Dawn Over Kitty Hawk: The Novel of the Wright Brothers [Mass Market Paperback]

Walter J. Boyne (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2, 2005

Walter J. Boyne, the world's foremost historian on aviation and the former director of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, presents this fascinating, historically accurate, fictional account of all the cutthroat personalities who strived to be the first to take the air. Of course Wilbur and Orville Wright etched their names in history as the inventors of the airplane, but lost are their contemporaries who shared their same passion. Some spent entire lives and fortunes chasing the dream of flight, including men like the embittered Augustus Herring, the pompous Samuel Pierpont Langley of the Smithsonian Institution, who was backed by the U.S. War Department, Glenn Curtiss, the Wright Brothers most fierce competition, and even the legendary American inventor Alexander Graham Bell---after all, what these men set out accomplish would surely catapult them into fame and fortune, and drastically alter the course of history for decades to come.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

With the hundredth anniversary of Wilbur and Orville Wright's flight at Kitty Hawk, several nonfiction books have commemorated the historic event. Now comes a novel about these brothers who developed the first powered aircraft. Blending fact and fiction, Boyne offers an interesting cast of characters, primarily Wilbur and Orville, who owned a bicycle shop, and their father, Milton, a 70-year-old preacher who opposed his sons' plans to fly, fearing they would be killed. But there is also sister Katharine, who is having a torrid affair with a friend; Samuel Langley, a scientist and secretary of the Smithsonian Institution; and Octave Chanute, an aeronautics expert. But let us not forget Albert Blohm, a scientist and professor who tried to repudiate the Wright brothers' claim to be the first to fly; Annette Coujade, Blohm's mistress; and Augustus Herring, an aviation pioneer. The love affairs may be fact or fiction, but Boyne, a former director of the National Air and Space Museum and author of Weapons of Desert Storm (1991), has written an absorbing book, rich in detail. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"The stirring story of the Wright brothers, plus a colorful supporting cast of high-flyers during the baby-step era of aviation, entertainingly presented-warts and all."-Kirkus Review on Dawn Over Kitty Hawk

"A fascinating account from a respected authority. Boyne captures the passions of the people in aviation's earliest days who risked-and sometimes lost-everything to accomplish the impossible."--W. E. B. Griffin on Dawn Over Kitty Hawk

"Dawn Over Kitty Hawk is an amazing book. Not only is it riveting history, it is also a suspense story that takes readers inside the ferocious competition to be the first in flight."-Thomas Fleming on Dawn Over Kitty Hawk

"Dawn Over Kitty Hawk goes beyond two men and science and technology. It is about America, the meaning of this country, the inspiration of freedom, the exhilaration of curiosity, being first and being unafraid."-Hugh Sidey on Dawn Over Kitty Hawk

"The Wright brothers gave flight to mankind's great dream. Walter Boyne has given their story wings. It is a compelling adventure of men, their vision, and their travails written in a manner that captures the excitement and thrill of that first flight."-Harold Coyle on Dawn Over Kitty Hawk

"A magnificent novel of the dawn of the aviation age by the world's foremost aviation historian, Dawn Over Kitty Hawk dramatically exposes the humanity, conflicts, and genius of the men who gave us wings. This terrific historical novel is as captivating, and revealing, as Gore Vidal's Lincoln. You owe yourself this ride."-Stephen Coonts on Dawn Over Kitty Hawk

"This book is for everyone whoever built a flying model, overhauled a motorscooter just for fun, or wondered what kind of people stepped into early flying machines when cold sober."-Dean Ing on Dawn Over Kitty Hawk

"Mr. Boyne has done for the Wright brothers and aviation what Shaara did for Gettysburg and the Civil War. Based on his extensive knowledge of the birth of aviation, he brings to life people that were people-not just names and dates in history books."-Larry Bond on Dawn Over Kitty lHawk

"Boyne flies solo, takes the facts from the ground and gives them wing as an engrossing story. He's taken well researched dry historical data and made it a fun and easy read."-Autoweek on Dawn Over Kitty Hawk

