On the Frontier: Experimental Flight at NASA Dryden [Hardcover]

Richard P. Hallion (Author), Michael H. Gorn (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 2003 | ISBN-10: 1588341348 | ISBN-13: 978-1588341341

The most comprehensive and authoritative history of flight-testing experimental air- and spacecraft This little-known classic history of flight-testing the X-Planes is reborn—sweepingly revised and updated with new and recently released information. Aviation enthusiasts will savor the most detailed account available of record-setting aircraft like the X-1 and X-15, flown by Chuck Yeager and other legends, as well as all the cutting edge NASA and Defense Department programs that perfected the aeronautical concepts and technology used in U.S. military, space, and commercial craft.

World-renowned Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert is the setting for the exciting, dangerous, and sometimes deadly job of testing the world’s most exotic aircraft. Authors Hallion and Gorn, two of America’s top aerospace historians, focus on the unique relationship between test pilots and their machines. A completely updated and reinterpreted text, three new chapters, dozens of rare photographs, and the complete statistical record of nearly six decades of testing make this required reading for anyone interested in manned flight.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Richard Hallion has written many books about aviation history, including Storm over Iraq. He lives in Virginia. Michael Gorn is chief historian of NASA Dryden Flight Research Center and author of many books on NASA and Air Force history. He lives in California.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 554 pages
• Publisher: Smithsonian (April 17, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1588341348
• ISBN-13: 978-1588341341
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,788,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Michael H. Gorn is an author and historian who specializes in popular and scholarly books about the history of aeronautics and spaceflight. Three of his critically acclaimed works are NASA: The Complete Illustrated History, Superstructures in Space (both by Merrell Publishers), and Expanding the Envelope: Flight Research at NACA and NASA (The University Press of Kentucky). Gorn grew up in Los Angeles, California, and attended the University of Southern California where he earned a doctorate in history. He is presently a Smithsonian Institution Research Associate in the Aeronautics Division, National Air and Space Museum, Washington, D.C. A federal historian for nearly 30 years, he began his career in 1981 with the Department of the Air Force in Washington, D.C. He held a variety of staff and management positions over 13 years, culminating in Deputy Chief Historian of the U. S. Air Force. He also served for three years as the first historian of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Washington, D.C. Gorn then worked for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for 13 years, eventually becoming the Chief Historian of the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, the world's leading facility for the study of flight dynamics. Michael Gorn is the recipient of the prestigious Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award for Expanding the Envelope: Flight Research at NACA and NASA, presented by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics for the best original book published in the field during the previous five years. In addition, he received the Alfred V. Verville Fellowship from the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum and was selected for the Fellowship in Aerospace History by the American Historical Association. Gorn has been featured in interviews appearing on the British Broadcasting Corporation, the History Channel, and the Discovery Channel. Michael Gorn lives with his wife Christine in Simi Valley, California.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding History by two Masters of Aerospace History, June 12, 2004

By 

Roger D. Launius "Historian" (Washington, D.C., United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: On the Frontier: Experimental Flight at NASA Dryden (Hardcover)

This is an official institutional history of the Dryden Flight Research Center, the NASA facility in the Mojave Desert where hypersonic vehicles such as the X-15 were flown. It is a revision of Hallion's "On the Frontier: Flight Research at Dryden, 1946-1981" (NASA SP-4303, 1984) with additional chapters and revisions to earlier material that bring the story up to date. It traces aerospace research and development activities at the site from the first establishment of the High Speed Flight Test Facility in 1946 through the recent X-38 and other projects. In addition to the updated 1984 text, there are three additional chapters written by Michael H. Gorn, many additional photographs, and a treasure trove of appendices that document flight programs, accidents, and budgets.

NASA began early in its history to publish a series of center histories that focused on the evolution of institutions and projects at its ten field centers. The 1984 edition of this work not only accomplished this task, but also contained an excellent account of the many exciting programs that had been conducted there, from Chuck Yeager's breaking of the sound barrier in 1947 with the X-1 through Scott Crossfield's Mach 2 flights with the D-558 through lifting body research and the famous X-15 program of 1958-1969. This book records the "right stuff" without the hyperbole of Tom Wolfe, in the process evoking even more awe for the men and women who advanced the frontiers of flight in the high desert of California.

Accordingly, as the NASA Chief Historian between 1990 and 2002 when the opportunity to update this text and publish it for a broader audience came I strongly encouraged it. While the book was not yet in print when I left NASA to assume new responsibilities at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum, I could not be more pleased with the final product. The result is a very impressive book that I would commend to all who have an interest in flight research. I highly recommend it as an up-to-date, authoritative, and exciting account of how the United States went from reciprocating engines on aircraft to the jet age and the hypersonic revolution that is just dawning.