The first decade of aviation saw France in a commanding position, but this advantage was steadily lost to other nations. This new book provides a fine selection of rare images from the golden years of French aviation. – Very Highly Recommended.
NAME: Images Of Aviation, Early French Aviation, 1905-1930 FILE: R3044 AUTHOR: Graham M Simons PUBLISHER: Air World, Pen & Sword BINDING: soft back PRICE: £14.99 GENRE: Non Fiction SUBJECT: Aviation pioneers, early aircraft designs, technology, French designers, French aircraft production, experimentation, originality, diversity, airships, heavy- than-air, monoplanes, biplanes, aircraft engines
ISBN: 1-52675-874-1
IMAGE: B3044.jpg BUYNOW: tinyurl.com/urgurpr PAGES: 128 LINKS: DESCRIPTION: The first decade of aviation saw France in a commanding position, but this advantage was steadily lost to other nations. This new book provides a fine selection of rare images from the golden years of French aviation. – Very Highly Recommended. The story of aviation is not without contention, not least the identification of who made the first powered flight. There is a British contender who preceded the Wright Brothers, apparently making a controlled flight with a steam powered aircraft, but the challenge in designing aircraft and submarines lay in finding effective power sources, submarines having to contend with limited oxygen when submerged, and aircraft requiring light powerful motors that could provide an acceptable power to weight ratio. In the second half of the Nineteenth Century there was no shortage of aviation pioneers, only of suitable engines. That meant the captive balloons were the most common early devices, giving way to dirigibles that could use the early combustion engines that were still too heavy to power winged aircraft reliably. The French Government used gas balloons to escape the German besiegers of Paris during the Franco-Prussian War, leaving the Parisians to their fate. French airships pioneered that form of flight and, shortly after the Wright Brothers flew, French winged aircraft were being built. There was great diversity with some designs being frankly bizarre, through competent, if fragile, designs, to a number of very advanced designs at the forefront of technology. Through World War I, the French aircraft industry continued to produce some very effective and pioneering aircraft, but they were steadily overtaken by the British and the Germans. After WWI, the victorious allies all suffered with politicians rushing to spend the 'peace dividend' after the War That Ended All Wars. France probably suffered most, with inadequate military funding going to fund battleships and fixed defences, leaving little to be allocated to aviation. The US was also powering ahead from having to borrow British and French aircraft during WWI, to producing some of the most promising designs for civil and military use. The period selected for this book does demonstrate why the early years of French aviation were the golden years. The many images are of a high standard and show the great diversity of design. Text is confined to an introduction, captions, and extended captions neatly completing the book and adding to the photographic selection.