"The stirring story of the Wright brothers, plus a colorful supporting cast of high-flyers during the baby-step era of aviation, entertainingly presented-warts and all."-Kirkus Review on Dawn Over Kitty Hawk

"A superb novel that captures the intense drive and pioneering spirit that motivated Orville and Wilbur Wright to become the first aviators to take the skies in powered flight."-Roanoke Times on Dawn Over Kitty Hawk

"Absorbing . . . rich in detail."-Booklist on Dawn Over Kitty Hawk

"In this historical novel, Boyne displays an extraordinary knowledge of early flight and the men who invented and flew the 'heavier-than-air flying machines' of the early 1900s."-Library Journal on Dawn Over Kitty Hawk

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Forge Books (August 2, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0765343932
• ISBN-13: 978-0765343932
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #594,619 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

BIOGRAPHICAL MATERIAL
WALTER J. BOYNE
Walter J. Boyne was the Director of the National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution from 1983 to 1986, and Acting Director from 1981 to 1983. He retired in August, 1986 to pursue a career as a novelist, nonfiction author and consultant. He is one of the few writers to have both fiction and nonfiction books on the New York Times Best Seller lists. An inventor, he has been awarded a patent on an advanced information retrieval system. He is currently chairman of the board of the National Aeronautics Association, and on July 21, 2007 was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame. He has served twice as an expert witness for Lockheed Martin, once in 1999 and once in 2003. He is currently Chairman of the Board of the National Aeronautic Association.
A career Air Force officer, Boyne entered the Aviation Cadet program in 1951, and won his wings and commission in 1952. He has flown over 5,000 hours in a score of different aircraft, from a Piper Cub to a B 1B, and is a Command Pilot. Boyne retired as a Colonel on June 1, 1974 after 23 years of service. In November, 1989, he returned for familiarization flights in the B 1B bomber.
He began writing articles on aviation subjects in 1962, and has since then completed more than 1,000 articles, forty-four non-fiction books and eight novels. His books have been published in England, Germany, Italy, Spain, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Russia, Japan and China. He is the author of aviation sections in the Encyclopedia Britannica, as well as in three other encyclopedias, including Encarta. He is the editor of the (2002) Encyclopedia of Air Warfare, by ABC-Clio.
His latest novel Hypersonic Thunder is the third of a trilogy on the history of jet aviation. In 2007, he published "Soaring to Glory, The Air Force Memorial" and "Beyond the Wild Blue, A History of the United States Air Force, 1947-2007. In 2003, Dawn Over Kitty Hawk was published by Tor/Forge, part of St. Martin's Press, It was followed by The Influence of Air Power on History, published in July, 2003, by Pelican Publishing. His Chronicle of Flight, a 95,000 word, 1,000 photograph history of flight appeared from Publications International in August, 2003. His Operation Iraqi Freedom: What Went Right, What Went Wrong and Why was published by TOR/Forge (St. Martins Press) in that same month. In October, 2003, Rising Tide, the story of the Russian and Soviet submarine force was published, co-authored with Gary Weir. In December, two works were published that Boyne edited, Aviation 100, Volume III, and The Alpha Guide to the Military
His first novel The Wild Blue (co-authored with Steven L. Thompson) was published by Crown Publishers. It was a national best seller on the New York Times list in both hard cover and paperback editions, and won the Aviation/Space Writers Association Award for best Fiction Book of 1986. His second novel, Trophy for Eagles, a solo effort, was published by Crown in May, 1989, and received strong critical acclaim. The second novel in the trilogy, Eagles at War was published in May, 1991, to similar reviews. In January, 1991, he published Weapons of Desert Storm and Gulf War. Weapons of Desert Storm made the New York Time's nonfiction best seller's list. The third novel of his trilogy, Air Force Eagles was published in June, 1992.
