Background to Flight 1903 - 1912

How, and why, did powered flight evolve at such a rate? I have always found the early years of flight particularly fascinating. Many books cover this period, but they tend to concentrate mainly on specific people and specific aircraft. I am more interested in the general picture of how flying evolved: I think the key years here are 1903-1912. The earlier year is obvious, since it saw the first successful powered flight. The latter year is less obvious, but - as will be explored in this book - it corresponds to a time when the world of flying reached a recognizably modern form. This represents an extremely rapid rate of development, especially since much of it was concentrated in the final five years from 1908 onwards. In the first half of the period covered here, the USA was the dominant nation in terms of flight. In the second half, it was France. In this book, I compare developments in both, with those in Britain.