From the dawn of flight, Chicago has played a vital role in the
development of aviation. Favored by geography and a superb network
of railroads, the Windy City rapidly became the nation's crossroad.
Young's richly illustrated history portrays the inventors,
entrepreneurs, and aviators who conquered the skies and made
Chicago the nation's premier hub for air travel and transport.
Aviation's colorful figures come to life as Young recounts tales of
the pilots, patrons, and passengers who sparked public interest in
the early days of flight. Beginning with Chicago's first aviation
event-a balloon ascension on July 4, 1855-Young traces the local
personalities and technologies that helped make the dream of flight
a reality. He offers the most complete account to date of pioneer
Chicago aviator Octave Chanute, whose series of daring glider
experiments led to international attention and a friendship with
the Wright brothers, who sought his advice before their landmark
flight at Kitty Hawk. The Windy City's golden age of aviation began
in 1910, when a group of wealthy flying enthusiasts formed the Aero
Club of Illinois. Fascinated audiences flocked to see the club's
spectacular aviation shows and to visit Cicero Field, the place
where many of America's first aviators learned to fly. Prominent
public figures of the day included Harold McCormick, the
millionaire patron of early aviation; Charles "Pop" Dickinson, who
gained fame as the nation's oldest pilot; and Katherine Stinson,
who at Cicero Field became the first woman to perform the
loop-the-loop maneuver. Dozens of devastating air crashes over the
years fueled America's early fear of flying. Chicago witnessed its
share of air tragedies, from the Wingfoot blimp disaster of 1919
that caused the city to consider a ban on flying over its borders
to the 1979 crash of a DC-10 jumbo jet at O'Hare that helped doom
the career of that airplane. As Young investigates these crashes-as
well as the mysterious legend of the "Great Lakes Triangle"-he
sheds light on the evolution of airline safety. Aviation progress
in a major city inevitably involves the continuous, often
contentious, campaign for bigger and better airports. Young
analyzes Midway's birth, death, and rebirth as well as the city's
decision in the late 1960s to build a new runway at O'Hare, which
caused a political furor over noise in the suburbs. At the end of
the twentieth century, statewide controversy erupted again over the
decision to reconfigure O'Hare, renewing the debate over airport
expansion. Engagingly written and strikingly illustrated, Chicago
Aviation is the only comprehensive history of the city's crucial
contributions to the first century of powered flight.
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