Airlines of The United States Since 1914

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{detailed description}It is a little known fact that the world's first scheduled air service was operated before the First World War - by flying-boats in Florida, thus to the United States goes the honour of pioneering air transport with heavier-than-air craft. In the years following the Great War, the U SA lagged behind Europe in developing commercial air services but did organise and establish trans-continental air mail services. Slowly, however, from the mid-1920s, passenger airlines were built up and to serve them the U S aircraft industry produced outstanding aircraft such as the Ford Tri-Motor, the Boeing 247 and the Douglas D C-3. These great aero- planes and their successors established the United States as the leader in world air trans- port and led to today's domination of the world's air routes by such aircraft as the Boeing 747 and 707 and the Douglas DC-8. Airlines of the United States since 1914, by the author of A History of the World's Airlines, traces the whole story from those first tentative steps in 1914 up to the present when the US air transport system carries more than half of all air passengers outside of the US SR. Every development in airline progress is covered. There are chapters on the exploratory pioneer days before the Air Mail Act of 1925, the adventurous years of the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Air Mail Scandal of 1934, and the Era of the D C-3, culminating in the Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, and the establishment of the nucleus of the airline industry as we know it today. There are chapters on all the main categories of present-day airlines, Trunks, Local Service, International, Supplemental, All-Cargo, and of the U S overseas territories. The historical development of routes, fleets, and fortunes of every airline, large or small - including the Third Level, Air Taxi, or Com- muter airlines - are dealt with in a narrative which avoids excessive statistical detail. How- ever, for reference purposes, there are numerous tables of data, supplemented by many maps and charts. The interplay between individual initiative, government regulation and control, the role of factors such as competition, international policy, and public opinion, all find a place in this air- line story. Not least is the development of the modern airliner up to the 350-ton flying leviathans such as the Boeing 747. The progress and contribution made by the aircraft manufacturers in providing the tools of the airline trade is given full emphasis, and illustrated by almost 500 photographs which alone would provide a fascinating story.
{Author / Publisher / Date}by R. E. G. Davies
1972 1st edition 745pp
{condition}minor edge wear, bumped corners, small stain to preliminary pages, otherwise very good in price clipped d/j
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