Complete with photographs to delight every aeronautics connoisseur, Flying Warbirds reveals U.S., British, German, Russian and Japanese fighting planes from the 1930s and 1940s. Don't miss this collection!

People dreamed of flight for thousands of years. When we finally took to the skies, a new world opened up. This sweeping, superbly researched history from American Heritage details how various pioneers and innovators - from the Wright Brothers to Chuck Yeager - helped lift us into the sky.

Iowans embraced aviation from its very beginning. In the late 1800s, Keokuk's Baldwin brothers headlined Lee County Chautauqua festivals with balloon ascensions. Two decades later, early powered-flight daredevils like Lincoln Beachey, Glenn Messer, and Eugene Ely thrilled huge crowds along the Mississippi River from Decorah to Fort Madison. Dubuque's Clifton "Ole" Oleson barnstormed from Oelwein to Mount Pleasant and in communities in between. Visionaries like the Livingston brothers from Cedar Falls and Davenport's Ralph Cram, Don Luscombe, and Billy Cook started air taxi and freight lines, flight and mechanic schools, and aircraft manufacturing facilities. Iowa City became an original U.S. Airmail stop and, during World War II, Ottumwa and other communities operated training sites for military aviation, with women playing a major role. The postwar establishment of regional air carriers became commonplace, and today a new generation is leading Eastern Iowa into the 21st century while preserving the memory of those who started it all.

On March 12, 2009 a helicopter carrying offshore workers to an oil production platform in the North Atlantic off the coast of Newfoundland crashed into the ocean. Seventeen of the people on board the helicopter perished that day. Just one survived. Thanks to an inquiry into the cause of the crash, which included testimony from the lone survivor, much has been learned about helicopter safety in the years since. However, little has been said about the 17 others who lost their lives that day. The families are now custodians of their legacies. In 18 Souls: The Loss & Legacy of Cougar Flight 491, families and friends speak candidly -- in some cases for the first time -- about what was really lost and what could have been had fate been kind that day. This book goes beyond the question of offshore safety and reveals the depths of raw emotion still resonating in the hearts and minds of those left behind. In doing so 18 Souls pays tribute and honours the memory of the passengers and crew of Cougar Flight 491.

Aviation History is the most complete text on the history of aviation. It is an exciting full-color book that gives both new and experienced pilots a unique perspective on international aviation history. Each of the ten chapers is packed with information; containing over 950 photographs and color graphics. Aviation History explores the question *what was aviation* from its birth in Annonay, France, in 1783, to the exhilarating accomplishments in space. Through personal profiles, you are able to meet the people who made significant contributions to aviation. You will explore histroical evidence and see how historians use the artifacts of aviaiton to confirm what happened.

In this book Peter Vacher relates the account of his discovery of the remains of a Mark I Hurricane in India, his long battle to bring it back to Britain, and how he restored it to working order and reunited three men who had originally flown the craft during the Battle of Britain.