The Wind and Beyond: A Documentary Journey into the History of Aerodynamics in America, Vol. 2: Reinventing the Airplane

by James R. Hansen (Editor), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Editor)

The airplane ranks as one of history’s most ingenious and phenomenal inventions. It has surely been one of the most world changing. How ideas about aerodynamics first came together and how the science and technology evolved to forge the airplane into the revolutionary machine that it became is the epic story told in this six-volume series, The Wind and A Documentary Journey through the History of Aerodynamics in America. Following up on Volume I’s account of the invention of the airplane and the creation of the original aeronautical research establishment in the United States, Volume II explores the airplane design revolution of the 1920s and 1930s and the quest for improved airfoils. Subsequent volumes cover the aerodynamics of airships, flying boats, rotary-wing aircraft, breaking the sound barrier, and more.

957 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2008

About the author

James R. Hansen is a professor of history at Auburn University in Alabama.His book From the Ground Up won the History Book Award of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics in 1988. For his work, The Wind and Beyond (NASA) - (six-volume series), he was awarded the Eugene Ferguson Prize for Outstanding Reference Work by the Society for the History of Technology in 2005.