Howard Pixton Test Pilot Pioneer Aviator

Author : Stella Pixton
Publisher : Pen and Sword
ISBN 13 : 1473834945
Total Pages : 189 pages
Book Rating : 4.41/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Howard Pixton written by Stella Pixton and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2014-07-02 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a truly remarkable account that captures the atmosphere, thrills and danger of the pioneering days of aviation. Howard Pixton was flying for A V Roe at Brooklands in 1910 when S F Cody at Laffan's Plain tried to persuade him to join him. But in 1911 he test flew A V Roe's 'tractor biplane, the forerunner of the 504. By now acknowledged as the first professional test pilot, he left A V to join Bristols and for two years demonstrated new models to dignitaries across Europe.In 1913 he joined Tommy Sopwith and in 1914 he became the first Briton in a British plane to win an international race, the coveted Schneider Trophy. This gave Britain air supremacy and Howard was feted as the finest pilot in the World. Sopwith's Tabloid aircraft developed into the 'Pup', and then into the 'Camel'. Throughout The Great War Pixton test flew many of the rapid evolving designs.For a biography of an early aviation pioneer of the top rank, this book cannot be bettered.

Author : Stella Pixton
Publisher : Pen and Sword Aviation
ISBN 13 : 9781526796899
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.99/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Howard Pixton: Test Pilot and Pioneer Aviator written by Stella Pixton and published by Pen and Sword Aviation. This book was released on 2021-04-28 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a truly remarkable account that captures the atmosphere, thrills and danger of the pioneering days of aviation. Howard Pixton was flying for A V Roe at Brooklands in 1910 when S F Cody at Laffans Plain tried to persuade him to join him. But in 1911 he test flew A V Roes tractor biplane, the forerunner of the 504. By now acknowledged as the first professional test pilot, he left A V to join Bristols and for two years demonstrated new models to dignitaries across Europe. In 1913 he joined Tommy Sopwith and in 1914 he became the first Briton in a British plane to win an international race, the coveted Schneider Trophy. This gave Britain air supremacy and Howard was feted as the finest pilot in the World. Sopwiths Tabloid aircraft developed into the Pup, and then into the Camel. Throughout The Great War Pixton test flew many of the rapid evolving designs. For a biography of an early aviation pioneer of the top rank, this book cannot be bettered.

Author : George J Marrett
Publisher : Naval Institute Press
ISBN 13 : 1682470377
Total Pages : 289 pages
Book Rating : 4.74/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Howard Hughes written by George J Marrett and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2016-05-15 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: George J. Marrett, a former test pilot for aviator Howard Hughes, separates fact from fiction to tell the inside story of the genius who set flight speed records in the 1930s and went on to develop some of America’s most famous aircraft and weapons. The author draws on his wealth of experiences and those of other Hughes confidants to take readers inside Hughes’s complex and clandestine world. Marrett integrates stories of Hughes the ace pilot with Hughes the designer and businessman who became America’s first billionaire.

Author : Jerry Murland
Publisher : Pen and Sword Aviation
ISBN 13 : 1526770024
Total Pages : 340 pages
Book Rating : 4.28/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Schneider Trophy Air Races written by Jerry Murland and published by Pen and Sword Aviation. This book was released on 2021-09-15 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of the Schneider Trophy is the history of aircraft development. When Jacques Schneider devised and inaugurated the Coupe d’Aviation Maritime race for seaplanes in 1913, no-one could have predicted the profound effect the Series would have on aircraft design and aeronautical development, not to mention world history. Howard Pixton’s 1914 victory in a Sopwith Tabloid biplane surprisingly surpassed the performance of monoplanes and other manufacturers turned back to biplanes. During The Great War aerial combat was almost entirely conducted by biplanes, with their low landing speeds, rapid climb rates and maneuverability. Post-war the Races resumed in 1920. The American Curtiss racing aircraft set the pattern for the 1920s, making way for Harold Mitchell’s Supermarines in the 1930’s. Having won the 1927 race at Venice Mitchell developed his ground-breaking aircraft into the iconic Spitfire powered by the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine. This new generation of British fighter aircraft were to play a decisive role in defeating the Luftwaffe and thwarting the Nazis’ invasion plans. This is a fascinating account of the air race series that had a huge influence on the development of flight.

Author : Peter John Dye
Publisher : Naval Institute Press
ISBN 13 : 1682473597
Total Pages : 303 pages
Book Rating : 4.97/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Man Who Took the Rap written by Peter John Dye and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2018-10-15 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the first biography of Sir Robert Brooke-Popham, a key figure in the early development of airpower, whose significant and varied achievements have been overlooked because of his subsequent involvement in the fall of Singapore. It highlights Brooke-Popham’s role in developing the first modern military logistic system, the creation of the Royal Air Force Staff College and the organizational arrangements that underpinned Fighter Command’s success in the Battle of Britain. Peter Dye challenges longstanding views about performance as Commander-in-Chief Far East and, based on new evidence, offers a more nuanced narrative that sheds light on British and Allied preparations for the Pacific War, inter-service relations and the reasons for the disastrous loss of air and naval superiority that followed the Japanese attack. “The Man Who Took the Rap” highlights the misguided attempts at deterrence, in the absence of a coordinated information campaign, and the unprecedented security lapse that betrayed the parlous state of the Allied defenses.

