The World's Fastest Aircraft

When the so-called sound barrier was broken in 1947, another milestone was passed in man's quest for speed in the air. This supersonic feat of flying faster than sound was a far cry from the post-war era and the Schneider Trophy races when the Supermarine S 5/S 6 series floatplanes beat all-comers. Speeds have since surpassed twice that of sound, while in 1981 the American fixed-wing Space Shuttle craft attained a speed 25 times faster, extending the entire concept of record-breaking to the very edge of space.
Martin Bowman's selection of 38 famous high-speed aircraft spans these phenomenal advances with profiles of civil, military and experimental types, from the Supermarine S 6 to the Space Shuttle, which have made attempts on speed, height and distance records. The descriptions encapsulate the story of each aircraft, its overall specification, conception, setbacks and achievements, and are prefaced with a brief review of the record-breaking achievements in flight since Orville Wright's chain-driven Flyer I took to the air in 1903 for 12 seconds at 30-35 mph and set the record that started it all.
The battle for speed supremacy has been a long and often dangerous one. Its participants have included such famous aviators as Jimmy Doolittle, Chuck Yeager and Scott Crossfield and designers of the stature of Sir Frank Whittle, Ernst Heinkel, Leslie Mitchell and 'Kelly' Johnson, and it has been fuelled by intense national rivalry between the United States, the Soviet Union and the European powers. This too comes through in Martin Bowman's expert reportage of these piston-engined, jet and rocket-powered aircraft selected from those that have fought that battle.




by Martin W. Bowman
Published by PSL 1990 1st edition. 136pp profusely illustrated, index. 20x25 mint in price clipped d/j.




see terms and conditions for further delivery info.

Note:
"Long" descriptions, where shown, may have been taken from the book's dust jacket notes, and as such are relevant to the date of publication (e.g. any references to "new edition" "previously unpublished photographs" etc.) and not the present.

other titles which may be of interest:
(these books may be in different sections of our store; use the section navigation on the right of this page, or your browser's "back" button to return here)

The Schneider Trophy £32.50 find out more

The Jet Pioneers £9.00 find out more

Supersonic Flight £14.00 find out more