SPEED IN THE AIR

Author: David W Wragg

Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Year published: 1974

Pagination: 192pp, 125 photos, 6 ills, index

Condition: Good in good dw

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Louis Bleriot set a record of 47.65 mph at the world's first aviation meeting at Rheims. Not until 1921 did the air speed record overtake the land speed record. The author tells the story of the pursuit of speed in the air with accounts of the Federation Auronautique Internationale, the Wright Brothers and Bleriot, the rise of the monoplane, the Schneider Trophy races and the dominance of the sea plane, the Messerschmitt and the Spitfire, the development of turbojets, breaking the sound barrier, and onward from Mach 1 to Mach 6