The Airplane: How Ideas Gave Us Wings

Spenser takes a different approach to the history of aviation. He treats the history of the different parts of the airplane to build up a coherent picture of the whole. Starting with George Caley, he traces the history of each major component forward. He shows were the pioneers were right, where they went wrong and why airplanes look and work the way they do.In the process Spenser develops some significant insights into aeronautical history. His discussion of control systems is especially interesting. Spencer maintains that the European efforts were held back by mistaken paradigms -- the carriage for one -- and it wasn't until the Wrights, with their background in bicycles and careful experimentation, showed them the way that European efforts took off -- so to speak.There's a lot of very good information here, and some even better insights.

This is the second copy of this book that I have purchased. The first, also reviewed here, was bought as a gift for my grandson, but I read it and couldn't part with it, resulting in the purchase of this second copy. It covers mankind's ancient dreams, the pioneering work of Thomas Cayley in the early nineteenth century, through the detailed advances following the Wright Brothers. Some critics have faulted the book for spending too many pages on the Boeing 787 "Dreamliner", but I feel that this was justified. The Dreamliner is a major step forward in aircraft design, and deserves the attention given to it here. To anyone interested in the history of human flight, I highly recommend this book.

Used it for school. Very informative yet easy to read and understand. I give it a 4/5 just because it is more of a college level book. So if you are an advanced reader looking to learn about flight, there are more detailed books out there

A gift for a grandson.

Great book to understand flying origins, success of great men, science, technology and ideas and it's application to actual and future flying machines.

It's a book with lots, and lots of GREAT information, and history of Aviation. It is written in easy to understand , and funny at times!!

I'm sure engineers might balk about some of the simplistic descriptions in the book, but for everyone else, including die-hard aviation fanatics, the book is an interesting read.

A very well researched account of the critical stages in the development of aircraft, from the very beginnings to the present day. Of interest to all aviators.