A nonfiction book, Classic Aircraft was published in the summer of 1992. Art in Flight , a book on the magnificent work of sculptor John Safer, was published in October of 1992..Silver Wings, a nonfiction history of the Air Force appeared in October, 1993, while Clash of Wings, a nonfiction history of the great air campaigns of World War II, appeared in June, 1994. It was a main selection of the History Book of the Month Club for July, 1994. Both of the latter two books are published by Simon & Schuster, as is Clash of Titans a non-fiction history of the great sea campaigns of World War II, which was published in June, 1995.
Beyond the Wild Blue, A History of the United States Air Force, 1947-1997 was published in 1997 for St. Martin's Press. It is on the USAF's Chief of Staff's required reading list for Air Force personnel. The Air Force Association presented Boyne the Gill Robb Wilson Award in recognition of what has been called the definitive history of the United States Air Force. In 1998, St. Martin's Press published his "Beyond the Horizons" a history of the Lockheed Company from 1913 to 1995. It has received unanimous critical acclaim . His next work was co-editing an anthology with Philip Handleman . It is titled Brassey's Air Combat Reader , and was published by Brassey in 1999.
An earlier nonfiction book, The Smithsonian Book of Flight published in June, 1987, was a Book of the Month Club Premium selection, won the New York Public Library Prize, and sold some 400,000 copies. In 1986, The Leading Edge was also a Book of the Month Club Premium Selection. It won the Best Non Fiction Book of 1986 Award by the Aviation/Space Writers Association. It was also published in England and Germany. In 1987 another nonfiction book, Power Behind the Wheel traced the evolution of the automobile in technical and cultural terms, and was awarded the Thomas McKean Cup by the Antique Automobile Association of America for best book of the year.
Both The Leading Edge and The Power Behind the Wheel were republished in hardcover in the Spring of 1991 by Abbeyville Press, and both have been published in German and English foreign editions. Boeing B-52, Phantom in Combat and Messerschmitt Me 262 were all republished in 1994. Boyne's books have been published in England, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Germany, Italy and Japan. The novel The Wild BLue was republished in 1998 year by Wind Canyon publishing. Simon & Schuster republished Clash of Titans and Clash of Wings as trade paperbacks in 1997. Both books have been placed on audio and have been published in Poland, Italy and Czechoslovakia.
His later books include Aces in Command, Classic Aircraft, and Best of Wings, all three published in 2001, along with ABC-Clio's Encyclopedia of Air Warfare, and The Two O'Clock War: the 1973 Yom Kippur War and the American Airlift that Saved Israel, published in September, 2002, by St. Martin's Press.
He published five books in 2003, including the novel "Dawn Over Kitty Hawk" the story of the Wright brothers; "Rising Tide" with Gary Weir, covering the Soviet Union's submarine experience;.
Boyne is the editor of the Walter J. Boyne Military Aircraft Series for McGraw Hill. Boyne serves as Associate Editor on two national aviation magazines and contributes a articles to several national newspapers. He is a consultant to four publishers, several museums and several aerospace firms. His aviation interests are wide ranging, and he serves as an advisor to a number of national and international organizations.
Boyne became involved in television in 1991, writing scripts and directing production of the highly successful series of Wings television program that appeared on the Discovery Channel. This led to his co-founding of the cable television channel Wingspan the Air and Space Channel, went on the air in April 1998 and was bought out by the Discovery Channel a year later. Boyne consults for the Discovery Military Channel, and has been designated "Aerospace Expert in Residence" by Discovery.
Boyne is a familiar figure on television, appearing as a commentator on aviation and military events on all the major networks, including PBS, CNN and C-Span, as well as the History, A&E, Discovery and Speedvision cable channels. He has hosted and narrated three television programs. The first of these is a five-part series made from his book Beyond the Wild Blue, A History of the Air Force, 1947-1997. It appears on the History Channel. The second is the thirteen part series made from his book Clash of Wings, and appears on Speedvision and PBS. The third is a program on John Safer's sculpture, entitled Flight in Art.
