The Greatest Flying Stories Ever Told : 27 Amazing Tales from the Skyway

At 10:35 in the morning of Thursday, December 17, 1903, man got his wings. On the sand dunes of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville Wright flew the motorized aircraft he and his brother Wilbur had constructed to a distance less than the length of the wingspan of today's 747 jet. Three other flights were made the same day, the final lasting 59 seconds for a distance over the ground of 852 feet. Mankind was finally off the ground in powered flight. Not a balloon . . . not a glider . . . in an airplane with wings and a motor. And his experiences in the air would forevermore join the literature of human endeavors, to be shared by kindred spirits or the curious who have wanted to know, What was it like up there? In The Greatest Flying Stories ever Told, Lamar Underwood collects the very best writings, both fact and realistic fiction, on man's fascination with flight, culled from the various magazines, books, plays, and films that serve to lay bare the drama of human beings coping with the skills and devices that enable them to direct their machines through the vastness of the skies. With contributions from: Orville and Wilbur Wright -- Ernest K. Gann -- Charles Lindbergh -- Nevil Shute -- Michael Collins -- Richard Bach -- Antoine de Saint-Exupery -- Chuck Yeager -- Tom Wolfe -- General Curtis LeMay -- A. Scott Crossfield -- Rinker Buck -- Diane Ackerman -- Stephen Coonts -- Pat Conroy -- Derek Robinson -- And more...