This history is a concise introduction to the great developments in aviation from its origins to modem times. The splendid and classic achievements of Sir George Cayley, Otto Lilienthal, the Wright brothers and the many other pioneers are engrossingly portrayed. The importance of the two world wars to the aviation story is recognized and a chapter is devoted to each. The reader is brought up to date with innovations such as the Soviet MiG-25 Foxbat, the Rockwell International B-1 bomber, the largest variable-geometry aircraft flying, and the Panavia Tornado and the F-16, the fighters of the 1980s. The book is fully illustrated with more than 170 photographs.
