National Aviation History Month: Home

A riveting oral history/biography of a pioneering woman aviator. This is the story of an uncommon woman--high school cheerleader, campus queen, airplane pilot, wife, mother, politician, business-woman--who epitomizes the struggles and freedoms of women in 20th-century America, as they first began to believe they could live full lives and demanded to do so.

She flew the swift P-51 and the capricious P-38, but the heavy, four-engine B-17 bomber and C-54 transport were her forte. This is the story of Nancy Harkness Love who, early in World War II, recruited and led the first group of twenty-eight women to fly military aircraft for the U.S. Army.

Women run wind tunnel experiments, direct air traffic, and fabricate airplanes. American women have been involved with flight from the beginning, but until 1940, most people believed women could not fly, that Amelia Earhart was an exception to the rule. World War II changed everything.

Close on the heels of the American public's early enthusiasm over the airplane came aviation stories for the young. From 1910 until the early 1960s, they exalted flight and painted the airplane as the most modern and adventuresome of machines.

Until now, no book has covered all of Cold War air combat in the words of the men who waged it. In I Always Wanted to Fly, retired United States Air Force Colonel Wolfgang W. E. Samuel has gathered first-person memories from heroes of the cockpits and airstrips.

This fascinating account of the development of aviation in Alaska examines the daring missions of pilots who initially opened up the territory for military positioning and later for trade and tourism.

"Allan T. Stein idolized his uncle, a pilot in the Great War. So in 1943, in the midst of the Second World War, he left Texas A & M University for Lackland Air Field to learn to fly. By the time he retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1969, Stein had flown everything from BT-13s and B-24s to B-52s and C-47s.

In this biography, William F. Trimble examines the pioneering work of Glenn Curtiss and his role in the origins of aviation in the U.S. Navy in the years up to and through World War I.

A collection of curious tales questioning the ownership of airspace and a reconstruction of a truly novel moment in the history of American law, Banner's book reminds us of the powerful and reciprocal relationship between technological innovation and the law.

Capt. Field E. Kindley, with the famous Eddie Rickenbacker, was one of America's foremost World War I flying aces. Like Rickenbacker's, Kindley's story is one of fierce dogfights, daring aerial feats, and numerous brushes with death.

Understand the growth and evolution of American air power with this overview of the history of the world's most successful aviation force. * Comprehensive, daily coverage of relevant wartime and peacetime events as they affected the U.S. Air Force as an institution and fighting machine * Illustrations of important aircraft, personalities, and historical events.

In late May 1927 an inexperienced and unassuming 25-year-old Air Mail pilot from rural Minnesota stunned the world by making the first non-stop transatlantic flight. A spectacular feat of individual daring and collective technological accomplishment.

This candid WWI memoir takes readers inside the cockpit with an RAF officer on the Western Front from the outbreak the Great War until its end in 1918.   Louis Arbon Strange was at the Royal Air Force's Central Flying School when war broke out in 1914.

"It's almost like ballet. Preflight. Starting. Warm-up. The voices from the control tower--the instructions. Taxiing. The rush down the runway. Airborne. There are names for every move. The run-up. Position and hold. Every move needs to be learned, practiced, made so familiar you feel the patterns in every other thing you do.

Red Tail Captured, Red Tail Free is a rare gift detailing the experience of Lt. Col. Alexander Jefferson, who was one of 32 Tuskegee Airmen from the 332nd Fighter Group to be shot down defending a country that considered them to be second-class citizens.

Hard Airaa book about extraordinary flyingOCoflying under conditions that keep fighters on the carrier deck and rockets on the launch padOCoa book about rescue missions and long, lonely flights to gather urgently needed information, about flights to places where no one should be flying.

The Encyclopedia of Aerodynamics was written for pilots at all levels from private pilot to airline pilot, military pilots and students of aerodynamics as a complete reference manual to aerodynamic terminology.

The commercial aviation industry is a major part of the U.S. transportation infrastructure and a key contributor to the nation's economy. The industry is facing the effects of a reduced role by the military as a source of high-quality trained personnel, particularly pilots and mechanics.

Classical aerodynamics is a compulsory study subject for pilots at all levels of experience. Propeller Aerodynamics is a subset of this fascinating subject.

Designed for readers from grade 6 and up, this lavishly illustrated set provides comprehensive coverage of the history of aviation, including space flight, as well as the science and technology on which it depends.

This book provides a detailed general overview of the human factors and performance limitations associated with flying fast jets, integrating all the latest available research literature on the demanding operational tasks faced by such pilots and aircrews.

Whereas traditional classroom instruction requires pilots to be pulled off the line, a training facility to be maintained and instructors to be compensated, e-learning is extremely cost-effective and therefore an attractive alternative.

What does an individual need to be considered an experienced fighter pilot? The current formal definition is based on how many flying hours a person has, but in practice, the question is more complex and sometimes subjective because an individual requires different kinds of experience for combat positions and staff positions.

Since the very earliest years of aviation, it was clear that human factors were critical to the success and safety of the system. As aviation has matured, the system has become extremely complex.