Robur the Conqueror

In Robur, the Conqueror Verne produces an aerial parallel to the famous "Nautilus," in which Capt. Nemo journeyed so many thousand leagues under the sea. Robur the Conqueror devises an aerial machine called the Albatross, which can be driven 70 miles an hour in the teeth of the wind, and can be managed and steered in any atmospheric conditions, barring the centre of a revolving hurricane. It is an ingenious story, and the sham science with which it is padded gives it an air of sobriety and reality to the average reader.