Back to the Drawing Board - The Evolution of Flying Machines

Andrews has selected 200 flying machines to illustrate and describe the history of flight; each machine was, in its day, a peak in the mainstream of effort. More often than not, the peak turned out to be a false peak. The scramble at the beginning of the 20th century to get airborne was a remarkable era of scientific advancement, even though, with hindsight, the era seems to be littered with mutations and freak machines, devised by brave and often misguided individuals. The evolution of flight is peppered with failures, but as one flying machine after another failed to get off the ground or crashed, knowledge and understanding of the principles of flight improved...