Name: Aviation in the Adirondacks
Brand: Aurora Pfaff
SKU: 9781467161541
Price: 24.99 USD
Availability: InStock

Aviation in the Adirondacks

9781467161541

$24.99

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.

Cover image for Aviation in the Adirondacks, isbn: 9781467161541

Los Angeles International Airport

9780738555829

$24.99

Growth on the flatlands along the western extents of Imperial Highway in the 1920s was once measured in beans, barley, and jackrabbits. After 2000, the site that became Los Angeles International Airport would be measured by the more than 60 million passengers and nearly two million tons of cargo passing through it each year. One of the world's busiest airports grew out of Mines Field and expanded quickly in the 1930s with the exploits of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart, Howard Hughes and Will Rogers, Curtiss and Martin, and Boeing and Lockheed. After World War II, this large portion of coastal Los Angeles between El Segundo and Marina del Rey became the main airport for Greater Los Angeles. With the advent of the jet age in the town of the jet set, LAX became a nexus of international travel and a symbol of sophistication as the Gateway to the World, a cutting-edge center for the overlapping spheres of aviation, business, politics, and entertainment.

McChord Field

9780738599717

$24.99

McChord Field, tucked away in the Pacific Northwest, maintains an understated presence. Yet this subdued outpost plays a vital role in major conflicts around the world. On July 3, 1940, McChord officially opened as a training base, developing bomber crews for aircraft such as B-17s, B-18s, B-25s, B26s, and even some of the Doolittle Raiders. Strategically located, McChord functioned as an aircraft modification center, producing P-39s, the Soviet Union's most venerable aircraft, as well as a homeland defense center during World War II. The dawning of the Cold War expanded air defense operations with the newly formed Air Defense Command, receiving the P-61, followed by the F-86, F-102, F-106, and F-15. A global airlift hub using C-124s, C-141s, and C-17s, McChord has supported humanitarian, Antarctic, and wartime missions for America.

Huntsville Air and Space

9780738566078

$24.99

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.

Lunken Airfield

9780738592176

$24.99

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.

Curtiss-Wright

9780738538709

$24.99

The oldest names in aviation joined forces in 1929, when Wright Aeronautical and Curtiss Aeroplane formed the giant Curtiss-Wright Corporation. Curtiss airplanes were already "the best things with wings," while Charles Lawrance had made Wright powerplants the leader in American radial engines. Aviation founding father Glenn Curtiss, along with superstars Charles A. Lindbergh, Jimmy Doolittle, Admiral Byrd, and "Wrong-Way" Corrigan, all blazed skytrails with Wright engines and Curtiss wings. Tiny Sparrowhawk biplane fighters flew from airborne dirigibles. Huge factories poured out war birds in tens of thousands for World War II. Pilots flew them everywhere, from the African desert to Alaskan ice, South Sea islands, and even the Taj Mahal. Relive those days when women, old men, and teenagers kept the factories roaring, and follow Curtiss-Wright clear into the 21st century.

Aviation in Tulsa and Northeast Oklahoma

9780738561639

$24.99

Early balloonists, called aeronauts, traveled across Oklahoma from fair to festival to exhibit their feats of derring-do. Some parachuted from their balloons while others would slide down to the ground on cables attached to their balloons from heights upward to 1,000 feet. Soon after the Wright brothers proved the possibility of powered, controllable flight, local Oklahoma inventors were building their creations and hoping to be the first to be called pilot in the state. Once oil was discovered in the state, aviation literally took off. The early-day oil barons quickly seized on the utility of aviation. They could be the first on the scene in western Oklahoma or the Texas panhandle to sign a mineral lease or have a broken-down drilling rig back in action in short order by flying in the parts needed. From these humble beginnings sprang the aerospace industry that would carry Tulsa and northeast Oklahoma into the 21st century.

Aviation in Tulsa and Northeast Oklahoma

Seattle's Commercial Aviation:

9780738571010

$24.99

Interested in aviation as early as 1910, William Boeing waited until 1914 for his first airplane ride. In 1916, he founded the airplane company that put Seattle on the aviation map. Before Boeing, Seattle featured aircraft builders like Eugene Romano, G. T. Takasou, Tom Hamilton, and Herb Munter. Boeing emerged during World War I and, by the beginning of World War II, had become a world leader. In those years, lesser known individuals like Eddie Hubbard, Percy Barnes, Vern Gorst, the Becvar brothers, Elliott Merrill, Jim Galvin, and Lana Kurtzer influenced commercial aviation around Seattle. Drawing on photographs from around the area, Seattle's Commercial Aviation: 1908-1941 illustrates the early days beginning with dirigible flights, recognizes the arrival of commercial airmail and the airlines, salutes the local operators, and marks Seattle's emergence as the aviation gateway to Alaska.

