Classic Airplanes: Pioneering Aircraft and the Visionaries Who Built Them

Ever since Orville and Wilbur Wright tested their flying machine on the sands of Kitty Hawk, designers, builders and pilots have striven to take their planes farther, faster, higher. Presented on the beautiful, large, color pages are the stories and images of 22 of the greatest models ever built, from the Wright Flyer and the French Blériot XI to the Concorde Supersonic Transport SST and the Northrop B-2 Stealth Bomber. Each of these aircraft introduced new design concepts that opened up whole new vistas in the field of aeronautical engineering: that's what makes them classics. Along with planes such as the Fokker D-VII (Germany), Sopwith Camel (U.K.), Sikorsky Ilya-Mourometz (USSR), Messerschmitt Bf 109f (Germany), and Mitsubishi A6M-3 Risen: The Zero (Japan), come a cast of fascinating, eccentric characters who dedicated their lives to flying high.