The Man who Discovered Flight: George Cayley and the First Airplane
- ISBN-10
- 0771029713
- ISBN-13
- 9780771029714
- Category
- Biography & Autobiography
- Pages
- 328
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2007
- Publisher
- McClelland & Stewart Limited
- Author
- Richard Dee
Description
In 1799, one hundred years before the Wright Brothers' historic flights at Kitty Hawk, Sir George Cayley had engraved, on a silver disc about the size of a British shilling, both the design for an airplane and the earliest recorded description of the forces by which a wing can fly. Through his work Cayley was the first to recognize the two opponent-paired forces of flight: weight and lift, thrust and drag. These discoveries culminated in the invention of the first practical airplanes. Cayley, his grandson John, and the ever supportive engineer Mr. Vick formed a team that would finally conquer the air. Aged seventy-five, Cayley and his little group developed a series of advanced models, and in 1849 they finally flew a full-sized glider with a crew consisting of a ten-year-old boy. Shortly before the his eightieth birthday, Cayley would finally build the machine that launched the world's first heavier-than-air aviator. Within less than a generation of his death, Cayley's name would be virtually forgotten. The "father of aviation" would remain unknown to all but a tiny group who followed his pioneering work. In this compelling account, Richard Dee tells the story of this remarkable man and his remarkable time. Dee's biography of Cayley allows him to combine his scientific and historical knowledge of aviation to produce an accessible and highly readable account of one of aviation's unsung heroes.
Get the book
Similar books
-
The Lost Founding Father: John Quincy Adams and the Transformation of American Politics
By William J. CooperA middle-aged widower, Eaton had recently married Margaret O'Neale Timberlake, the daughter of a Washington tavern keeper. Her first marriage had been to a ...
-
Jesse James was His Name: Or, Fact and Fiction Concerning the Careers of the Notorious James Brothers of Missouri
By William A. Settle10 When the funeral party reached Kearney she cried out to Sheriff Timberlake , " Oh , Mr. Timberlake , my son has gone to God , but his friends still live ...
-
The Age of Jackson and the Art of American Power, 1815-1848
By William R. NesterLt. John Timberlake was smitten, talked her into marrying him, and then was forced to leave his bride for an extended naval voyage.
-
Joan Crawford: The Essential Biography
By Lawrence J. Quirk, William SchoellThe supporting cast, including Lionel Barrymore as Jackson, Tone as Eaton, Robert Taylor as Timberlake, and James Stewart as another persistent suitor, ...
-
Conversations with William Faulkner
By M. Thomas IngeStudent assistant Corrie E. Ward and faculty secretaries Nina Wells and Susan G. Timberlake provided invaluable assistance .
-
Memoirs and Selected Letters: Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant, Selected Letters 1839-1865
By Ulysses S. GrantKroper Priate WAZ e Hale curie Tarner Zur National Forces . ... N. MICHLER , nie22 Ernest 2 Maj . of Engineers , M.Guna Timberlake Wins Zone For HRJohnson ...
-
Inventing Loreta Velasquez: Confederate Soldier Impersonator, Media Celebrity, and Con Artist
By William C. DavisAccording to Robert E. L. Krick of Richmond in an e-mail message, the only likely candidates ... the prison adjutant, and a clerk known only as Timberlake.
-
William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion
By Stanley Wells, Gary Taylor, William MontgomeryEdward A. Bloom ( 1964 ) ; revised in Muir , Shakespeare the Professional ( 1973 ) ... A. W. Pollard ( 1923 ) , 57-112 Timberlake , Philip W. , The Feminine ...
-
The Age of Jackson and the Art of American Power, 1815-1848
By William NesterRichard Timberlake, 7746 Origins of Central Banking in the United States ... 1820, in Thomas Jefferson, 7726 Selected I/Vritings of 7740mas]e erson, ed.
-
Escape: A Memoir
By Carolyn Jessop, Laura PalmerWe'd picked the green tomatoes just before the frost and let them ripen in buckets. Every day we'd sort through them looking for some that were ripe enough ...