Every week the TV news highlights the routine use of drones and guided missiles against terrorist enemies and the recreational use of drones has become commonplace. The Nazi WWII development of guided missiles and bombs is often given credit for America's Cold War success in this realm. However, it was during that war that America, and the Air Force, in particular, also began the development of systems and weapons that laid the foundation for today's technology. 'Off Target' relates in detail the then "Secret" research, development, and combat employment of these early guided bombs, missiles, and drones from 1917 to 1948. Using formerly Secret/Confidential manuals, reports, microfilm print outs, and photos, collected over 40 years, author Wolf, gives the air war historian and enthusiast a detailed look at this unknown topic that progressed from biplane drones to sophisticated post-WWII guided missiles. Among the subjects discussed are Sperry's aerial torpedo and the Kettering "Bug" of WWI to WWII's early rudimentary GB Series Glide Bombs to the more sophisticated VB Series that evolved from radio, heat, light, or television guidance. The Aphrodite/Joseph Kennedy B-17, BQ, TDR, and target drones are discussed as are the SWOD, GLOMB, GORGON, and JB Jet bomb series.

The book offers a comprehensive overview of the multifaceted matters that arise in the process of financing commercial aircraft. It reviews the different topics on a high-level basis, and then explains the terminology used for each particular area of specialization.

In 1945 Britain was the world's leading designer and builder of aircraft - a world-class achievement that was not mere rhetoric. And what aircraft they were. The sleek Comet, the first jet airliner. The awesome delta-winged Vulcan, an intercontinental bomber that could be thrown about the sky like a fighter. The Hawker Hunter, the most beautiful fighter-jet ever built and the Lightning, which could zoom ten miles above the clouds in a couple of minutes and whose pilots rated flying it as better than sex.How did Britain so lose the plot that today there is not a single aircraft manufacturer of any significance in the country? What became of the great industry of de Havilland or Handley Page? And what was it like to be alive in that marvellous post-war moment when innovative new British aircraft made their debut, and pilots were the rock stars of the age?James Hamilton-Paterson captures that season of glory in a compelling book that fuses his own memories of being a schoolboy plane spotter with a ruefully realistic history of British decline - its loss of self confidence and power. It is the story of great and charismatic machines and the men who flew them: heroes such as Bill Waterton, Neville Duke, John Derry and Bill Beaumont who took inconceivable risks, so that we could fly without a second thought.

One of the largest assets that an airline has are aircraft, therefore it is critically important to develop a methodology that estimates an aircraft's value, and which also determines efficient utilization to ensure an acceptable rate of return on the asset. Aircraft Finance provides a comprehensive review of aircraft finance and valuation and presents a detailed methodology for accurately valuations. The methodology measures return on investment, improves the efficiency of managing operating costs and more effectively determines revenue analysis.

Used increasingly in telecommunications, scientific research, surveillance, and meteorology, satellites rely heavily on complex onboard control systems. This book explains the basic theory of spacecraft dynamics and control and the practical aspects of controlling a satellite. The emphasis is on analyzing and solving real-world engineering problems. Among the topics covered are orbital dynamics, attitude dynamics, gravity gradient stabilization, single and dual spin stabilization, attitude maneuvers, attitude stabilization, and structural dynamics and liquid sloshing.

If, in 2021, more than 40 years after the accident that occurred on 27 June 1980, we are still talking about a "mystery", it is because in Italy they have not followed the procedure that all the countries of the world adopt in the aftermath of an aviation disaster. A technical commission is appointed, made up of experienced aviation investigators, who will tell us why the accident happened. If, in the course of the investigation, it turns out that the disaster was caused by an unlawful act against the aircraft, i.e. a bomb, bombing, air attack, missiles, etc., a judicial investigation is also launched in parallel to find out who committed the unlawful act. In any case, the two investigations must be kept separate. Not only that, but by international practice, the technical investigation must be sent to the International Civil Aviation Organisation, ICAO, in Montreal for inclusion in that organisation's database. In the case of the Ustica accident involving an Itavia DC9, which is unique in the world, an anomalous procedure was followed whereby the judicial authority, which should have been responsible only for identifying the culprit, also had the task of determining the causes of the accident. The investigation would have been very different if it had been conducted by experienced aviation safety investigators who would certainly have been able to reach a firm conclusion on the causes of the accident.

