Pan American Clippers The Golden Age of Flying Boats

Pan American Clippers The Golden Age of Flying Boats

The photographs and artwork will enable readers to grasp the magnificence of the transoceanic flying boats…The accurate, authoritative text will provide information that is new to all but the exceptionally well-informed aviation buff and nonspecialist historian.”
–Choice

For a world recovering from the Great Depression, the Pan American Airways Clipper symbolized luxury, adventure and a brighter future. Illustrated with rare period photographs, vintage travel posters, magazine ads and colorful company brochures, Pan American Clippers covers all aspects of the Golden Age of Pan American’s graceful “flying boats.”

This edition has an additional 16 pages to add more historical and current information and provide additional detail and context to the historical importance of the flying boats, including:

  • Pan Am’s Art Deco terminals
  • the fate of the last Pan Am Clippers and where to see the survivors
  • the Foynes Flying Boat Terminal, Ireland
  • Trippe and Lindbergh’s groundbreaking flight to Asia by way of the Great Circle Route (Canada-Alaska-Siberia-Japan-China)
  • Shediac, New Brunswick, landing site of 24 Savoia Manchetti S-55 flying boats from Rome en route to Chicago’s Century of Progress International Exposition
  • Pan Am enters politics when Frank Roosevelt uses it in Latin America to sidestep the World War II Neutrality Act
  • Trippe’s long-held dream of flying mail and passengers across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, and the opening of LaGuardia Airport.

Visionary Pan Am founder Juan Trippe knew the importance of international travel to the 20th century, and his pioneering airline played a central role in the advancement of transoceanic flight, setting overseas time and distance records, providing airmail delivery and eventually as troop and cargo transports for the Allies during World War II. By dramatically reducing travel time and opening up international air travel to the general public, Pan Am Clippers forever changed the world.

This captivating, informative and richly illustrated book takes readers back to a time of glamor, romance and progress, when dreams once thought impossible were suddenly a reality.

Ford Model-T Coast to Coast: A Slow Drive across a Fast Country

Ford Model-T Coast to Coast: A Slow Drive across a Fast Country

Driverless cars are on the horizon, but before the world falls asleep in the driver’s seat, let’s take a look back down the road from whence we have come. Ford Model-T Coast-to-Coast, documents the cross-country adventure of two brave drivers as they pilot a century-old Model-T on a 3,000-mile journey from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Coast.

The book is as much a contemplation of early-20th century American life as it is a fond farewell to the automotive age.  Can the car still be the vehicle of freedom and discovery, when we’re no longer in command? Or will we finally be able to fully appreciate the scenery rushing past?

Accompanied by Michael Alan Ross’ evocative photography, author Tom Cotter stops in small towns, meets local people and hears their stories about cars, travel, and life. Cotter and Ross also explore back roads adjacent to his main route, the Lincoln Highway—the first transcontinental road.

Significant cross-country runs, such as those by speed-record setter Cannonball Baker, and literary adventurers such as Jack Kerourac, John Steinbeck and Bill Bryson are considered in light of the driverless future. Cotter also drives some of the same roads that a young Edsel Ford traveled in his father’s Model T upon high school graduation in 1917.

In addition to the central road trip, Cotter also visits interesting automotive and transport museums as well as “keepers of the flame” such as Model-T clubs, mechanics, junkyards and collectors across the country.

He also records the numerous trials and tribulations in keeping a 100-year-old car operating on a 3,000-mile journey, something the driverless car of the future is unlikely to encounter.

Join Cotter on his “slow drive across a fast country.” You’ll be glad you did.

Space Shuttle: Developing an Icon 1972-2013

Space Shuttle: Developing an Icon 1972-2013

2017 winner of the prestigious National Aviation Hall of Fame
Combs Gates Award!

During 30 years and 135 missions, the U.S. space shuttle carried more crew members to orbit than all other launch systems, from all other countries combined, and carried more than 4.5 million pounds of payload to orbit. It was a staggering record of success. Unfortunately, it was accompanied by a tragic record of failure, with two accidents claiming the lives of 14 astronauts as well as other incidents claiming several ground personnel. But, as Richard Truly, an astronaut and NASA administrator, once said, “Flying in space is a bold business. We cannot print enough money to make it totally risk-free.” This assertion was not meant as an excuse, simply a statement of fact regarding the physics of space travel and the dangers of chemical rockets.

Because it flew for 30 years, most people alive today do not remember a time when the space shuttle was not in the news. The public was enthralled, the politicians somewhat less, and the armchair critics even less so. The space shuttle was meant as a stepping-stone to broader exploration. But the funding and political will never materialized, leaving the vehicle with little meaningful work for most of its flight campaign. Nevertheless, the space shuttle launched a variety of commercial and military satellites, planetary probes to Venus and Jupiter, and three of the four NASA Great Observatories, including the piece de resistance, the Hubble Space Telescope. Only near the end was it able to demonstrate its intended purpose, building a space station. Even that, when finished, was only a shell of what had been envisioned when the space shuttle was approved. Unfortunately, having found its stride as the primary support vehicle for the International Space Station, the White House canceled the program, leaving the United States without the ability to launch people to orbit.

All of this has left an uncertain legacy for one of the most visible engineering achievements of the 20th Century. This book is not meant to establish that legacy, but to thoroughly document the development, technology, and, to a lesser extent, the flight campaign. We will leave it to future historians to determine the ultimate worthiness of the program. What we can say for certain, though, is that it was one hell of a ride.

3 volume set

Pages: 1584
Size: 8.5 X 11 (inches)
Format: Hardback
Illustrations: 2,923 color photos, 999 line drawings

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