The Romance of Aircraft

CONTENTS

PART I
CHAPTER PAGE
I THE CONQUEST OF THE AIR 3
II "A B C'S" OF A BALLOON 14
III EARLY BALLOON ADVENTURES 20
IV THE PARACHUTE 28
V BALLOONING IN THE GREAT WAR 36

PART II

I DEVELOPMENT OF THE DIRIGIBLE 47
II FORERUNNERS OF THE ALLIED DIRIGIBLES 60
III DIRIGIBLES IN THE WORLD WAR 68

PART III

I EARLY EXPERIMENTS WITH HEAVIER-THAN-AIR MACHINES 77
II FIRST PRINCIPLES OF AN AIRPLANE 91
III THE PIONEERS 99
IV THE AIRPLANE IN THE WORLD WAR 128
V SOME OF THE PROBLEMS THE INVENTORS HAD TO SOLVE 150
VI FAMOUS ALLIED AIRPLANES 170
VII GERMAN AIRPLANES IN THE WORLD WAR 189
VIII HEROES OF THE AIR 205
IX THE BIRTH OF AN AIRPLANE 223
X THE TRAINING OF AN AVIATOR 232
XI THE FUTURE STORY OF THE AIR 244
READING LIST 256
INDEX 259