambrose in presenting a balanced account of one of the most pivotal events of World War II, the first daylight deep penetration raid against the capital of Nazi Germany. This book celebrates the milestones in the history of flight by profiling the aircraft chosen by the curators of the National Air and Space Museum as the most important in their matchless collection. It tells the story of these history-making airplanes and of the men and women who built and flew them. Among the two dozen aircraft featured are the Wright brothers' 1903 Flyer, the first powered airplane to achieve sustained, controllable flight; Charles Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, perhaps the single most famous aircraft in history; the Winnie Mae, flown by Wiley Post on two record arount-the-world flights in the 1930s; the H-1, flown by Howard Hughes to break the world speed record in 1935 and regarded by many as the most beautiful aircraft ever built; and the Bell X-1 that Chuck Yeager flew through the sound barrier. "All of these, and scores of other historic aircraft, have been preserved for posterity by the Smithsonian Institution, but only a fraction of them can be displayed in the Air and Space Museum. The over 300 photographs in Smithsonian Frontiers of Flight reveal the full riches of the museum's collection and glow with the spirit of ingenuity and adventure." "Author Jeffrey L. Ethell, a veteran pilot and acclaimed aviation historian, brings the images to life as he narrates the most dramatic moments in the history of powered flight."--BOOK JACKET.