US Airways

9780738596235

$24.99

The history of US Airways begins in 1939 as All American Aviation, flying single-engine Stinson Reliant aircraft to carry mail under a contract by the US Postal Service. By 1953, All American became Allegheny Airlines with the goal to become one of America's premier airlines in the East. Allegheny grew by acquiring other airlines, the first being Lake Central Airlines in 1968, followed by Mohawk Airlines in 1972. In 1979, Allegheny became US Air to reflect the airline's desire to grow to the West Coast; this was followed by merging with PSA in 1988, Piedmont in 1989, Trump Shuttle in 1992, and America West in 2005. US Airways is now the fifth-largest airline in the United States, operating more than 2,000 flights daily. This book tells the story of the many men and women who transformed a small regional airline to become one of America's great success stories.

Barbers Point NAS

9781467133296

$24.99

Rising from the ashes of the Pearl Harbor attack, Barbers Point Naval Air Station would become a major staging point for US Navy aircraft for the war in the Pacific, culminating with the surrender of the Empire of Japan. With the end of World War II in the Pacific and throughout the Cold War, Barbers Point would be home base for the US Navy's fleet of maritime patrol aircraft that hunted the growing threat of Soviet submarines prowling the vast Pacific. From 1942 until its closing in 1999, Barbers Point was the US Navy's only naval air station in the Pacific.

San Diego International Airport, Lindbergh Field

9780738589084

$24.99

Now formally known as San Diego International Airport, Lindbergh Field was named in honor of Charles Lindbergh and has been a center of aeronautic activity since its dedication in 1928. Many famous personalities and events have been associated with the airstrip, which quickly grew to include a Coast Guard Air Station, three airlines, two flying schools, and Ryan Aeronautical. In 1935, Consolidated Aircraft relocated to Lindbergh Field, transforming it into an aviation manufacturing center. Situated just three miles north of downtown San Diego, Lindbergh Field serves more than 50,000 travelers a day, making San Diego International Airport the busiest single-runway commercial airport today in the United States.

Stinson Aircraft Company

9780738520209

$24.99

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.

The Navy at Point Mugu

9780738575322

$24.99

Point Mugu has played a major part in naval history since 1943, when a small group of US Navy Seabees and several newly organized amphibious units headed across the Oxnard Plain to establish an advance base training facility. Toward the end of World War II, the small naval air base began testing newly developed guided missiles, pilotless aircraft, and special weapons to combat kamikaze pilots. This early testing transitioned Point Mugu from a temporary base into a pioneer in the world of science and national defense. On October 1, 1946, the Naval Air Missile Test Center Point Mugu and, later, the Pacific Missile Range were established to create, research, and test weapons systems. Point Mugu continues to support many diverse military missions, including testing weapons systems, operating space satellite systems, and providing radar and communication support to the naval aviation community.

Teterboro Airport

9780738572178

$24.99

Teterboro Airport has been in continuous use since 1916 and was once the busiest airport in the country. In 1925, the Fokker Company opened an American subsidiary, the Atlantic Aircraft Corporation, and Teterboro-built Fokker trimotors dominated the industry for a decade. In the 1920s and 1930s, record-setting flights became a national obsession, and many of the flights originated or terminated at Teterboro Airport. In 1939, the Goodyear blimp Mayflower made daily sightseeing flights over the New York City world's fair. In 1952, television personality Arthur Godfrey buzzed the control tower while taking off in his DC-3. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey purchased the airport in 1949 and made major investments in airport infrastructure. Today the New Jersey Aviation Hall of Fame and Museum is located at the airport.

Akron Aviation

9781467111324

$24.99

Everyone loves a good adventure story. The history of Akron aviation provides all the real-life pathos of any adventure novel. It all began in 1875, when a young farmer named Jack C. Johnston launched himself and his balloon on one of the wildest flights ever recorded. In 1906, John Gammeter, an Akron inventor, built his own airplane and began making regular flights over the city. In Akron, the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company saw the future of air commerce and would go on to write its own chapter in aviation history on a global scale. The story of Akron aviation is one of incredible triumphs and unspeakable tragedies. It is the story of men and women determined to conquer the air. Akron aviation matured along with the city, and the two intertwined to become a major influence in northern Ohio as well as the country.

