Welcome to the world of corporate decision-making, workplace gambles, and a myriad of human interactions. This is a story that affirms the traditional values of hard work, fidelity, and building the human alliances necessary for achieving enduring success. John Andrew, a retired Boeing executive, offers a unique insider look at the profound changes Boeing experienced in the 1960s as the product mix shifted from military hardware to the first generation of jet-powered airliners. The requirement for more factory space was fuelled by new models and a surging worldwide demand for air travel. Massive construction projects were launched, including a newly constructed 747-sized factory on 760 acres at Paine Field in Everett, Washington. These cathedrals of airframe assembly remain vital to Boeing's ongoing operations today.

With the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, Kiffin Yates Rockwell of Asheville, North Carolina, volunteered to fight for France. Initially serving with the French Foreign Legion as a soldier in the trenches, he soon became a founding member of the Lafayette Escadrille, a squadron made up mostly of American volunteer pilots who served under the French flag before the U.S. entered the war. On May 19, 1916, he earned the distinction of being the first American pilot of the war to shoot down a German plane. He was killed during aerial combat on September 23, 1916, at age 24. This book covers Rockwell's early life and military service with the Lafayette Escadrille, the first ever American air combat unit and the precursor to the U.S. Air Force.

For most of the past century, beautiful models of airliners have been made to promote their airlines' services in travel agents and their own shops. The models also illustrate the evolution of airliner design over these decades: the wood and fabric biplanes of the 1920s, the broad adoption of all-metal airliners in the 1930s, the first jet airliners of the 1950s, the first wide-body airliners of the 1970s and the pioneering small steps in supersonic air travel are all covered. The increasingly colourful exterior schemes adopted by the airlines, to ensure recognition by aspiring passengers, provide an interesting subtext. For model collectors, the airliner type, makers name, scale, approximate age and the materials used are detailed for each model illustrated. A short history of significant model-making companies is covered. With the onset of online bookings and the closure of airline offices and travel agents, the use of models is fast vanishing forever. The focus of this book is to preserve this fascinating era when models were a significant marketing tool, and to ensure that these models, at least in photographic form, survive as a record for future generations.

For a brief period in the early Twentieth Century it seemed as if the future of air travel lay with the giant airships of Count von Zeppelin. The First World War ended that dream, fixed wing aircraft superseding the slow moving and unwieldy airships. As weapons of war the Zeppelins were never truly successful although they did manage to terrify huge numbers of unknowing and naive civilians-perhaps more by imagination than by any practical manifestation of their power. The Zeppelin crews of the First World War spent hours in the air, cold and hungry-and with the prospect of a horrendous death, either by fire or by falling thousands of feet to the ground, ever present. As vehicles of mass destruction the Zeppelins were remarkably ineffective. Their real value, lay in their ability to make silent reconnaissance missions over enemy territory and sea lanes. In the post-war days the public began to realise that airships offered a form of air travel that was comfortable, mostly stable and, sometimes, even luxurious. The 'Graf Zeppelin' and the 'Hindenburg' were the height of elegance.Unfortunately, they had two major defects-they were vulnerable to the elements and, due to the hydrogen that kept them aloft, they were also highly flammable. The 'Hindenburg' disaster of 1937 effectively spelled the end of the giant airship as a commercial enterprise but for almost half a century these wonderful machines had cruised elegantly through the clouds.

Laika began her life as a stray dog on the streets of Moscow and died in 1957 aboard the Soviet satellite Sputnik II. Initially the USSR reported that Laika, the first animal to orbit the earth, had survived in space for seven days, providing valuable data that would make future manned space flight possible. People believed that Laika died a painless death as her oxygen ran out. Only in recent decades has the real story become public: Laika died after only a few hours in orbit when her capsule overheated. Laika's Window positions Laika as a long overdue hero for leading the way to human space exploration. Kurt Caswell examines Laika's life and death and the speculation surrounding both. Profiling the scientists behind Sputnik II, he studies the political climate driven by the Cold War and the Space Race that expedited the satellite's development. Through this intimate portrait of Laika, we begin to understand what the dog experienced in the days and hours before the launch, what she likely experienced during her last moments, and what her flight means to history and to humanity. While a few of the other space dog flights rival Laika's in endurance and technological advancements, Caswell argues that Laika's flight serves as a tipping point in space exploration "beyond which the dream of exploring nearby and distant planets opened into a kind of fever from which humanity has never recovered." Examining the depth of human empathy-what we are willing to risk and sacrifice in the name of scientific achievement and our exploration of the cosmos, and how politics and marketing can influence it-Laika's Windowis also about our search to overcome loneliness and the role animals play in our drive to look far beyond the earth for answers.

