Atmospheric Flight in the Twentieth Century

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xvi

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2. Understanding Flight

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 1-1

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   2. An Accident of History

      • Peter Galison

      Pages 3-43

   3. Aerospace in Adolescence: McCook Field and the Beginnings of Modern Flight Research

      • Peter L. Jakab

      Pages 45-66

   4. The Changing Nature of Flight and Ground Test Instrumentation and Data: 1940–1969

      • Frederick Suppe

      Pages 67-105

   5. The Emergence of the Turbofan Engine

      • George E. Smith, David A. Mindell

      Pages 107-155

   6. Engineering Experiment and Engineering Theory: The Aerodynamics of Wings at Supersonic Speeds, 1946–1948

      • Walter G. Vincenti

      Pages 157-180

3. International Comparisons

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 181-181

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   2. Wooden Airplanes in World War II: National Comparisons and Symbolic Culture

      • Eric Schatzberg

      Pages 183-205

   3. American Aviation Technology: An International Heritage

      • Roger E. Bilstein

      Pages 207-222

   4. The Wind Tunnel and the Emergence of Aeronautical Research in Britain

      • Takehiko Hashimoto

      Pages 223-239

   5. The Evolution of Aerodynamics in the Twentieth-Century: Engineering or Science?

      • John D. Anderson Jr.

      Pages 241-256

4. Flight, Economics and Culture

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 257-257

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   2. Airframe Manufacture and Engineering Exchange

      • Robert G. Ferguson

      Pages 259-285

   3. Blaming Wilbur and Orville: The Wright Patent Suits and the Growth of American Aeronautics

      • Tom D. Crouch

      Pages 287-300

   4. Who Designs Airports… Engineers, Architects, or City Planners? Aspects of American Airport Design Before World War II

      • Deborah G. Douglas

      Pages 301-322

   5. Pools of Invention: The Role of Patents in the Development of American Aircraft, 1917–1997

      • Alex Roland

      Pages 323-345

5. Epilogue

   1. Front Matter

      Pages 347-347

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   2. Discussion Paper

      • David Bloor

      Pages 349-360

6. Back Matter

   Pages 361-383

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All technologies differ from one another. They are as varied as humanity's interaction with the physical world. Even people attempting to do the same thing produce multiple technologies. For example, John H. White discovered more than l 1000 patents in the 19th century for locomotive smokestacks. Yet all technologies are processes by which humans seek to control their physical environment and bend nature to their purposes. All technologies are alike. The tension between likeness and difference runs through this collection of papers. All focus on atmospheric flight, a twentieth-century phenomenon. But they approach the topic from different disciplinary perspectives. They ask disparate questions. And they work from distinct agendas. Collectively they help to explain what is different about aviation - how it differs from other technologies and how flight itself has varied from one time and place to another. The importance of this topic is manifest. Flight is one of the defining technologies of the twentieth century. Jay David Bolter argues in Turing's Man that certain technologies in certain ages have had the power not only to transform society but also to shape the way in which people understand their relationship with the physical world. "A defining technology," says Bolter, "resembles a magnifying glass, which collects and focuses seemingly disparate ideas in a culture into one bright, sometimes piercing ray." 2 Flight has done that for the twentieth century.

• accident
• aeronautical research
• aircraft design
• american aircraft
• flight technology
• history of technology
• turbines

`Atmospheric Flight is a fascinating collection of essays and case studies on the various aspects of aviation history and advancements in flight technology in the 20th century. The essays are all well written with excellent illustrations and photographs. Because this reviewer's background is in airport planning and design, he particularly enjoyed D.G. Douglas's essay "Who Designs Airports...." The introduction and epilogue provide an excellent framework for the essays. The book will be most interesting for researchers who are searching for some of the historical aspects of aviation. Upper-division undergraduates through professionals.'
W.J. Sproule, Michigan Technological University in Choice, 38:4 (2000)

• Harvard University, USA

  Peter Galison

• Duke University, USA

  Alex Roland

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