New Mexico Space Trail

9780738599502

$24.99

In the Southwestern United States, the skies above New Mexico have provided an amazing stargazing experience for two millennia. Images of America: New Mexico Space Trail catalogs sites within the state that have inspired humankind to reach for the stars. The Space Trail includes various archaeoastronomy locations, such as Chaco Canyon, which Native Americans used to predict agricultural schedules according to the sun's position during the solstice. Rocket development in Roswell, missile launches in the Tularosa Basin, astronomy efforts around the state, and commercial space flights are just a few of the stops along the trail. Join the journey and discover night skies that are so dark that the Milky Way and its millions of luminous stars create shadows over the desert landscape.

Dayton Aviation

9780738593890

$24.99

Hallowed skies blanket Dayton, Ohio, a city once known as the "Cradle of Aviation"--and with good reason. It was in Dayton that two brothers became the unlikely creators of the world's first airplane, but that is just the start of the story. Dayton Aviation: The Wright Brothers to McCook Field examines Dayton's civil and military aviation history from its start with the Wright Brothers to the founding of Wright and Patterson Fields in the 1930s, a period that saw the construction of the world's first airport, the Huffman Flying Prairie. Dayton was home to the first airplane factory and, later, the world's largest aircraft factory. The city introduced the world to crop dusting, landing lights, free-fall parachutes, pressurized cabins, night aerial photography, the first private-cabin plane, and the first strategic bomber. In downtown Dayton, office workers could look out windows and watch history unfold as pilots broke one world record after another in the skies over the city. Dayton was, and still is, the airplane capital of the world. These images, captured by the founding fathers of aviation, show that from 1904 through the 1930s, if it was happening in the air, it was happening in Dayton.

Central Oregon Aviation

9781467106870

$23.99

This book will take readers back in time to the pioneering days of Central Oregon, when birdmen and barnstormers crisscrossed the skies in their Wright Flyers, Curtiss Jennys, and Ford Trimotors. In the early days, the dusty high desert airfields were home to flimsy airplanes. As air travel evolved from utilizing seat-of-the-pants construction to becoming a new mode of mass transportation, the Central Oregon region developed along with the technology. Over the next century, a dedicated group of visionaries--aviators and city officials--built a thriving economy around Redmond Municipal Airport. Today, this transportation hub, also known as Roberts Field, sees an average of 1 million passengers each year. It is complemented by smaller general aviation airports that are home to private and corporate pilots, as well as a flourishing aviation industry.

Coast Guard Base Elizabeth City

9780738518367

$24.99

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.

Bunker Hill and Grissom Air Force Base

9781467115087

$24.99

As the US Navy recovered from the devastating attack on Pearl Harbor, the aircraft carrier earned a place alongside the battleship, and the Navy grew its air force. Pilots were needed as fast as American industry could build airplanes, and Indiana became the home of a naval air-training center. After fascism's defeat with the end of World War II, a potentially more deadly Cold War brought the need for a deterrent force capable of surviving a nuclear attack and then completely destroying the enemy. A vital part of that force moved into the old Hoosier Navy Base in 1954. For more than three decades, Bunker Hill and Grissom airmen stood on the forward wall of America's freedom. Images of Aviation: Bunker Hill and Grissom Air Force Base tells their story through an amazing collection of declassified US Air Force photographs.

Naval Air Station Jacksonville

9781467111058

$24.99

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.

Randolph Field

9781467132336

$24.99

Once touted as the "West Point of the air" in the pre-Air Force Academy years, Randolph Field/Air Force Base is famous for its Spanish Colonial Revival architecture, its iconic Administration Building (nicknamed the "Taj Mahal"), and its rectangular layout. Allowed by the Army hierarchy to design its own installation from the ground up, the Army Air Corps hit a home run in design uniqueness and functionality. When the Corps of Engineers built the base, working from 1928 to 1931, it was its biggest project since the Panama Canal. Randolph has been a popular assignment location for Air Force members for over 80 years and is currently home to the 12th Flying Training Wing, the Air Education and Training Command Headquarters, and the Air Force Personnel Center. Thousands have passed through Randolph's gates as students and permanent personnel, and many have chosen to live in the San Antonio area after discharge or retirement. Carefully landscaped with trees and shrubbery from the very beginning, Randolph is the "showplace of the Air Force."

Alaska's Bush Pilots

9781467131834

$24.99

A thrilling ride alongside the daredevil aviators who first braved the unknown of Alaska's wilderness.

