The first generation of American turbojet airliners were the industry's main players throughout the 1960s -- a decade which saw widespread acceptance of jet travel and the replacement of prop-driven aircraft. By today's standards, however, these airplanes were unacceptably noisy and serious polluters. This book looks at the three major jetliners of the decade, providing details of design, production, and service. It's packed with superb period color photography resurrecting a bygone era of jet travel.

A combination of modern and period photos gives readers an overview of the evolution of American airliners and the heyday of luxury air travel. 100 photos.

Except in a few instances, since World War II no American soldier or sailor has been attacked by enemy air power. Conversely, no enemy soldier orsailor has acted in combat without being attacked or at least threatened by American air power. Aviators have brought the air weapon to bear against enemies while denying them the same prerogative. This is the legacy of the U.S. AirForce, purchased at great cost in both human and material resources.More often than not, aerial pioneers had to fight technological ignorance, bureaucratic opposition, public apathy, and disagreement over purpose.Every step in the evolution of air power led into new and untrodden territory, driven by humanitarian impulses; by the search for higher, faster, and farther flight; or by the conviction that the air way was the best way. Warriors have always coveted the high ground. If technology permitted them to reach it, men, women andan air force held and exploited it-from Thomas Selfridge, first among so many who gave that "last full measure of devotion"; to Women's Airforce Service Pilot Ann Baumgartner, who broke social barriers to become the first Americanwoman to pilot a jet; to Benjamin Davis, who broke racial barriers to become the first African American to command a flying group; to Chuck Yeager, a one-time non-commissioned flight officer who was the first to exceed the speed of sound; to John Levitow, who earned the Medal of Honor by throwing himself over a live flare to save his gunship crew; to John Warden, who began a revolution in air power thought and strategy that was put to spectacular use in the Gulf War.Industrialization has brought total war and air power has brought the means to overfly an enemy's defenses and attack its sources of power directly. Americans have perceived air power from the start as a more efficient means of waging war and as a symbol of the nation's commitment to technology to master challenges, minimize casualties, and defeat adversaries.

This book traces the history of aviation in America, from its early days to post-World War II. The book covers a range of topics, including the first transatlantic flight, the birth of precision bombing, the development of the first aircraft carrier, and the growth of commercial air travel. It also provides a detailed account of key events and innovations in American aviation and the impact of aviation on modern society.

Few industrial phenomena have been as dramatic as the United States’ mid-20th-century shift from peacetime to wartime production. The American Aircraft Factory in World War II documents the production of legendary warbirds by companies like Boeing, North American, Curtiss, Consolidated, Douglas, Grumman, and Lockheed. It was a production unmatched by any other country and a crucial part of why the allies won the war. Author Bill Yenne considers the prewar governmental acts that got the plants rolling, as well as the gender shift that occurred as women entered the work force like never before. He also describes the construction of megafactories like Willow Run, factory design considerations, and the postwar conversion back to peacetime production. Illustrated with 175 period photographs—including 50 rare color photos never before seen in print.

Area 51's most important military aviation developments are profiled in an illustrated format. When most of us think of Area 51, we think of aliens, UFOs, and controversial government cover-ups. It's easy to forget that, since the mid-1950s, the United States' famed extension of Edwards Air Force Base has served as a top-secret CIA testing ground for many of the most groundbreaking advancements in American military aviation technology. In Area 51 - Black Jets, author and military historian Bill Yenne offers the first fully illustrated chronology of Area 51's most famous aircraft projects, including Lockheed's U-2 "Dragon Lady" and SR-71 "Blackbird" reconnaissance planes, drones ranging from the early Lockheed D-21 to the modern-day General Atomics MQ-1 Predator, and the famous F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighter produced by the Have Blue program during the 1970s. Each project is given its own fascinating chapter illuminating the aircraft's development at this famed location. But beyond the aircraft themselves, Area 51 - Black Jets also covers a handful of the many classified experimental programs carried out at Area 51 over the years, such as Have Doughnut, Have Ferry, and Have Drill - secret undertakings that successfully reverse-engineered such enemy aircraft as the Russian MiG during the Cold War. Presented in beautiful hardcover format and illustrated with historic color and black-and-white photographs, diagrams, and maps, this book reveals Area 51 for what it truly is: a clandestine area for the United States' most cutting-edge technological innovators in military aviation.

"Readers are brought from commercial air transport's very beginnings to the zenith of what is fondly referred to as flying in the "Golden Age of Air Transport," when jetliners were still on the drawing board or in early production, and still a dream to come for passengers and crew."--Provided by publisher.

This volume focuses on the influence of America’s Second World War aviation development and experience, subsequent aviation technological advances, and world events, in shaping American choices in military aircraft and associated weapons’ development during the few years following the war. It shows how air warfare weapons from the last conflict were carried forward and altered, how new systems evolved from these, and how the choices fared in the next war―Korea. The period was one of remarkable progress in a short span of time via a great many aircraft and weapons programs, and associated technological progress. These systems were of immense importance influencing and growing the engineering, production, and operational capabilities to be exploited for the next generation of weapons that soon followed. Emphasized is the innovative features or new technology and how these contributed to advancing American military aviation, influencing the evolution of follow-on models or types. Included are military prototype, experimental, and research aircraft that are equally important in understanding the history of American aircraft development. Combat employment, progress, and equipment adaptation during the Korean Conflict is then highlighted. Tabulated characteristics are provided of those aircraft that entered production or represented significant technological advances influencing others that follow.

Glenn Curtiss (1878–1930) was a self-taught aeronautical engineer, a self-­made industrialist, and one of the first airplane pilots, the model for “Tom Swift.” C. R. Roseberry’s biography begins with Curtiss’s years in Hammondsport, New York, his experiments with designing and learning to fly his own airplanes, and his many “firsts” in aviation history. Establishing one of the first aviation schools, Curtiss also developed a highly successful aviation company and designed one of the most popular early American planes—the Curtiss JN-4 (the “Jenny”). More than just a biography, this is also a well-documented history of the development of aviation and the key figures associated with it during the first three crucial decades of this century. Through an examination of Curtiss’s dealings with people such as Alexander Graham Bell, his original partner, and Wilbur and Orville Wright, his most important rivals, Roseberry provides insight into the overall development of flight in America. Aviation enthusiasts, historians, those interested in American technology and industry, and all who enjoy a good story will welcome this book.