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EDITORIAL INFORMATION

Perhaps no technological development in the century has more fundamentally transformed human life than the airplane and its support apparatus. The nature of flight, and the activities that it has engendered throughout the world, makes the development of the aviation technology an important area of investigation. Why did aeronautical technology take the shape it did? Which individuals and organizations were involved in driving it? What factors influenced particular choices of technologies to be used? More importantly, how has innovation affected this technology?

Innovations and the Development of Flight, a first strike at the "new aviation history," represents a significant transformation of the field by relating the subject to larger issues of society, politics, and culture, taking a more sophisticated view of the technology than few historians have previously attempted.

This volume moves beyond a focus on the artifact to emphasize the broader role of the airplane and, more importantly, the entire technological system. This suggests that many unanswered questions are present in the development of modern aviation and that inquisitive historians seek to know the relationships of technological systems to the human mind.

Some of the subjects discussed are early aeronautical innovation and government patronage; the evolution of relationships among airports, cities, and industry; the relationship of engine development to the entire aviation industry; the Department of Commerce's influence on light plane development; pressure in the Air Force for the development of jet engines; and lessons of the National Aerospace Plane Program.

(Extracted from the dust jacket.)

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Contents.

-List of Illustrations.

-Acknowledgments.

-Introduction: Patterns of Innovation in Aeronautical Technology. Roger D. Launius.

-I. The Langley and Wright Aero Accidents: Two Responses to Early Aeronautical Innovation and Government Patronage. Norriss S. Hetherington.

-II. Innovation in America's Aviation Support Infrastructure: The Evolving Relationship between Airports, Cities, and Industry. Janet R. Daly Bednarek.

-III. The Search for an Instrument Landing System. William M. Leary.

-IV. Higher, Faster, and Farther: Fueling the Aeronautical Revolution, 1919-45. Stephen L. McFarland.

-V. Engineering Succesful Innovation: Pratt & Whitney Aircraft Engines, 1925-40. Bayla Singer.

-VI. Three-Miles-a-Minute: The National Advosry Committee for Aeronautics and the Development of the Modern Airliner. Deborah G. Douglas.

-VII. An Airplane for Everyman: The Department of Commerce and the Light Airplane Industry, 1933-37. Tom D. Crouch.

-VIII. Paths for Light: Innovation and the Origin of Radar. Louis Brown.

-IX. Rocket Aircraft and the "Turbojet Revolution": The Luftwaffe's Quest for High-Speed Flight, 1935-39. Michael J. Neufeld.

-X. Revolutionary Innovation and the Invisible Infrastructure: Making Royal Air Force Bomber Command Efficient, 1939-45. Robin Higham.

-XI. Riding England's Coattails: The U.S. Army Air Forces and the Turbojet Revolution. James O. Young.

-XII. Command Innovation: Lessons from the National Aerospace Plane Program. Larry Schweikart.

-About the Authors.

-Index.