In June 1943 the quiet English countryside around the village of Ridgewell in northwest Essex was transformed by the arrival of the 381st Bomb Group with its B-17 Flying Fortresses. The subsequent battle in the skies over Europe witnessed the 381st, in concert with their fellow-airmen with the Mighty Eighth, striking 297 times at Hitler's 'Fortress Europe' and dropping over 22,000 tons of ordnance in the process. The cost to the group was 131 aircraft and over 1200 combat crew missing in action, sustained during the course of a fiercely contested struggle stretching over 1000 days.

On July 25, 2010, Arnold Ebneter flew across the country in a plane he designed and built himself, setting an aviation world record for aircraft of its class. He was eighty-two at the time and the flight represented the culmination of a dream he'd cultivated since his childhood in the 1930s. Eileen Bjorkman - herself a pilot and aeronautical engineer - frames her father's journey from teenage airplane enthusiast to Air Force pilot and Boeing engineer in the context of the rise, near extermination, and ongoing interest in homebuilt aircraft in the United States. She gives us a glimpse into life growing up in a "flying family" with two pilots for parents, a family plane named Charlie, and quite literally, a propeller under her parents' bed. From early airplane designs serialized in magazines to the annual Oshkosh Fly-in where you can see experimental aircraft on display, Bjorkman offers a personal take on the history of building something in your garage that you can actually (and legally) fly as well as how the homebuilt aircraft movement has contributed to aviation and innovation in America. Watch the book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8PvowEMkmQ

This design guide was written to capture the author's practical experience of designing, building and testing multi-rotor drone systems over the past decade. The lack of one single source of useful information meant that the past 10 years has been a steep learning curve, a lot of self-tuition and many trial and error tests. Lessons learnt the hard way are not always the best way to learn. This book will be useful for the amateur drone pilot who wants to build their own system from first principles, as well as the academic researcher investigating novel design concepts and future drone applications.

This new book by famed U.S. ace Walker Bud Mahurin, is an examination of Germany's Luftwaffe by one who fought against them in the skies over Europe, and who befriended them after the war. Having found himself lucky enough to be included in some of the history of the United States Air Force because of his exploits during World War II and the war in Korea, Mahurin has become acquainted over the years with a number of ex-enemy airmen he fought against. Never expecting to destroy a number of enemy aircraft in his combat experiences, he considered himself fortunate to get to know leading combat airmen in his own air force as well as in the United Kingdom and Germany.

Ever since man first took to the air, combat aircraft have been at the cutting edge of aviation technology, resulting in some of the greatest and most complex designs ever built. Military Aircraft features 52 of the most important military aircraft of the last hundred years. The book includes all the main types, from biplane fighters and carrier aircraft to tactical bombers, transport aircraft, multirole fighters, strategic strike aircraft and stealth bombers. Featured aircraft include: the Fokker Dr.1 triplane, the legendary fighter flown by German flying ace Manfred von Richthofen, 'the Red Baron', during World War I; the Mitsubishi A6M Zero, Japan's highly-manoeuvrable fighter that dominated air-to-air combat in the early part of the Pacific War; the tank-busting Il-2 Shturmovik, the most produced aircraft in World War II; the Harrier jump jet, a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) fighter that has been service for more than 40 years; the B-2 Spirit bomber, an American precision strike aircraft used in recent conflicts in Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan; and the F-22 Raptor, an air superiority fighter with state-of-the-art stealth technology that makes it almost invisible to radars. Each entry includes a brief description of the model's development and history, a profile view, key features and specifications. Packed with more than 200 artworks and photographs, Military Aircraft is a colourful guide for the military aviation enthusiast.

