Encyclopedia of Aircraft Edited by Taylor Hard Cover

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Aircraft entries A-Z, tables of technical data, glossary , index

More than 35 000 different types of aircraft have been built. They range from the famous, such as the Supermarine Spitfire, to the almost forgotten prototypes that never went into production. Obviously in any aviation encyclopedia a selection has to be made and in the present volume a thorough coverage of the major aircraft from all periods is considered to be more worthwhile than brief mention of a vast number of less important types.

This book, therefore, covers the most important aircraft. Many are instantly recognizable but others - not so familiar - are worthy of mention because of their historical significance. Such an aircraft is the Sikorsky VS-300 -for although only one was ever built it was the forerunner of the modern helicopter.

The earliest aircraft listed is the Wright Flyer - because it is officially recognized as the first heavier-than-air machine to have achieved a piloted, powered, controlled and sustained flight. Historians sometimes suggest that a host of pioneers preceded the Wright brothers : Carl Jatho, Alexander Mozhaisky and Sir Hiram Maxim, for example. All of these flew before the Wright brothers but failed to satisfy the strict criteria laid down for an officially recognized flight. It is certainly true that aviation's history goes back a long way. A carved wooden bird in the Cairo Museum, dating back to the time of the ancient Egyptians, has aerodynamic features not found among birds but resembling rather those of a modern glider. Similarly, Leonardo da Vinci designed all manner of flying machines (in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries) which show that, at the very least, man was by then considering flight with the aid of mechanical devices.

The first manned flights were achieved with hot air and hydrogen balloons. Nevertheless, the true father of aerial navigation is generally recognized to be Sir George Cayley. He not only set out the principles of heavier-than-air flight, but designed and built a man-carrying glider which is said to have carried a man in sustained flight in 1853.

This present encyclopedia is designed to tell the story of powered, manned flight - a truly formidable task. To do this, it relies more on easily understood narrative than on highly technical data, to build up a complete picture of aircraft and events. So rapid has the development of aviation been that, stimulated by two world wars, aircraft today have the ability to destroy whole cities or carry civilian passengers between continents at twice the speed of sound. To illustrate this explosive growth, particular emphasis has been placed on the technological or historical importance of each of the 244 aircraft described. The entries are listed alphabetically for ease of reference, and are supported by technical details tabulated at the back of the book. Details of a great many other aircraft can be found among the pages.

An encyclopedia is not the place for speculation about the future. However, events in aviation occur so rapidly, and sometimes so unpredictably, that several major changes had to be made to this book while in production to ensure that it was kept up to date. For example, prior to the time of writing, most people expected the Rockwell International B-1 supersonic bomber to replace the ageing Boeing B-52s of the United States Air Force. Nevertheless, the project was cancelled in the summer of 1977. The entry on the B-1 remains because it is significant enough to warrant inclusion but it has been modified to record the change in status. Similarly, the future of the Concorde was until recently very doubtful despite its success as the pioneer supersonic transport. This uncertainty too has been reflected in the relevant entry.

In other than the technological aspects it is proper to ask how far aviation has really progressed. Certainly, in the event of a nuclear holocaust, aircraft would be responsible for the delivery of nuclear weapons. In this respect the words of Orville Wright spoken at the time of the First World War are still only too true : `What a dream it was - what a nightmare it has become !' Nevertheless, it is possible to argue that peace has been born out of deterrent air power; that nations have been brought closer together by commercial aviation ; and that aircraft have given speedy relief to the sick, and help when all else has failed in times of the world's worst natural disasters.

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