Unlocking the Sky tells the extraordinary tale of the race to design, refine, and manufacture a manned flying machine, a race that took place in the air, on the ground, and in the courtrooms of America. While the Wright brothers threw a veil of secrecy over their flying machine, Glenn Hammond Curtiss -- perhaps the greatest aviator and aeronautical inventor of all time -- freely exchanged information with engineers in America and abroad, resulting in his famous airplane, the June Bug, which made the first ever public flight in America. Fiercely jealous, the Wright brothers took to the courts to keep Curtiss and his airplane out of the sky and off the market. Ultimately, however, it was Curtiss's innovations and designs, not the Wright brothers', that served as the model for the modern airplane.
ISBN: | 9780060956158 |
Publication date: | 16th September 2003 |
Author: | Lisa Scottoline |
Publisher: | Harper Perennial an imprint of HarperCollins |
Format: | Paperback |
Pagination: | 288 pages |
Genres: |
Biography: science, technology and medicine Biography: business and industry Biography: historical, political and military History General and world history History of the Americas Ecological science, the Biosphere Engineering: general Aerospace and aviation technology Space science Astronautics Aircraft and aviation |