A collection of true stories of the high seas, from the nineteenth century. Shipwrecks, mutiny, life and death decision-making -- all far from home, while pitting themselves against the elements. The romance of the seafaring life is depicted in its brutal reality. - Summary by Lynne Thompson
48 episodes
In these pages, by means of simple language and suitable pictures, the author has told the story of the Ships of the Air. He has explained the laws of their flight; sketched their development to the present day; shown how to build the flying machine and the balloon, and how to operate them; recounted what man has done, and what he hopes to do with their aid. In a word, all the essential facts that enter into the Conquest of the Air have been gathered into orderly form, and are here presented to the public.
We who live to-day have witnessed man’s great achievement; we have seen his dream of ages come true. Man has learned to fly!
The air which surrounds us, so intangible and so commonplace that it seldom arrests our attention, is in reality a vast, unexplored ocean, fraught with future possibilities. Even now, the pioneers of a
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countless fleet are hovering above us in the sky, while steadily, surely these wonderful possibilities are unfolded. - Summary by From the Preface
20 episodes
Glenn Hammond Curtiss, of Hammondsport, New York, won the Scientific American Trophy for the first pre-announced and officially witnessed airplane flight in North America when he flew his plane, the June Bug, 5,080 ft on July 4, 1908. In 1910, he was awarded permanent possession of that trophy when he made the first successful long-distance flight, 147 miles from Albany to New York City. He was the holder of the first US pilots' license ever issued, and opened the first flying school in the US. During WWI, most US military pilots got their training on the Curtiss JN-4, popularly nicknamed the "Jenny". Curtiss earned the title of "Father of Naval Aviation" when he developed the first hydroplanes and the first system for planes to take off and land on carrier ships at sea. In 1912, he co-authored the Curtiss Aviation Book with fellow aviation pioneer Augustus Post, detailing his early flights at Hammondsport, and discussing the state of aviation technology as it stood at that time. The book also includes three chapters on specialized uses of the aeroplane, by Paul Beck, Theodore Ellyson, and Hugh Robinson. (Maria Kasper)
27 episodes
