Aviation: The First 100 Years [Hardcover]

Bill Gunston (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 15, 2002

In 2003, the world will mark the hundredth anniversary of the Wright brothers' historic first flight over Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. This handsome volume celebrates humanity's first century of aviation with lavish illustrations and an exciting chronological account of aeronautical development. Following the Wright brothers came a number of pioneer designers and flyers from several European countries, including Voisin and Bleriot in France and Zeppelin in Germany. World War I saw the birth of fighter and bomber planes, while the decades between the wars witnessed the glamour of competition flying, including Lindbergh's first flight across the Atlantic and Wiley Post's seven-day flight around the world. This era also saw the dawn of commercial flight, which started as airmail service and slowly developed to include passenger service. It was the era of pioneering passenger-carrying aircraft such as the Ford Trimotor and the revolutionary Douglas DC-3. Also covered in detail are the fighters and bombers of World War II, the dawn of the jet age, the evolution of helicopters, and the birth of supersonic flight. An account of the burgeoning of the intercontinental commercial airline industry brings readers to the present, which is marked by intense competition between Boeing of the United States and Airbus of Europe, both vying for the lion's share of the market. Other topics covered in this superlative history include development of general (private) aviation, and a look at radically innovative planes, such as the Concorde SST and the Stealth military aircraft. Hundreds of photos and drawings, most of them in color, enhance an intensely readable text.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Bill Gunston, a veteran of the famed Royal Air Force, piloted 93 different types of aircraft during his military service. Between 1951 and 1970 he was on the staff of Flight International magazine, serving as technical editor during most of that period. Among his current positions is as editor of Jane's Aero-Engines, recognized throughout the industry as the definitive guide in its field. In 1995 he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for services to aviation writing.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Barron's Educational Series; 1 edition (January 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764154230
• ISBN-13: 978-0764154232
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 9.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,384,061 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Memorable history of men and machines conquering of the sky, January 10, 2003

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aviation: The First 100 Years (Hardcover)

Aviation The First 100 Years by experienced pilot and aviation enthusiast Bill Gunston is an exciting and informative history filled with a wealth full-color photographs enhancing a descriptive and accessible text written for readers of all backgrounds. From the warplanes built and flown in the early 1900s, to modern-day airliners behemoths of the sky, Aviation The First 100 Years covers with both depth and style the remarkable and memorable history of men and machines conquering of the sky.

2.0 out of 5 stars Lots of great pictures, but poor narrative, March 22, 2007

By 

nehiker (Boston) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aviation: The First 100 Years (Hardcover)

As the first review mentions, the book is filled with great pictures of planes, engines, airports, etc. taken over the 20th centtury. However, the accompying text is poor by every measure I can think of. According to the book's cover, the author had written 362 books since 1970. This is very impressive, of course, but perhaps at this point he is struggling to just fill up the pages with something.

To start with, there are a number of actual historic errors. There are also inconsistencies in the book. The author throws around technical data to impress the reader, whether or not it is correct or relevant. For example, according to p31, Bert Rutan' Voyager flew 24,986 miles on its around-the-world flight starting with 1,209 gallons on fuel. According to p145, it flew 26,678 miles starting 1,007 of fuel. A caption on p145, describes the Voyager as the only aircraft to fly around the world non-stop; elsewhere on p144 and on p31, it is described correctly as the only aircraft to do so without (mid-air) refueling.

There seems to be no logic to the organization of the book (beyond that the early aircraft is somewhere at the beginnning of the book, while modern and future in the second half). The author mentions the model and often power of engines used on different planes, but does ``GE F404" really tell you anything? While there is a ``Technology" section, it does not explain the difference even between different types (as opposed to specific model) of engines. The prose itself is rather poor, with lots of hype. As an illustration, here is part of one of the picture captions on p73: ``The French pilots preferred the Yak-3 to Western fighters." Did he really find the results of some poll? Yak-3 was a relatively primitive Soviet WWII fighter and hardly on par with the best western and German fighters (though cheaper and simpler to make and service).