When Boyne left the Air Force, he joined the Air and Space Museum as an assistant curator on June 10th, 1974, and gained wide experience in every aspect of museum operations. He was successively Curator of Aeronautics, Chief of Preservation and Restoration, Chief of Exhibits and Production, Assistant Director, Deputy Director, Acting Director and Director. Boyne's career at the Museum was highlighted by a number of extraordinary achievements. One of the first of these was to transform the totally inadequate facility then existing at Silver Hill into the world's premier restoration facility. When the facility was up and running, and a new museum open to the public there, Boyne led the initiative to re-name the facility in honor of his good friend and mentor, Paul Garber.
While this was going on, Boyne was responsible for the movement, assembly, and installation of all of the precious artifacts in the new Museum, coordinating this with the rapid-paced exhibit installation. So effective was his work that the Museum was ready to open four days before its scheduled July 4th 1976 official opening.
Boyne founded the magazine Air & Space, and established the editorial policies which made it the best selling aviation magazine in the United States. He negotiated an agreement with NASA to fly an IMAX camera on the Space Shuttle, and directly supervised the production of two of the most successful IMAX films, "The Dream is Alive" and "On the Wing". The latter film included a close cooperative effort with Dr. Paul MacCready to create "QN" a radio-controlled flying pterodactyl. He spearheaded the planning of the huge new restaurant which rectified two of NASMs shortcomings, an inadequate restaurant and inadequate restrooms.
In one of the most far-seeing moves, he negotiated directly with Donald Engen, then the Adminstrator of the FAA, and created the agreements that provided the land upon which the new extension of the Museum at Dulles. To insure that the Smithsonian would act upon this concept, he arranged for the Space Shuttle Enterprise to be flown and stored there in 1985.
Boyne had a profound effect upon Museum operations, insisting that the staff realize that the public was their boss, and that they had to work hard to satisfy that responsibility. He also pioneered the Museum's well received video disc program, and patented the "Digitizer" automated storage and retrieval system.
Boyne infused the Museum's research and publication program with a new vigor, and personally supervised the upgrading of the Museum's exhibit program. He is generally recognized to have made the Museum the most popular in the world while at the same time providing a very high level of education content. In addition, his entrepreneurial success resulted in the Museum's shop operating at record profits, and the IMAX films paying for themselves and generating additional income.
In his capacity as Director, he served as pro bono consultant to dozens of museums in many different countries, a task he continued in a professional role after his retirement. He has acted as consultant for the Museum of Flying, in Santa Monica, the Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Savannah, writing the complete exhibit scripts for both organizations. He also consulted for the Aerospace Education Center in Little Rock, and for many others. He often does pro bono work for governmental museums such as the Royal Air Force Museum in Hendon.
He is a member of almost all of the major aeronautical associations, and is a fellow of the French National Academie de l'Air et l'Espace. He has a BSBA with honors from the University of California at Berkeley, and an MBA, with honors, from the University of Pittsburgh. He was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Aerospace Sciences from Salem College, West Virginia in 1984.
He was awarded the Cliff Henderson Trophy for lifetime achievement in aviation by the National Aviation Club, which recently also named him an "Elder Statesman of Aviation". Previous winners include famous test pilots Scott Crossfield and Tony Levier. In 1997 he received the Gil Robb Wilson Award from the Air Force Association, and in 1998 was given the Paul Tissandier Diploma by the F.A.I. In 2006 he won the Lyman Award for lifetime contributions to Aviation. In 2007 he was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame. His biography appears in both Who's Who in the World and Who's Who in America. He lives in Ashburn, Virginia, with his wife, Terri. .