Whether drinking Red Bull, relieving chronic pain with oxycodone, or experimenting with Ecstasy, Americans participate in a culture of self-medication, using psychoactive substances to enhance or manage our moods. A "drug-free America" seems to be a fantasyland that most people don't want to inhabit. High: Drugs, Desire, and a Nation of Users asks fundamental questions about US drug policies and social norms. Why do we endorse the use of some drugs and criminalize others? Why do we accept the necessity of a doctor-prescribed opiate but not the same thing bought off the street? This divided approach shapes public policy, the justice system, research, social services, and health care. And despite the decades-old war on drugs, drug use remains relatively unchanged. Ingrid Walker speaks to the silencing effects of both criminalization and medicalization, incorporating first-person narratives to show a wide variety of user experiences with drugs. By challenging current thinking about drugs and users, Walker calls for a next wave of drug policy reform in the United States, beginning with recognizing the full spectrum of drug use practices.

Topology Optimization in Engineering Structure Design explores the recent advances and applications of topology optimization in engineering structures design, with a particular focus on aircraft and aerospace structural systems. To meet the increasingly complex engineering challenges provided by rapid developments in these industries, structural optimization techniques have developed in conjunction with them over the past two decades. The latest methods and theories to improve mechanical performances and save structural weight under static, dynamic and thermal loads are summarized and explained in detail here, in addition to potential applications of topology optimization techniques such as shape preserving design, smart structure design and additive manufacturing. These new design strategies are illustrated by a host of worked examples, which are inspired by real engineering situations, some of which have been applied to practical structure design with significant effects. Written from a forward-looking applied engineering perspective, the authors not only summarize the latest developments in this field of structure design but also provide both theoretical knowledge and a practical guideline. This book should appeal to graduate students, researchers and engineers, in detailing how to use topology optimization methods to improve product design.

IHS Jane's All the World's Aircraft: Unmanned provides comprehensive reference material on unmanned aerial vehicles, targets and drones under development, in production or in service around the world. IHS Jane's All the World's Aircraft: Unmanned delivers reliable insight into unmanned air platforms under development, in production and in service around the world, providing military and security organizations with trusted independent technical profiles to support the development and maintenance of effective long-term airborne capability advantages, and providing A&D businesses with market intelligence to drive successful business development, strategy and product development activity.

In 1945 confidence in British aviation was sky-high. Yet decades later, the industry had not lived up to its potential. What happened? The years that followed the war saw the Brabazon Committee issue flawed proposals for civil aviation planning. Enforced cancellations restricted the advancement of military aircraft, compounded later on by Defence Minister Duncan Sandys abandoning aircraft to fixate solely on missiles. Commercially, Britain's small and neglected domestic market hindered the development of civilian airliners. In the production of notorious aircraft, the inauspicious Comet came from de Havilland's attempts to gain an edge over its American competitors. The iconic Harrier jump jet and an indigenous crop of helicopters were squandered, while unrealistic performance requirements brought about the cancellation of TSR2. Peter Reese explores how repeated financial crises, a lack of rigour and fatal self-satisfaction led British aviation to miss vital opportunities across this turbulent period in Britain's skies.

