Читать книгу The Story of American Aviation - Jim Ray - Страница 5

Table of Contents

It is difficult to believe that, just a little over thirty years ago, I was a high-school student watching the pilots at the Wright Brothers’ exhibition of the world’s first flying machine. That machine weighed about eight hundred pounds. Its engine developed thirty horsepower. It flew at the then astounding speed of forty-two miles an hour, which is equal to the landing speed of our slowest light plane today. High-school students now are accustomed to the sight of giant airplanes whose weight is measured in tons and whose horsepower mounts to the thousands.

December, 1945, marks the forty-second anniversary of the first flight of an airplane. The progress of aviation since that first flight still seems unbelievable, even to one who has followed its development closely. The purpose of this book is to trace the progress of aviation in America and to tell the story of the men and machines that have given this country supremacy in the air.

In telling the story of American aviation from Kitty Hawk to the present day, I have been able to touch only the high spots in its dramatic progress. Space limitations prevent me from giving personal credit to the hundreds of pioneer airmen, engineers, and mechanics who have contributed so greatly to the progress of American aviation. Lack of space also makes it impossible to give the complete story of the great Government research organization, the National Advisory Committee for Aëronautics, whose work has been most fruitful in the advancement of civil and military aëronautics in the United States.

As we look over the record of the astounding progress of American aviation in forty-two years, let us salute our military leaders who have visualized the need for air power; the men who have designed and built our great engines and airplanes, and the leaders of commercial aviation who have made air travel fast, safe, and economical.

Jim Ray

Ottsville, Pennsylvania,

1945