On 17 July 2014, Malaysian Airlines MH17 was shot out of the sky above Ukraine. Aboard were 298 people, 38 of whom were Australians. No one survived. Subsequently it was shown that the airliner was almost certainly hit by a Buk surface-to-air missile fired by Ukrainian separatists aided by the Russian military. The debris from the plane's disintegration mid-air was spread over 50 square kilometres, but for weeks rescue teams and investigators were denied access. The Russians have refused to take any responsibility for the deaths. This is the story of some of the people who boarded that fatal flight and the conflict below them that was doomed to destroy their lives and the happiness of the people they left behind. The fullest account yet published, it is also the story of a continuing clamour for justice. Unsettling, compelling and revealing, Shot Down will provoke both outrage that this criminal act could have happened and deep sadness for the lives lost. 'A compelling account of one of the most appalling aviation atrocities of our time.' JIM EAMES, author of Courage in the Skies

The British airliners we see today in our airports are the result of numerous takeovers and mergers, involving large and small companies. This book covers some of these airlines that have ceased operating since 1946: some collapsed because of financial difficulties, some were taken over by larger airlines, and some ceased operating altogether. In post-war Britain, several small airlines were founded and equipped with surplus military aircraft, the most popular being the Douglas Dakota. The book is a guide to each airline, accompanied by a brief historical account, and interesting images of the aircraft in their distinctive colour schemes. The airlines covered are a selection of large and small aircraft, who flew international and regional routes, as well as airlines involved in inclusive tours business.

Perhaps no other aircraft in aviation history has been such a well-kept secret as the United States' Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. This cutting-edge aircraft took the art of aerial spying to an unprecedented level and did it all from highly clandestine high-speed spy missions over Communist nations during the late 1960s and 1970s. With the help of breath-taking photographs, Mark Chambers tells the fascinating story of this truly unique aircraft's design and development as well as its famous and ingenious designer Mr Clarence 'Kelly' Johnson.

Following his first three successful books, describing his long career as a military pilot, Mike Brooke completes the story with more tales of test flying during the 1980s and '90s. During this period his career changed to see him take control of flying at Farnborough and then at Boscombe Down, as well as off-the-cuff delivery missions to Saudi Arabia, 'bombing' in the name of science in the Arctic and the chance to fulfil a long-standing dream and fly the vintage SE.5a. This often hilarious memoir gives a revealing insight into military and civilian test flying of a wide range of aircraft, weapons and systems. As in his previous books, Brooke continues to use his personal experiences to give the reader a unique view of flight trials of the times, successes and failures. More Testing Times and its earlier volumes make for fascinating reading for any aviation enthusiast.

Now considered a contemporary classic, Airships was honored by Esquire magazine with the Arnold Gingrich Short Fiction Award. The twenty stories in this collection are a fresh, exuberant celebration of the new American South -- a land of high school band contests, where good old boys from Vicksurg are reunited in Vietnam and petty nostalgia and the constant pain of disappointed love prevail. Airships is a striking demonstration of Barry Hannah's mature and original talent.

Written by an accomplished military aviation author, this new study is the result of many years of research, and will be essential reading for all historians of the period and keen aviation enthusiasts. There is growing interest today in the Cold War era in British history. This new book provides a new study of Cold War airfields that will be of interest to all those who study airfield history and archaeology. This new title provides a background to the Cold War airfields in Britain. Phillip Birtles gives readers an airfield by airfield coverage of those in operation from the start of the Cold War during the Berlin Air Lift in the late 1940s to the end of the Cold War with the fall of the Berlin Wall at the end of the 1980s. The book covers both RAF/FAA and USAF airfields in Britain, and charts the changes that took place at these airfields in this period including the development of aircraft from the first postwar jet aircraft to aircraft types that are still flying today. Alongside descriptive text outlining each airfield, the units and aircraft operating from that airfield and its role in the Cold War are also explained in great detail. Descriptive text is complemented by almost 200 contemporary photographs, colour and black and white, maps and airfield plans.

This new book chronicles not only the aptly named P-61 "Black Widow", but also the Douglas P-70 series, the P-38 night fighter variants, the Bristol Beaufighter, B-25s and the DeHavilland Mosquito - the proposed XA-26A and the P-39 nightfighters are also discussed.\nHistorical accounts of American night fighter pilots, as well as the complets history of all night fighter squadrons formed during World War II are included, as is the development of radar and modern air defenses. This book is the product of over twenty years of study and research. Its sources include the National Archives, Northrop Aircraft archived, the U.S. Air Force Museum, the Imperial War Museum, the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum and interviews with P-61 test pilots, designers and engineers. \nGarry Pape\s previous works include books on the P-61 and the P-38 night-fighter versions. He is currently employed by Northrop, after years with Hughes and Lockheed, and lives in California. Brig. Gen. Ronald Harrison is an F-16 Wing Commander in the Air Force Reserves, and lives in Georgia as an attorney.

