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Bombers, cargo planes, and fighter jets--Award-winning journalist Joe Kirby unveils the history behind the making of America's aircrafts from World War II to present day.

The Lockheed Plant in Marietta has been building many of the world's most legendary aircraft for the past 60 years - and that doesn't even count its service building B-29 bombers for the Bell Aircraft Company during World War II. Lockheed's six decades have seen the plant build jet bombers, like the B-47 Stratojet; the world's most dominant fighter jet (the F-22 Raptor); and the most vaunted cargo planes (C-130 Hercules, C-141 StarLifter, and C-5 Galaxy). In Images of America: The Lockheed Plant, readers will learn about those planes, the people who designed and assembled them, and the plant in which they were built. The striking images in this book shared by Lockheed Martin and the Marietta Daily Journal depict the plant from its construction through today.

Straight from the archives of the Hampton Roads Naval Historical Foundation comes this visual history dating back over the installation's more-than 100 year history.

Naval Station Norfolk is the world's largest naval station, supporting the Navy ships, submarines, and aircraft of the US Fleet Forces Command with a multitude of facilities and services.

This shore establishment, located on the historic harbor of Hampton Roads, Virginia, has remained vital to the Navy since its foundation in 1917. Once established, the naval station focused on serving the fleet in four areas: aviation, recruit training, a submarine base, and a supply base. Men and women of the station continued to work on these and other activities through the pressures of World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, and wars in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Throughout its incredible history, Naval Station Norfolk made sure that ships and aircraft were successfully deployed to the far reaches of the globe--the nation's indispensable response to international conflicts. Nowadays, the station is the hub for Navy logistics supporting the defense of the entire Atlantic area, from the North Pole to the South Pole. A must-have for fans of United States Naval and military history.

From its art deco architectural design to its historic integrity and preservation, Floyd Bennett Fieldis a must-have for, aviation, and New York history enthusiasts.

Although New York City was slowly recognizing the need for a municipal airport in the late 1920s, it sought to regain prominence by constructing the most advanced airport of its day.

Construction in the far reaches of Brooklyn was started on October 29, 1929, the day of the stock market crash that heralded the Great Depression. The airport was named posthumously for Floyd Bennett, a Brooklyn native, Navy pilot, and Medal of Honor winner. Unfortunately, because of many factors--including poor timing, politics, and remoteness from Manhattan--the airfield was a commercial failure. Its advanced features, however, made it a mecca for private aircraft and the site of numerous record-breaking flights.

Aviation historian Richard V. Porcelli, author of Arcadia Publishing's NAS Atlantic Cityand numerous articles, tells how the Navy became an early tenant in a move that would impact the airfield's destiny. In 1941, the Navy's presence led to the establishment of NAS New York, which played a key role in the wartime delivery of planes from numerous area factories. After the war, it served as an important Naval Air Reservebase until its closure in 1971.

In 1928, two Santa Fe Railway employees became so intrigued with aviation that they took it upon themselves to lease a parcel of land and build an airport for Albuquerque.

Within one year, Charles Lindbergh chose Albuquerque to be a stop on the nation's first commercial transcontinental air route between Los Angeles and New York.A north-south air route between Denver and El Paso with a stop in Albuquerque was soon established, making the city a crossroads for air service in the Southwest.Using funds from a Works Progress Administration grant, the city then constructed its own airfield, and the Albuquerque Municipal Airport opened in 1939.Since then, this airport--now the Albuquerque International Sunport--has been an air transportation hub for the state of New Mexico and for the Southwest United States, now handling more than five million passengers per year.The development of the Sunport as well as the route structure and aircraft of each and every commercial airline that has served Albuquerque is featured.

Over 200 vintage photographs from the archives of the Air Mobility Museum and other sources provide a sampling of the way it was at Dover Air Force Base through the years.

Dover Air Force Base is the largest aerial port in the United States and home to gigantic jet air transports that are lifelines for our modern military. It started as a municipal airport and has grown and expanded nearly continuously since opening a week after the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941. Its saga is the story of the evolution of the U.S. Air Force from World War II to the present. The pictures in Images of Aviation: Dover Air Force Base represent the thousands of people who called Dover AFB their home, the hundreds of aircraft that have been assigned there, and the dozens of various missions assigned to the facility over the past seven decades.

Since 1912, when a young man named George Gray landed an open-cockpit biplane on a farmer’s field, aviation has played an important role in communities located throughout the 6 million-acre Adirondack Park. Through a range of historic images and postcards, Aurora Pfaff tells the story of pilots who linked communities by air, transported goods and people, and the small towns and airfields that they called home.

From the novelty of planes landing on skis and daredevil flying circuses to forest fire patrols, exploration of the vast backcountry, and toy deliveries by Santa, airplanes have opened the Adirondack wilderness and made remote communities more easily accessible for tourists and adventurers. Yet this golden age for aviation would not last, for as car travel became easier and more affordable in the mid- to late-20th century, air travel in the Adirondacks would fade in importance and necessity.