Bush pilots are known as rough, tough, resourceful people who fly their aircraft into tight spots in the worst of weather. Alaska's bush pilots are all of that and more. Acting as pioneers in a land with 43,000 miles of coastline and North America's largest mountains, Alaska's bush pilots were and are visionaries of a lifestyle of freedom. Flying came late to Alaska but caught on quickly. The first flight was made over a three-day exhibition at Fairbanks, July 3-5, 1913. James Martin first flew that aircraft, owned by him and his wife, Lilly, and investors Arthur Williams and R.S. McDonald. Ever since, Alaskan bush pilots have found that they were calculators of their own fate, flying in fragile aircraft over vast stretches of tundra or through towering mountain passes. This book examines the pioneer aviators and the aircraft types such as the Stearman, Stinson, and Lockheed, many of which were tested and crashed in the far north regions of Alaska.

Naval Air Station Wildwood

9780738572123

$24.99

Commissioned on April 1, 1943, Naval Air Station Wildwood trained thousands of U.S. Navy airmen during World War II. Located in southern New Jersey on a peninsula bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and Delaware Bay, the air station was perfectly sited to provide them with the over-water practice they needed for fighting the Japanese fleet in the western Pacific theater. Some of the war's most lethal bombers-Helldivers and TBM-3E Avengers among them-were flown by members of naval fighter, dive-bombing, and torpedo-bombing squadrons based at the station from 1943 until 1945. At least 42 airmen lost their lives while training at the station, but their deaths brought about improvements in airplane design and tactics. Today only a handful of the station's 126 original buildings remain; the largest of these, Hangar No. 1, has been restored to its original appearance and houses Naval Air Station Wildwood Aviation Museum.

Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic

9780738552965

$24.99

In 1972, two pilots--one a federal career engineer, the other the pastor of a prominent church in Washington, D.C.--discovered a common passion for flying airplanes and serving people. One day over lunch, the men conceived a flight plan, one that would undergo many changes before becoming Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic, as it is known today. Ed Boyer of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and Dr. Louis Evans, pastor of the National Presbyterian Church, discussed how to pool their interests and qualifications. From its beginnings as a charitable shuttle service for religious leaders and dignitaries, to full-scale charitable air ambulance operations, to Angel Flights for ambulatory patients, the initial vision has grown into a network of over 1,500 volunteer pilots in the Mid-Atlantic region who use their private planes to fly people in need to specialized treatment. Angel Flight coordinates missions of mercy from its offices in Virginia Beach, helping patients to find "the shortest distance between home and hope."

Moffett Field

9780738531328

$24.99

The looming immensity of Moffett Field's Hangar One, built in 1933 to house the world's largest--and last--rigid-frame dirigible, is an unforgettable South Bay landmark. The lighter-than-air Macon cost 2.5 million Depression-era dollars and could hold 100 men and five Sparrowhawk biplanes, yet its silvery bulk hovered silently or sailed up to 80 miles an hour. It drew crowds as it darkened the skies around Mountain View until it broke up in a storm two years later. Other blimp squadrons, equipped with carrier pigeons instead of biplanes, succeeded the Macon. Moffett Field has at various times served the navy, army, and the air force. Now home to the world's largest wind tunnel, the NASA Ames Research Center also supports research that blazes the frontiers of supercomputing, robotics, space sciences, astrobiology, and nanotechnology.

The Bell Bomber Plant

9780738567457

$24.99

Few would have believed in the late 1930s that Depression-wracked Marietta and Cobb County, where cotton was still king, would later be the site of the largest industrial complex south of the Mason-Dixon line, or that it would be churning out hundreds of the largest and most technically advanced airplanes ever built to that point. Images of America: The Bell Bomber Plant uses more than 200 photographs to recount how opportunistic local leaders persuaded the federal government to build an airfield in Marietta and then parlayed it into the plant. It tells the story of how a workforce of undereducated farmers and thousands of "Rosie the Riveters" proved surprisingly adept at mastering the technical challenges of building bombers, and of how the plant jump-started the transformation of Cobb County from a semi-rural backwater to a suburban Southern powerhouse.

Along Manhasset Bay

9781467105026

$24.99

The waters of Manhasset Bay have long been an incubator for innovation and prosperity. While early baymen sought their livelihood through clam digging and fishing, a new industry by way of sand mining forever changed the bucolic hilltops that overlooked the bay. While the sand mining industry brought prosperity and notoriety, the industry's use of heavy machinery and hydraulic pumps leveled the peninsula, once known for its lush grazing pastures. During the early 1900s, areas such as Port Washington, Manhasset, and Great Neck flourished into commuter, suburban towns. Shifting from a farming to a suburban community, homes began to develop along Manhasset Bay. Urbanization brought new housing and businesses such as hotels and lavish restaurants. As an epicenter for aviation, the bay launched historic flights through a then-fledgling Pan American Airway Corporation on Manhasset Isle. Elite yacht clubs and grand estates dotted the shoreline, all catering to a growing population looking to the bay for its leisure and livelihood. The once-tranquil waters are now a hub for city vacationers, bustling commuters, and entrepreneurs.