In the years after World War II, the airline stewardess became one of the most celebrated symbols of American womanhood. Stewardesses appeared on magazine covers, on lecture circuits, and in ad campaigns for everything from milk to cigarettes. Airlines enlisted them to pose for publicity shots, mingle with international dignitaries, and even serve (in sequined minidresses) as the official hostesses at Richard Nixon's inaugural ball. Embodying mainstream America's perfect woman, the stewardess was an ambassador of femininity and the American way both at home and abroad. Young, beautiful, unmarried, intelligent, charming, and nurturing, she inspired young girls everywhere to set their sights on the sky. In The Jet Sex, Victoria Vantoch explores in rich detail how multiple forces-business strategy, advertising, race, sexuality, and Cold War politics-cultivated an image of the stewardess that reflected America's vision of itself, from the wholesome girl-next-door of the 1940s to the cosmopolitan glamour girl of the Jet Age to the sexy playmate of the 1960s. Though airlines marketed her as the consummate hostess-an expert at pampering her mostly male passengers, while mixing martinis and allaying their fears of flying-she bridged the gap between the idealized 1950s housewife and the emerging "working woman." On the international stage, this select cadre of women served as ambassadors of their nation in the propaganda clashes of the Cold War. The stylish Pucci-clad American stewardess represented the United States as middle class and consumer oriented-hallmarks of capitalism's success and a stark contrast to her counterpart at Aeroflot, the Soviet national airline. As the apotheosis of feminine charm and American careerism, the stewardess subtly bucked traditional gender roles and paved the way for the women's movement. Drawing on industry archives and hundreds of interviews, this vibrant cultural history offers a fresh perspective on the sweeping changes in twentieth-century American life.

The biomedical industry, which includes biopharmaceuticals, genomics and stem cell therapies, and medical devices, is among the fastest growing worldwide. While it has been an economic development target of many national governments, Asia is currently on track to reach the epicenter of this growth. What accounts for the rapid and sustained economic growth of biomedicals in Asia? To answer this question, Kathryn Ibata-Arens integrates global and national data with original fieldwork to present a conceptual framework that considers how national governments have managed key factors, like innovative capacity, government policy, and firm-level strategies. Taking China, India, Japan, and Singapore in turn, she compares each country's underlying competitive advantages. What emerges is an argument that countries pursuing networked technonationalism (NTN) effectively upgrade their capacity for innovation and encourage entrepreneurial activity in targeted industries. In contrast to countries that engage in classic technonationalism-like Japan's developmental state approach-networked technonationalists are global minded to outside markets, while remaining nationalistic within the domestic economy. By bringing together aggregate data at the global and national level with original fieldwork and drawing on rich cases, Ibata-Arens telegraphs implications for innovation policy and entrepreneurship strategy in Asia-and beyond.

Oh, the humanity!" Radio reporter Herbert Morrison's words on witnessing the destruction of the Hindenburg are etched in our collective memory. Yet, while the Hindenburg ,like the Titanic ,is a symbol of the technological hubris of a bygone era, we seem to have forgotten the lessons that can be learned from the infamous 1937 zeppelin disaster.Zeppelins were steerable balloons of highly flammable, explosive gas, but the sheer magic of seeing one of these behemoths afloat in the sky cast an irresistible spell over all those who saw them. In Monsters , Ed Regis explores the question of how a technology now so completely invalidated (and so fundamentally unsafe) ever managed to reach the high-risk level of development that it did. Through the story of the zeppelin's development, Regis examines the perils of what he calls pathological technologies",inventions whose sizeable risks are routinely minimized as a result of their almost mystical allure.Such foolishness is not limited to the industrial age: newer examples of pathological technologies include the US government's planned use of hydrogen bombs for large-scale geoengineering projects the phenomenally risky, expensive, and ultimately abandoned Superconducting Super Collider and the exotic interstellar propulsion systems proposed for DARPA's present-day 100 Year Starship project. In case after case, the romantic appeal of foolishly ambitious technologies has blinded us to their shortcomings, dangers, and costs.Both a history of technological folly and a powerful cautionary tale for future technologies and other grandiose schemes, Monsters is essential reading for experts and citizens hoping to see new technologies through clear eyes.

