Document created: 20 August 02
Air & Space Power Journal - Fall 2002

A Dream of Wings: Americans and the Airplane, 1875–1905 by Tom D. Crouch. W. W. Norton & Company (http://www.wwnorton.com), 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10110, 2002 (paperback reissue of 1989 edition), 352 pages, $14.95.

The much anticipated centennial celebration of powered flight that will occur in 2003 has spurred a reissue of this classic work by Tom Crouch, senior curator of aeronautics at the National Air and Space Museum and dean of early American aviation historians. A Dream of Wings examines critically those epic years of trial and error when men schooled in the technological age “brought self-confidence, professional organization and experience” (p. 19) to the pursuit of controlled heavier-than-air flight. Crouch incorporates within an overarching chronological framework a review of the dogged efforts of such American avia-tion pioneers as Octave Chanute to make structural, power, and control theories into actual flying machines. Although the Wright brothers’ test site near Dayton, Ohio, will gain renewed fame as the world celebrates a century of powered flight, when the festivities end, its renown will once again fade. But A Dream of Wings will ensure that the intrepid exploits of our aeronautical forefathers continue to bloom.

Maj William E. Fischer Jr., USAF
Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio

Disclaimer

The conclusions and opinions expressed in this document are those of the author cultivated in the freedom of expression, academic environment of Air University. They do not reflect the official position of the U.S. Government, Department of Defense, the United States Air Force or the Air University.