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Making the Wright's accomplishments real..., July 10, 2003

By 

J.R. Hulls (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dawn Over Kitty Hawk: The Novel of the Wright Brothers (Hardcover)

There is an old pilot's trick for looking at things...you're more likely to see something if you look slightly away from where you expect to see it, be it the fighter pilot looking for the speck of another aircraft, or the soaring pilot staring for the glint of wings of a circling sailplane in an uprising air current. Peripheral vision is more sensitive and by not looking directly at something, it paradoxically makes it easier to see. And this is the way Walter Boyne's Dawn over Kitty Hawk, the Novel of the Wright Brothers works. By looking at the Orville and Wilbur and their complex family in fictional form, he allows us to see a truly vivid portrait of their accomplishments, set in a fascinating age in American history.

A former Director of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Boyne weaves many of the major characters from the dawn of flight into a gripping tale that covers everything from the arrogance of much of the scientific establishment of the period to the byzantine wheeling and dealings of the robber baron financiers and their accomplices. Yet he never loses sight of the brilliance, hard work, determination and unbelievable courage that it took for the Wrights to launch forth into the unknown ocean of the air. Boyne's career as an Air Force pilot enables him to convey the feel and danger of those first flights in a way that puts the reader in the air with the Wrights as they struggle to understand the mysteries of flight. He takes the reader along, all the way from the first tentative gliding flights, through the crashes that led to mastery of control and power, ending in their triumphant flights in France and world acclaim.

The aviation enthusiast will recognize Santos-Dumont, Glenn Curtiss, Professor Langley, and many of the other characters, and there are other historic figures who play their parts in Boyne's novel. There is only one significant character who never really existed but even he contributes to the historical verisimilitude of the novel and is actually a composite of two historical figures. I won't spoil it by revealing the character, but it will take a fairly serious interest in aviation history to recognize him.

Dawn over Kitty Hawk is an imaginative, highly enjoyable contribution to understanding and celebrating that first flight one hundred years ago at Kitty Hawk on 17 December 1903,

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dawn Over Kitty Hawk, June 12, 2003

By 

Big Reader (New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dawn Over Kitty Hawk: The Novel of the Wright Brothers (Hardcover)

Dawn Over Kitty Hawk is a wonderful book. I had the sense that I was a fly on the wall watching history in the making. This book gives the reader an "insiders look" at the Wrights' personal and business conflicts, and demonstrates that Wilbur and Orville Wright are a classic study in the good old American success story. Walter Boyne cleverly weaves common and little-known facts into a believable story. This is the way they should teach history, instead of just memorizing facts. Dawn Over Kitty Hawk also debunks the common notion that a nonfiction writer cannot write good fiction. This will make your summer reading more enjoyable.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars They were giants! A wonderful telling of a great story!, June 9, 2003

By 

Roger J. Buffington (Huntington Beach, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dawn Over Kitty Hawk: The Novel of the Wright Brothers (Hardcover)

This is a great telling of a great story -- how the Wright brothers came to be the first human beings to accomplish powered, heavier-than-air flight. As this historical novel makes clear, they did it by being the first men to take a methodical, scientific look at what was required to accomplish not only flight, but controlled, competent powered flight. The Wrights were giants--they were years ahead of their rivals. This novel explains that the Wrights first had to originate, from scratch, all of the mathematics and engineering of how to build a true lifting wing. They then had to design, from scratch, a means to control the aircraft in flight by means of warping wing controls--essentially the same methods we use today. These were staggering achievements that the Wrights did not "luck into." On top of these achievements, since there was no suitable gasoline motor to power the Wright Flyer, why, the Wrights simply designed a suitable engine, from scratch, which at the time was the only suitable engine for powered flight on the planet. In point of fact, between Wilbur Wright's methodical, mathematical approach, and Orville Wright's ingenius mechanical aptitude and intuitive grasp of the problem of flight, the Wrights represented a rare combination of scientific rigor and engineering finesse. They were a decade or more ahead of their competition. The best part of this novel is the manner in which it explains in layman's terms what the scientific-engineering problems were that mankind faced circa 1900 to accomplish heavier-than-air flight. The telling of how the Wrights solved these problems makes a great story.

The novel debunks a number of myths that sometimes persist today when the story of early manned flight is told. Professor Langely was not merely unlucky in his attempt to build his "Grand Aerodrome" (a US-government sponsored project to build the first airplane). In reality, like all of the Wright's competitors, he failed to grasp the fundamental problem of flight--the lifting wing and the need to control the aircraft in three dimensions. This is why each of his attempts promptly crashed into the ocean. Not until they frankly copied the Wright concepts and designs did the Wrights' competitors literally get off the ground.

The novel also provides a fascinating look at the business conflicts between the Wrights on the one hand, and their rivals on the others, as the Wrights sought to make an honest profit from their achievements. This is a wonderful story in its own right, told well.

The Wrights were, quite simply, giants. This novel does a fine job of impressing the reader with the magnitude of their achievements, while still showing us that the Wrights (and their colleagues and rivals) were human beings with the usual array of human failings.