Clarence "Cap" Cornish was an Indiana pilot whose life spanned all but five years of the Century of Flight. Born in Canada in 1898, Cornish grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He began flying at the age of nineteen, piloting a "Jenny" aircraft during World War I, and continued to fly for the next seventy-eight years. In 1995, at the age of ninety-seven, he was recognized by Guinness World Records as the world's oldest actively flying pilot.The mid-1920s to the mid-1950s were Cornish's most active years in aviation. During that period, sod runways gave way to asphalt and concrete; navigation evolved from the iron rail compass to radar; runways that once had been outlined at night with cans of oil topped off with flaming gasoline now shimmered with multicolored electric lights; instead of being crammed next to mailbags in open-air cockpits, passengers sat comfortably in streamlined, pressurized cabins. In the early phase of that era, Cornish performed aerobatics and won air races. He went on to run a full-service flying business, served as chief pilot for the Fort Wayne "News-Sentinel," managed the city's municipal airport, helped monitor and maintain safe skies above the continental United States during World War II, and directed Indiana's first Aeronautics Commission.Dedicating his life to flight and its many ramifications, Cornish helped guide the sensible development of aviation as it grew from infancy to maturity. Through his many personal experiences, the story of flight nationally is played out.

The Blackpool Aviation week in 1909 marked the beginning. Early pioneers performed a number of flying feats which were rewarded with prizes given by the Daily Mail and the then Manchester Guardian. After this Henry Greg Melly set up a flying school on Freshfield beach at Formby and A V Roe founded his AVRO company. Meanwhile, English Electric decided to open up an aircraft building firm based at Samlesbury near Preston. They produced the Hampden and Halifax bombers used during the Second World War. Ron Freethy's well researched book also includes many firsthand accounts provided by local people from their own memories and those of their parents. These bring the story alive and, combined with many photographs, create a lasting record of the county's place in British aviation history.

The Dornier Do 17 was one of three Luftwaffe's main bomber types early in the war. Designed as a passenger and mail plane, it ultimately proved true in the military version. Its last version, powered by Bramo 323 radial engines was the Do 17 Z. Based directly on Do 17 M airframe it had revised front fuselage section to improve the crew's working conditions in the form of so-called "Waffenkopf" (armed head). A total of approximately 910 examples in several sub-variants, from Z-0 to Z-10 were built from early 1939 till mid-1940. These aircraft saw combat in Polish and French campaigns, Battle of Britain, Balkan operations, Russian campaign till 1942 and sporadically in the African campaign. The crews considered the Do 17 one of the most reliable aircraft and despite poor armor in their opinion it had good flight characteristics.

Reliability Based Aircraft Maintenance Optimization and Applications presents flexible and cost-effective maintenance schedules for aircraft structures, particular in composite airframes. By applying an intelligent rating system, and the back-propagation network (BPN) method and FTA technique, a new approach was created to assist users in determining inspection intervals for new aircraft structures, especially in composite structures. This book also discusses the influence of Structure Health Monitoring (SHM) on scheduled maintenance. An integrated logic diagram establishes how to incorporate SHM into the current MSG-3 structural analysis that is based on four maintenance scenarios with gradual increasing maturity levels of SHM. The inspection intervals and the repair thresholds are adjusted according to different combinations of SHM tasks and scheduled maintenance. This book provides a practical means for aircraft manufacturers and operators to consider the feasibility of SHM by examining labor work reduction, structural reliability variation, and maintenance cost savings.

The Rolls-Royce Merlin is the most recognisable aero engine in the world. It powered the Battle of Britain aircraft, the Spitfire and Hurricane, as they defended the shores of Britain against the Luftwaffe, foiling Hitler's plans to invade in summer 1940. It also powered the Lancasters and Halifaxes of Bomber Command as they went on their missions of destruction to the German heartland. And the 'wooden wonder', the Mosquito, was powered by the Merlin, its pinpoint bombing accuracy and reconnaissance work proving vital to the war effort. For the Americans, the Merlin was the power plant of the Mustang escort fighter that protected the US Air Force B-17 Flying Fortress and B-29 Super Fortress bombers on their daylight raids to the enemy. The P-51 was also used in the North African, Mediterranean and Pacific theatres. So the Merlin worked day and night to secure the eventual Allied victory. It has rightfully been described as the most significant aircraft piston engine in history and in the twenty-first century its distinctive 'drone' can still be heard over England as the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight take to the air on special occasions - most recently on the centenary of the RAF - with its Lancaster leading the Merlin-powered Spitfires and Hurricanes in formation. Retired military and commercial pilot Gordon Wilson tells the human story of the development of the engine and its operational use during the war, featuring the voices of air crew who relied on this technological tour de force.