Aurora Pfaff is a writer and editor living and working in New York state’s Adirondack Park. She has a master’s degree in English from Harvard University, but as a child dreamed of becoming an astronaut. She finally took her first flying lesson in 2022. Images used in Aviation in the Adirondacks come from the Adirondack Experience: The Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, Historic Saranac Lake, Keene Valley Library, Piseco Lake Historical Society, Saranac Lake Free Library Adirondack Research Room, Town of Webb Historical Association, individuals, and other organizations.

Join author and Huntsville native T. Gary Wicks as he uncovers the beginnings and inventions that influenced air and space engineering in Alabama and America.

The air age in Huntsville began more than a century ago with Will Quick's design and construction of a flying machine, which he demonstrated in 1908 for patenting and manufacture. The space age began in Huntsville a half century later with the advent of Wernher Von Braun's Redstone Jupiter C rocket, which launched America's first satellite, Explorer 1, into orbit in 1958. A decade later, Huntsville was at the epicenter of the greatest technological achievement of the 20th century as the Saturn V rocket propelled humankind to the moon. Nowhere in the world is the century's rapid advance of air and space technology more apparent than in Huntsville. This unique evolution of flying machines and space vehicles unfolds in this pictorial documentary, including the dramatic growth of the research facilities and community infrastructure that produced these remarkable inventions.

Discover the dozens of exciting never-before-published images of the people and events at Lunken Airfield.

Lunken Airfield flew headlong into the golden age of aviation in the 1920s. World War I veterans became gutsy barnstormers who had only roads and railroad tracks as navigational landmarks. They gave way to courageous pilots who flew airmail, as well as record makers who flew for the joie de vivre and fame under conditions fraught with danger. These flyers gave way to aircraft engineers and designers who would craft the next generation of planes. Pilots were seduced by the allure of international recognition and wealth, as well as the feeling of freedom experienced in the air. Along the way, they assumed the status of movie stars. On any given day, anyone from a spectator to a mechanic might hobnob with Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Roscoe Turner, or Jimmy Doolittle, who routinely flew in and out of Lunken. Over the decades, Lunken has undergone many changes, but today, as it approaches its centennial, planes still take off and land daily, and crowds still flock to special events.

Though a tragic death tinges the memory with sorrow, the name Stinson is still revered in aviation circles.

By the early 1920s, the charismatic daredevil pilot Eddie Stinson had become famous throughout the US for his fearlessness and skill. In 1926, he and his close friend Bill Mara founded a company to design and manufacture airplanes that combined features then only found in luxury automobiles. The Stinson Aircraft Corporation quickly grew, but sadly its namesake wouldn't live to enjoy the success of his company. In 1932, Stinson was killed in a tragic crash while demonstrating a new model, and ultimately served to propel the company into the hands of larger aircraft manufacturers. Although Stinson's life was short, the world of aviation still admires the airplanes built under his name. Featuring many never-before-published photographs and comprehensive biographical information, Stinson Aircraft Companychronicles a remarkable period in airplane development. It details the growth of Stinson's company, which produced more airplanes for a longer period of time than any other Michigan airframe producer, and reveals the story of Eddie Stinson and Bill Mara, who together made aviation history.

Situated on the northern end of North Carolina's picturesque Outer Banks, Elizabeth City has a strong aviation tradition.

The Wright brothers used the ""Harbor of Hospitality"" as a final way station before traveling on to Kitty Hawk. This coastal town has been the center of United States Coast Guard Aviation since the establishment of the only Coast Guard-owned airport in 1939. Coast Guard Base Elizabeth City began as an installation of six seaplanes operating off of the Pasquotank River. During World War II, the population ballooned to 8,000 assigned personnel. Post-war USCG Aviation expansion saw the addition of many maintenance functions that led to the creation of the Aviation Repair and Supply Base, the center of USCG Aviation maintenance. The base was expanded with a separate air station, the Aviation Technical Training Center, CG Aviation's schoolhouse, Support Center Elizabeth City, and Small Boat Station Elizabeth City. The mission of providing the finest aviation maintenance to Coast Guard Aviation and the highest level of service to mariners of the Virginia Capes and Outer Banks remains an integral part of the installation.

Naval Air Station Jacksonville was commissioned on October 15, 1940, and has trained tens of thousands of naval aviators throughout its long history.

Located along the banks of the St. Johns River, the site and the weather conditions make the base a premier aviation facility. Initially conducting primary and seaplane training, it expanded to training pilots in almost every type of aircraft the Navy has flown. The Navy's elite precision aviators, the Blue Angels, were formed at the base in 1946. Today, as a master anti submarine base, it remains home to 15 aviation squadrons; some 115 tenant commands and almost 20,000 military, civilian, and contract employees work at the station daily.