Author : Steve Mills
Publisher : Casemate
ISBN 13 : 1612007902
Total Pages : 314 pages
Book Rating : 4.08/5 ( download)

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Download or read book The Dawn of the Drone written by Steve Mills and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2019-12-27 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “[A] slice of largely-forgotten military history . . . a fascinating exploration of some magnificent men and their flying machines.” —The Sunday Post In the dark days of World War I, when flying machines, radio, and electronics were infant technologies, the first remotely controlled experimental aircraft took to the skies and unmanned radio controlled 40-foot high-speed Motor Torpedo Boats ploughed the seas in Britain. Developed by the British Army’s Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Navy these prototype weapons stemmed from an early form of television demonstrated before the war by Prof. A. M. Low. The remotecontrol systems for these aircraft and boats were invented at RFC Secret Experimental Works commanded by Prof. Low, which was part of the organization of “back-room boys” in the Munitions Inventions Department. These audacious projects led to the hundreds of remotely controlled Queen Bee aerial targets in the 1930s and hence to all the machines that we now call “drones.” Starting well before WWI and, for the lucky ones, extending well beyond it, the lives of Archibald Low and many of his contemporaries were extraordinary as were the times they lived through. They were around for the first epic aircraft flights and with the aid of the very technologies that had enabled the development of drones, they saw air travel transformed from the precarious to the routine. It is astonishing that the origins of the first drones are not common knowledge in Britain and that the achievement of these maverick inventors is not commemorated. “A focused and engaging look at one arena of behind-the-scenes scientific research and the larger-than-life personalities who populated it.” —Booklist

Author : James Glassco Henderson
Publisher : Trafford Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1412038979
Total Pages : 158 pages
Book Rating : 4.73/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Shorty, an Aviation Pioneer written by James Glassco Henderson and published by Trafford Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 158 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Victor John "Shorty" Hatton started his aviation career in a near fatal crash of an Avro 504K and ended it with another Avro aircraft, the Arrow. The story of his working life, from the First World War to the Cold War, is the history of aviation.

Author : Frederick Trapnell
Publisher : Naval Institute Press
ISBN 13 : 1612518559
Total Pages : 257 pages
Book Rating : 4.58/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Harnessing the Sky written by Frederick Trapnell and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2015-07-15 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Harnessing the Sky is one of the last untold stories in 100 years of naval aviation. Th is biography of Vice Adm. Frederick M. Trapnell explores the legacy of the man who has been called “the godfather of current naval aviation.” A pilot of calculated courage, “Trap” entered the Navy when test pilots were more like stuntmen than engineers. Airplanes had not yet come into their own as weapons of war, and they had an undeveloped role in the fleet. His vision and leadership shaped the evolution of naval aviation through its formative years and beyond. When the threat of war in 1940 raised an alarm over the Navy’s deficiency in aircraft—especially fighters—Trap was appointed to lead the Flight Test Section to direct the development of all new Navy airplanes. He played a key role in expediting the evolution of the two superb fighters that came to dominate the air war against Japan—the Corsair and Hellcat. After World War II, Trap returned as commander of the Naval Air Test Center to lead the Navy through the challenges of transitioning to jets. Trap was not only the first U.S. Navy pilot to fly a jet, but is also recognized for defining the operating requirements for carrier-based jet propelled aircraft. Over the course of two decades, Trap tested virtually every naval aircraft prototype and pioneered the philosophy and the methods of the engineering test pilot. He demanded comprehensive testing of each airplane in conditions and maneuvers it would face in wartime fleet operations. These innovations kept the Navy at the forefront of modern aviation, and stand as an enduring legacy to the man who is regarded as the foremost test pilot in a century of naval aviation.

Author : Rachel Sherwood Roberts
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 : 0786482826
Total Pages : 220 pages
Book Rating : 4.25/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Art Smith written by Rachel Sherwood Roberts and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2015-09-17 with total page 220 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By 1915, pioneer aviator Art Smith was as celebrated as any movie star might be today. He thrilled audiences with his barnstorming feats, doing "death spirals," sky writing, "loop-the-loops," and night flights using phosphorus fireworks. He was a consummate showman and had he not died in 1926, his name probably would be familiar to most Americans. He glamorized and popularized aviation while testing the boundaries of aeronautical principles. As a boy he longed to fly before he had ever seen an airplane. His parents believed in him, and he was fortunate to have a best friend named Al Wertman who helped him build an airplane. His fame spread around the globe and in 1916, the Japanese offered him $10,000 for a series of exhibitions. His flying skills inspired a young Wiley Post to a life of aviation. After Smith's death, when Lindbergh flew over Fort Wayne and dipped his wings, he gave credit to the "Bird Boy" Art Smith. The story of this rising star in American aviation is one of adventure, romance, scandal and history. Using Smith's own autobiographical writings, the story is also a factual account of events in early aviation. The book includes photographs and postcards in Art Smith's own handwriting mailed to Al Wertman.

Author : Hart Matthews
Publisher : McFarland
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 222 pages
Book Rating : 4.29/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Pioneer Aviators of the World written by Hart Matthews and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2003 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most people recognize brothers and bicycle mechanics Wilbur and Orville Wright as the first in flight, and know that in 1903, on the blustery sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, they made history with a flying machine of their own invention. But few other people know that the next aviator after the Wright brothers, a Brazilian, flew almost three years later and was nevertheless widely credited as being the first in flight. Or that a world-famous escapologist, a Hungarian, made the first flights in Australia but afterwards never flew again. Or that in Spain the first public display of a flying machine led to religious riots. The first pilots from each of a hundred countries have their stories told in this work. A brief biography and description of his or her attempts to fly are provided for each early aviator, except in a very few cases where facts are hard to find. For purposes of this book, a "flight" is defined as that made by a "heavier-than-air machine capable of taking off from ground level carrying a pilot, who controls to some degree the ascent, descent and path of the machine." To be called "successful," the flight must be "sustained past the point to which the machine's take-off momentum would normally carry it through the air."