Pacific Southwest Airlines

9780738581125

$24.99

With its low fares and friendly service, Pacific Southwest Airlines (PSA) was one of the most successful regional airlines in American history. Its distinctive orange, red, and white planes, complete with a beaming smile were immediately recognizable to those living on the West Coast. The airline was also known for employing beautiful and sociable flight attendants. Kenny Friedkin, the founder of PSA, started in 1949 with one leased DC-3 and expanded his fleet to serve millions of passengers each year. Although PSA is no longer in operation, its successful business model of low-priced, efficient service was copied by other airlines and today is considered the norm. In addition, former PSA employees still gather annually to relive the camaraderie they experienced as being a part of one of the most unique airlines of all time.

The Navy in Norco

9780738575261

$24.99

On December 8, 1941, sixty miles from the ocean, the US Navy rolled into Norco. There, on the grounds of the former Norconian Resort, the federal government built what may have been the finest and most complete World War II naval hospital in the nation. The first patients to arrive were those wounded during the attack on Pearl Harbor; they were cared for in luxurious rooms once reserved for movie stars. By 1945, approximately 5,000 sailors and Marines were being treated. In 1951, the smartest physicists, engineers, and mathematicians in the world set up laboratories in the hospital's tubercular wards and entered into the Cold War. Today the hospital is gone, but the magnificent buildings and top secret naval laboratory remain, along with thousands of photographs of one of the most historic and colorful sites in America.

Soaring and Gliding

9780738540719

$24.99

To fly as the hawk and eagle has been mankind's dream for centuries.
Modern sailplanes make soaring and gliding flight possible, and with them, humans can fly higher, faster, and farther than the greatest of birds, using only an invisible force of nature to stay aloft. The terms soaring and gliding are used interchangeably, and the sport is appealing to pilot and spectator alike. Sailplane enthusiasts have always been explorers, always looking for a more ideal site that will provide the intellectual challenges of soaring as well as the sheer beauty and relaxation the sport can offer. Michigan-based glider pilots and designers found their soaring paradise in the early 1930s when they ventured north to the Sleeping Bear Dunes area. The explorers began to promote the sport to national and international prominence, and many came to make up a veritable who's who of American aeronautics. Over a century after Octave Chanute discovered motorless flight on the Lake Michigan dunes, sailplanes, hang gliders, and paragliders still fill the skies.

Naval Air Station Atlantic City

9780738576701

$24.99

Few would guess Atlantic City has a rich aviation history, being instrumental in many technical advances and playing a key role in the defense of the nation. The wartime role of Naval Air Station Atlantic City, commissioned in 1943, was training naval fighter pilots as well as developing technology and procedures for ground controlled interception of enemy aircraft. After the war, Atlantic City was the site of testing new Navy aircraft as well as the development of all-weather, night-fighting, and attack capabilities. After the Navy left in 1958, the airfield became home to the Federal Aviation Administration's premier research center, a New Jersey Air National Guard jet fighter base, a US Coast Guard air station, and Atlantic City International Airport.

Oakland Aviation

9780738556000

$24.99

From hot-air balloons to jets, no other place has had a more diverse and significant aviation history than the city of Oakland. Starting in the mid-1850s with balloons, the city has seen the development of many aircraft innovations, including gliders, the first powered dirigible in North America, some of the first powered airplanes, and even early flying boats. Oakland witnessed the advent of stunt flying, the first transpacific flights, and the Dole Race, as well as many early commercial aviation operations, and a host of other groundbreaking advancements.

Mobile Aviation

9780738586830

$24.99

Local businessman and inventor John Ellis Fowler introduced the concept of the flying machine to Mobile and South Alabama. Fowler's innovative designs mark the beginning of the remarkable aviation heritage of Alabama's port city, a legacy further enhanced by the evolution of military and civilian aviation on Alabama's Gulf Coast. A mild climate and abundance of flat terrain made the region attractive for the establishment of military flight training programs during the World War II while the availability of air, rail, and sea transportation made Mobile an ideal location for construction of a supply and repair depot to support military aviation in the Southeast. Images of Aviation: Mobile Aviation is the story of the first century of powered flight in Mobile and South Alabama.