During the early days of the Cold War, the Boeing B-47 Stratojet was America's "big stick" with more than 1500 operational aircraft available to attack targets withing the Soviet Union, and was the world's first operational swept-wing, multi-jet engine bomber. Beginning with the maiden flight of the XB-47 in 1947, and concluding with the final flight of any B-47 in the 1986, B-47 True Stories details the development and operational history of a remarkable aircraft that the USAF initially did not want. Eventually, more than 2000 Stratojets were built by Boeing, Lockheed, and Douglas aircraft companies.

In Concorde, Jonathan Glancey tells the story of this magnificent and hugely popular aircraft anew, taking the reader from the moment Captain Chuck Yeager first broke the sound barrier in 1947 through to the last commercial flight of the supersonic airliner in 2003. It is a tale of national rivalries, technological leaps, daring prototypes, tightrope politics, and a dream of a Dan Dare future never quite realized. Jonathan Glancey traces the development of Concorde not just through existing material and archives, but through interviews with those who lived with the supersonic project from its inception. The result is a compelling mix of overt technological optimism, a belief that Britain and France were major players in the world of civil as well as military aviation, and faith in an ever faster, ever more sophisticated future. This is a celebration, as well as a thoroughly researched history, of a truly brilliant machine that became a sky god of its era.

Welcome to the world of miniature aviation, intergalactic style. It's entertainment on the fly for the office, backyard, classroom (don't get caught!), or anywhere there might be a party, featuring 12 Lilliputian-size models that create 63 planes altogether. From the Dynamo to the Alien Clipper, Cosmojet to the Spectre, these intergalactic flyers are vibrantly colored and gorgeously designed to resemble various spacecraft. Fold up the straight-shooting Star Quest and an Aerobot that's part spaceship, part robot. Includes step-by-step folding instructions and tips on how to send each plane soaring at its full aerodynamic potential.

Only three years after American raceplanes failed dismally in the most important air race of 1920, a French magazine lamented that American ""pilots have broken the records which we, here in France, considered as our own for so long."" The Pulitzer Trophy Air Races (1920 through 1925), endowed by his sons in memory of publisher Joseph Pulitzer, brought about this remarkable turnaround. Pulitzer winning speeds increased 60 percent from 157 to 249 mph, and Pulitzer racers, mounted on floats, twice won the most prestigious international air race--the Schneider Trophy Race for seaplanes. Airplanes, engines, propellers, and other equipment developed for the Pulitzers were sold domestically and internationally. More than a million spectators saw the Pulitzers; millions more read about them and watched them in newsreels. The Pulitzers ended when the Army and Navy, which financed all racers after 1921, bought no racers for 1926. This is the first book about the Pulitzers; it highlights businessmen, generals and admirals who saw racing as a way to drive aviation progress, designers and manufacturers who produced record-breaking racers, and dashing pilots who gave the races their public face. It emphasizes the roles played by the communities that hosted the races - Garden City (Long Island), Omaha, Detroit and Mt. Clemens, Michigan, St. Louis, and Dayton. The book concludes with an analysis of the Pulitzers' importance, their end, and why their story has languished in obscurity for 85 years.

While large numbers of aeroplanes had been produced In America for the war effort overseas at the Western Front, it was found that that the British, French and Germans were far ahead of them when it came to flight technology, which led to a huge surplus of aeroplanes in the United States. The government's solution to recover some of the money was to sell the surplus stock off for as little as $200 dollars each. With no licence being required to fly a plane, the offer attracted many ex-fighter pilots as well as civilians, who developed a new American pastime known as barnstorming. Part entertainers, part thrill-seekers, the barnstormers made their way across the country as solo acts and in groups called 'Flying Circuses'. The American flier Ormer Locklear wowed the crowds by climbing out of his aeroplane and walk along the wing, and it wasn't long before flying circuses held less appeal for spectators if it didn't have a wing-walking act. Handstands, jumps across planes, and even the odd game of tennis were attempted by barnstormers to attract larger paying audiences. In 1936, the US Government banned wing-walking under 1,500 ft, which doomed aerial stunting, and while a few wing-walking teams operated in the 1970s, it wasn't until barnstormer Vic Norman founded his famous AeroSuperBatics wing-walking team in the early 1980s that the sight of daredevils hand-standing and flying upside down on the wing was seen in Europe. Several teams around the world subsequently formed using aeroplanes such as the Boeing Stearman or the Curtiss 'Jenny' biplanes to wow crowds as a part of regular air displays, and their appeal has continued to rise since the 2000s.