First Flight: The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Airplane

by Tom D. Crouch, John Glenn (Foreword by)

First Flight This compact National Parks Service Handbook describes the lives of America’s first pilots, the Wright brothers, and their invention of the first successful heavier-than-air-machine--the airplane. In addition to their personal history, the book describes sites where the brothers conducted their experiments, such as Kitty Hawk and Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina. It also describes their development of the first “practical” airplane–the 1905 Wright Flyer III, preserved today at the Aviation Heritage National Historical Park, Huffman Prairie Flying Field in Dayton, Ohio. Illustrations tracing the Wrights’ progress, maps, and a fold-out chart depicting the 1903 Wright Flyer and the principles of flight make this publication an indispensable guide to the Wright brothers’ story.

Genres: History, Biography

116 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Tom Day Crouch is curator emeritus of the Smithsonian, where he served both the National Air and Space Museum and the National Museum of American History in a variety of curatorial and administrative posts. Prior to coming to the Smithsonian he was employed by the Ohio Historical Society as director of education (1969-1973) and as director, Ohio American Revolution Bicentennial Advisory Commission (1973-1974).

Crouch earned a BA in history from Ohio University in 1962, an MA in history from Miami University in 1968, and a PhD in history from the Ohio State University in 1976.

Reviews

[Michael Teter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting fact filled chronology of the Wright brothers successful invention of the airplane.

[Shawn Strope]

This book explains how the Wright brothers started out from a bike shop to making the first airplane. The wright brothers had many planes fail on them and crash before they got in the air. The first flight only lasted 12 seconds but it was a huge turning point in history. I recommend this book to anyone who like airplanes or is doing research over airplanes.