Road to Kitty Hawk

Time Life, January 1981. Library Binding. Used - Very Good. This is one of a series of books, by Time Life, which explores the history of aviation from its earliest beginnings up to the jet age. This particular volume covers the span of history and myth from around 11 BC up to and through the Wright brothers successful achievement of powered flight in the early 1900s. In the process, it discusses such diverse flying objects, and hoped-for flying objects, as kites; balloons; manned and unmanned gliders; tower jumpers paraphernalia; parachutes; and finally powered craft, both successful and unsuccessful. In reading the book, I was astonished to see how many misguided men seemingly had more guts than brains and attempted flight with no preparation and little or no understanding of what they were about to do. I was also surprised to find that, with so many attempts over such a long period of time, so little was learned by those who followed concerning the elements and requirements of flight, either powered or otherwise. Take, for example, the efforts of Robert Cocking who, in 1837, fashioned a parachute of his own design. He and his chute were hoisted aloft beneath a hot air balloon and released at about 5,000 feet. The parachute then collapsed carrying Cocking to his death. Academically speaking, it seems that it would have been much more prudent to have tested the parachute before the actual attempt.