The airplane has experienced phenomenal advancement in the twentieth century, changing at an exponential rate from the Wright brothers to the present day. In this ground breaking work based on new research, Dr John D. Anderson, Jr, a curator at the National Air and Space Museum, analyzes the historical development of the conceptual design process of the airplane. He aims to answer the question of whether airplane advancement has been driven by a parallel advancement in the intellectual methodology of conceptual airplane design. In doing so, Anderson identifies and examines six case histories of 'grand designers' in this field, and challenges some of the preconceived notions of how the intellectual methodology of conceptual airplane design advanced. Filled with over one hundred illustrations which bring his words to life, Anderson unfolds the lives and thoughts of these grand designers.

Aerodynamic principles that make flight possible were little known or barely understood as recently as one hundred years ago. Although their roots can be found in the fluid dynamics of ancient Greek science, it was not until the scientific breakthroughs at the beginning of the twentieth century that it became possible to design successful flying machines. This book presents the history of aerodynamics, intertwined with a review of the aircraft that were developed as technology advanced. Beginning with the scientific theories and experiments of Aristotle and Archimedes, the book continues through the applied and theoretical aerodynamics in the early 1900s, and concludes with modern hypersonic and computational aerodynamics. Students, fluid dynamicists, aeronautical engineers, and historians of technology will find this book a thoroughly engrossing account of the role of aerodynamics in the development of science and technology in this century.