Aircraft of Today - A Popular Account of the Conquest of the Air (1917)
Cód:
491_9781406711769
AIRCRAFT OF TODAY - A POPULAR ACCOUNT OF THE CONQUEST OF THE AIR BY CHARLES C. TURNER AVIATOR amp AERONAUT, LIEUTENANT, R.N.V.R. 1917 PREFACE Several years ago I wrote my first book on aerial navigation, and although at that time few people believed that either aeroplanes or airships would ever be of much use, the subject was sufficiently in the air to justify the publication of the volume, which, indeed, proved a very gratifying success. To-day the situation is very different. The Great War has proved the reality of the conquest of the air. Many authorities believe that the air will be the principal battlefield of the future, and that the aerial arm will be the first line of defence for Great Britain. This, however, is perhaps an exaggerated idea. Hitherto known as the Fifth Arm, the time has come for this branch of the countrys defences to take its place as one of the leading military services. Whatever view is taken of these questions, there is no gainsaying the extraordinary interest now taken in aircraft, and the general public desire to be well informed on the subject. My claim to be able to help in a small way to this end rests on the fact that for many years I have studied aeronautics in theory and practice, and have qualified as an aviator and a balloonist and in each branch of aerial navigation I have had some experience. Twenty-five years ago I read Glaishers Travels in the Air and I read it again and again, little thinking that I should one day be a humble disciple of the great aeronaut. Yet it was mainly due to such reading that my interest in the subject was awakened and my subsequent course of action guided, and I took part in aerial voyages in which British and Worlds records were created. From that time aeronautics has been to me both work and recreation. I have written much about this fascinating new science, and since 1909 have never ceased from urging its tremendous importance in national defence. It is a bigger question now than eve
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