Kitty Hawk and Beyond: The Wright Brothers and the Early Years of Aviation : A Photographic History

This handsomely illustrated book tells the story of two twentieth-century heroes who fashioned from the raw materials of ingenuity and ambition a legacy that will live forever in aviation history. Aided by over 100 rarely seen photographs from the Wright Brothers' personal collection, the authors tell the story of Wilbur and Orville Wright: how they went from operating a printing shop and a bicycle store in Dayton, Ohio, to ushering in the Age of Flight; why Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, was chosen as the site of their initial experiments; and how Orville made the crucial discovery that led to man's first powered, sustained, controlled airplane flight on December 17, 1903.While many books on the Wright Brothers end with the historic First Flight, Kitty Hawk and Beyond goes much further, documenting in eloquent words and rare photographs the important events, post-1903, that frame the Wright Brothers legend: the founding of the Wright Company in the U.S. and France; the Wrights' celebrated tour of Italy and Germany; the legal disputes which, many allege, were indirectly responsible for Wilbur's death in 1912; and Orville's decision to sell the Wright Company and abandon the production of airplanes altogether. One is certain to find in Kitty Hawk and Beyond not only an excellent biography of Wilbur and Orville Wright, but a superb introduction to the history of early aviation as well.