Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)When I saw Conquering The Sky in the local public library I checked it out and eagerly looked forward to reading it and learning more about the Wright brothers aircraft and their early flights. Unfortunately a large part of the book was devoted to a different topic. I refer to all the coverage of unprofessional and misleading newspaper reporting of the Wright's activities and flights. It ties in with the Wright's desire to conduct their work with a degree of seclusion, but not worth forming a major part of the text.
The book's text contains hardly any description or details of the aircraft and their engines other than one mention of horsepower and a crimped fuel line. Some data is included in several of the eyewitness testimonials in the back of the book. That data, plus other that must have been available to the author in his extensive research, could have been incorporated into a more comprehensive story line to describe the aircraft and show how they were changed or improved as flights and experiments progressed.
I'm not suggesting that complex aeronautical engineering data be included. Only that, after reading the text, a reader shouldn't have to learn from eyewitness testimonials in the back of the book that the aircraft (at least one of them) had a forty foot wingspan, or that the first engine developed 12 or 15 horsepower, and later engines developed up to 40 horsepower. The reader is left to wonder what changes were made to the airframes, control systems, and engines - and when, and why.
Another disappointment was the treatment of rare photographs of the Wright aircraft. They were printed on regular paper and only about one third of a page in size. One was only about two inches square. If the pictures had been printed on glossy paper and enlarged to full page size so that more detail could be seen, and if more descriptive information been included in the text, this book would be a treasured possession for those interested in aviation history.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Conquering the Sky: The Secret Flights of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk
In seven crucial days of spring 1908, the Wright brothers prepared for what they thought would be a season of secret flights at Kitty Hawk, the culmination of five years spent perfecting their planes. However, they were soon discovered by a host of fast-paced reporters and photographers, forcing the brothers to try to outsmart the world press and avoid close scrutiny of their flying machine and its prowess. Within a few pivotal days, the brothers were catapulted into unwanted worldwide fame as the international press reported their every move using rudimentary telegraphs and early forms of photography. This comedy-of-errors pursuit of pilots and press resulted in a series of bizarre and far-fetched news stories splashed across front pages around the world, by journalists who knew they had just witnessed a milestone in history and were desperate to get to the story first.In Conquering the Sky, Larry E. Tise tells the fascinating untold story of how the Wrights finally introduced the world to the power of flight, taught a legion of gaping aeronauts how to put a plane in the air and keep it there, and astonished thousands of eye-witnesses both in America and in Europe with their amazing feats.
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