Customer Reviews

Wind in the Wires: A Golden Era of Flight, 1909-1939

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This book is one of the greatest WWI photo collections out at this moment. Having been to Rhinebeck, NY., and Shuttleworth in England just last yr I can verify that the photos are beyond any collection in one book thats out there. If you enjoy it half as much as I have it's a great buy.

This book is absolutely beautiful. It captures the beauty of aviation in a way that most people will never experience. A must for every aviation enthusiast.

If you are a fan of old airplanes - I mean very old planes: pioneer, World War I, and the Golden Age, back when flying was a novelty, this book is for you. As in his other books, author and photographer Mike Vines takes the reader to the prized collections at Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome in the US, the Shuttleworth Trust in the UK, and the Salis Collection in France to watch these antiques perform, not just sit around in a museum. Mr. Vines then offers the reader a ride in these antique gems, with views over fabric-covered wings braced with wires and sister ships in the air in spectacular formations. One cannot dismiss these aircraft as primitive jalopies - they are the first successful attempts to fly, something that a century earlier would have met with skepticism at best, but more likely outright laughter. Mike's usual excellent photography shows the ingenious inventions and innovations that enabled planes to progress from a leisurely 40 mph to an astounding 400 mph - truly a marvel of human ingenuity, all captured in this gem of a book, one that will be read not simply grace the coffee table.