Scotland has a worldwide reputation for launching some of the greatest ships ever built, but far less is known about our pioneering work on aviation. Yet in the great industrial cities and remote islands across the country, men and women risked their reputations, resources and lives to advance experiments in flight. Before airliners crossed the Atlantic Ocean and bombers secretly flew into the NATO airbase at Machrihanish, pioneers of aviation worked in the unlikely surroundings of Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow among other places. Their humble flying crafts, made with wood and canvas, would become the luxurious jet-engined aircraft of today. Including the first flight over Everest, the construction of the most northerly airship station in mainland Britain and the experience of civilians and pilots during the Clydebank Blitz of 1941, Scotland's Wings is a glimpse into the dramatic and sometimes controversial adventures within Scottish aeronautics. In Scotland's Wings, Robert Jeffrey tells a fascinating history, highlighting innovators whose ideas heralded the modern age of transport and revealing how the airfields of previous years will once again be used to progress into a daring new age of travel.

Whether drinking Red Bull, relieving chronic pain with oxycodone, or experimenting with Ecstasy, Americans participate in a culture of self-medication, using psychoactive substances to enhance or manage our moods. A "drug-free America" seems to be a fantasyland that most people don't want to inhabit. High: Drugs, Desire, and a Nation of Users asks fundamental questions about US drug policies and social norms. Why do we endorse the use of some drugs and criminalize others? Why do we accept the necessity of a doctor-prescribed opiate but not the same thing bought off the street? This divided approach shapes public policy, the justice system, research, social services, and health care. And despite the decades-old war on drugs, drug use remains relatively unchanged. Ingrid Walker speaks to the silencing effects of both criminalization and medicalization, incorporating first-person narratives to show a wide variety of user experiences with drugs. By challenging current thinking about drugs and users, Walker calls for a next wave of drug policy reform in the United States, beginning with recognizing the full spectrum of drug use practices.

It is imperative that aviation businesses play an active role in ensuring a positive business climate for their home fields and for other airports as well. Essentials of Aviation Management: A Guide for Aviation Service Businesses provides the analytical tools that will assist the manager of the aviation service business who wishes to be competitive in today's aviation environment capitalize on challenges and opportunities. It is a practical reference for the individual in industry and also serves well in undergraduate and graduate courses. Essentials of Aviation Management: A Guide for Aviation Service Businesses: includes ideas synthesized from the academic and practical experiences of the authors. features chapter objectives, discussion topics, and more! has been in publication for more than 35 years!  

Listen to a short interview with Jeffrey A. Engel Host: Chris Gondek ] Producer: Heron & Crane

In a gripping story of international power and deception, Jeffrey Engel reveals the "special relationship" between the United States and Great Britain in a new and far more competitive light. As allies, they fought communism. As rivals, they locked horns over which would lead the Cold War fight. In the quest for sovereignty and hegemony, one important key was airpower, which created jobs, forged ties with the developing world, and, perhaps most importantly in a nuclear world, ensured military superiority.

Only the United States and Britain were capable of supplying the post-war world's ravenous appetite for aircraft. The Americans hoped to use this dominance as a bludgeon not only against the Soviets and Chinese, but also against any ally that deviated from Washington's rigid brand of anticommunism. Eager to repair an economy shattered by war and never as committed to unflinching anticommunism as their American allies, the British hoped to sell planes even beyond the Iron Curtain, reaping profits, improving East-West relations, and garnering the strength to withstand American hegemony.

Engel traces the bitter fights between these intimate allies from Europe to Latin America to Asia as each sought control over the sale of aircraft and technology throughout the world. The Anglo-American competition for aviation supremacy affected the global balance of power and the fates of developing nations such as India, Pakistan, and China. But without aviation, Engel argues, Britain would never have had the strength to function as a brake upon American power, the way trusted allies should.