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Complete account of airborne operations in the Pacific theater. Firsthand descriptions from American and Japanese paratroopers. Detailed maps illustrate battles.
In the late nineteenth century, circus aerialists collaborated with show balloonists to perform death-defying stunts, initially by suspending themselves from trapeze bars beneath a balloon, later by jumping from the balloons using fabric parachutes. By the 1890s, these performances became a worldwide craze, remaining in rural fairs and fetes for decades. Many of the original balloon-parachute pioneers went on to play key roles in the creation of airships, test flying the first gliders and airplanes. Based on extensive historical research, this unusual account explores how a nineteenth-century daredevil act united with the desire to achieve human flight. These performers' contributions did not come without a price: dozens, if not hundreds, of people died in horrifying events witnessed by thousands of spectators. This book chronicles the act that had no practical purpose other than entertainment, which eventually evolved into the development of the free-fall parachute pack--a key aviation need--and the foundation of a new activity known as skydiving.
From the swooping concrete vaults of the TWA Terminal at JFK Airport to the 630-foot-tall Gateway Arch in St. Louis, the iconic designs of Eero Saarinen (1910-1961) captured the aspirations and values of mid-20th-century America. Potent expressions of national power, these and other Saarinen-designed structures--including the GM Technical Center, Dulles International Airport, and John Deere headquarters--helped create the international image of the United States in the decades following World War II. "Eero Saarinen: Shaping the Future" offers a new and wide-ranging look at the entire scope of Saarinen's career. This is the first book on Saarinen to incorporate significant research and materi...
You are holding the only comprehensive history of the early days of the sport of skydiving yet published. It is the story of not just one skydiver but the story of many, the true pioneers of the sport. Just as important this book includes a complete history of the national organization established for the express purpose of promoting sport parachuting. While this history is restricted to a short fifteen years (1961-1975), those years were the most productive, most far-reaching, and the most exciting for the fledgling idea of jumping out of perfectly good airplanes for the sheer joy of it all, eventually establishing the sport of skydiving as an integral part of the world of aviation sports. ...