Description
THE dynamic nature of the growth of science and technology in our century, and their impact on society and on the individual, are nowhere better evident than in the fulfilment of man's ancient dream to fly through the air. Within the lifetime of many of us, aviation has grown, slowly at first and more rapidly later, until it has removed the barriers of space and time. Aviation was one of the earliest of the technologies of this century to require the intimate partnership of scientists, engineers and industrialists of many skills to accomplish rapid progress at the frontiers of knowledge.
No single human mind could comprehend all the knowledge embodied in the design, construction and operation of a jet transport. Aviation was one of the earliest to move from the individual creation of the pioneer inventor to the product of a new social invention, the design team of specialists working in harmony like the members of a symphony orchestra to produce a result far beyond the capability of any individual, H. Guyford Stever and James J. Haggerty here reviewed for us how all this came to pass.
We are introduced to the mysteries of the flow of the invisible air about the aeroplane, the lift that holds the aeroplane in the air and the changing look of aeroplanes as their speed has been increased from 100 to per hour. We learn of piston engines and propellers, of modern jet engines deriving thrust from reaction to the discharge of hot gases, and of rockets that operate in space carrying their own oxygen. We follow the changes in materials from wood, wire and cloth to steel, 4,000 miles aluminium and titanium, and changes in structure from bridge-like trusses to thin, metal shells reinforced by metal beams. We become acquainted with navigation and traffic control along the airways, with electronic devices to guide through darkness and fog.
Finally we catch a glimpse of the future, the supersonic transport and the embryonic hypersonic aeroplanes which may reduce the travel time between any two points on the earth to two and a half hours.
