Kill Devil Hill [Paperback]

Harry Combs (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0940053020 | ISBN-13: 978-0940053021 | Publication Date: November 1986

Trade Paperback.

Product Details

• Paperback: 389 pages
• Publisher: Ternstyle Pr Ltd (November 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0940053020
• ISBN-13: 978-0940053021
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,237,221 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fasten seatbelts, place seats in upright position., February 7, 2000

By 

Chris Gardner (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kill Devil Hill (Paperback)

This is the splendid story of Wilbur and Orville Wright, brothers who shared equal glory in performing an amazing feat of constructing and testing the first powered airplane. Much of the story covers the period of time when they built and tested their gliders at Kitty Hawk, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Read how they uncovered the mystery of flight with gliders !

The author explains in clear detail the various principles of flight which the Wrights discovered. He defines aeronautical terms in a fairly straight manner. I have no background in flying or aeronautics and I was able to follow his explanations (for the most part !) He gives us a glimpse at their personalities and their intellects through their letters, their sister's and father's notes, and newspaper accounts of the day. These references bring these men to life. The reader learns to respect these men, and then adore them. We learn to appreciate their courage in risking their lives in a machine the most prominent scientists of their day said would not succeed, at best, and kill them at worst ! We learn to appreciate that every time they got on the machine to fly they knew they might die or become permanently injured. Equally frightening was that the same might happen to the brother. Their devotion to each other and reliance on each other knew no bounds. They worked the problems together, often disagreeing, but arriving at a common solution. Their diligence and rejection of failure was constantly challenged by numerous obstacles in their pursuit of flight, and by their countrymen as well.

I am very pleased to have found this book. This is a story of the invention of the airplane. It is also the story of two remarkable men who never gave up, and accomplished what has to be a triumph for the ages.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fasten seatbelts, move seats to the upright position, January 6, 2000

By 

Chris Gardner (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kill Devil Hill (Paperback)

This is the splendid story of Wilbur and Orville Wright, brothers who shared equal glory in performing an amazing feat of constructing and testing the first powered airplane. Much of the story covers the period of time when they built and tested their gliders at Kitty Hawk, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Read how they uncovered the mystery of flight with gliders ! The author explains in clear detail the various principles of flight which the Wrights discovered. He defines aeronautical terms in a fairly straight manner. I have no background in flying or aeronautics and I was able to follow his explanations (for the most part !) He gives us a glimpse at their personalities and their intellects through their letters, their sister's and father's notes, and newspaper accounts of the day. These references bring these men to life. The reader learns to respect these men, and then adore them.

We learn to appreciate their courage in risking their lives in a machine the most prominent scientists of their day said would not succeed, at best, and kill them at worst ! We learn to appreciate that every time they got on the machine to fly they knew they might die or become permanently injured. Equally frightening was that the same might happen to the brother. Their devotion to each other and reliance on each other knew no bounds. They worked the problems together, often disagreeing, but arriving at a common solution. Their diligence and rejection of failure was constantly challenged by numerous obstacles in their pursuit of flight, and by their countrymen as well.

I am very pleased to have found this book. This is a story of the invention of the airplane. It is also the story of two remarkable men who never gave up, and accomplished what has to be a triumph for the ages.

5.0 out of 5 stars Pilot must read, October 19, 2009

By 

Robert S. Henderson (Southlake, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Kill Devil Hill (Paperback)

I purchased Kill Devil Hill while buying Combs other book, "Brules". I have been involved in Aviation all my life but never really knew much beyond the statistics of the Wright brothers first flight. Since the book received such high ratings on Amazon I decided to give it a try. I am not really a history buff, much preferring fiction, but I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed "Kill Devil Hill". Combs is an excellent writer, keeps the pace moving, doesn't dwell on insignificant detail and even adds some suspense. I feel like I learned a lot that I should have already known about the Wright bothers and felt proud that this was an American triumph. I think every pilot should read Kill Devil Hill to have a better idea of what it took to create flight.