General aviation encompasses all the ways aircraft are used 
beyond commercial and military flying: private flights, 
barnstormers, cropdusters, and more. Janet R. Daly Bednarek
and Michael H. Bednarek have taken on the formidable task of 
discussing the hundred-year history of this diverse field by 
focusing on the most important figures and organizations in 
general aviation and the major producers of general aviation 
aircraft and engines.

    This history examines the many airplanes used in general 
aviation, from early Wright and Curtiss aircraft to the Piper Cub 
and the Lear Jet. The authors trace the careers of birdmen, 
birdwomen, barnstormers, and others who shaped general 
aviation—from Clyde Cessna and the Stinson family of San 
Antonio to Olive Ann Beech and Paul Poberezny of Milwaukee. 
They explain how the development of engines influenced the 
development of aircraft, from the E-107 that powered the 1929 
Aeronca C-2, the first affordable personal aircraft, to the 
Continental A-40 that powered the Piper Cub and the Pratt and 
Whitney PT-6 turboprop used on many aircraft after World War II.
 
    In addition, the authors chart the boom and bust cycle of general 
aviation manufacturers, the rising costs and increased regulations 
that have accompanied a decline in pilots, the creation of an 
influential general aviation lobby in Washington, and the growing 
popularity of "type" clubs, created to maintain aircraft whose 
average age is twenty-eight years.

    This book provides readers with a sense of the scope and 
richness of the history of general aviation in the United States. An 
epilogue examining the consequences of the terrorist attacks on 
September 11, 2001, provides a cautionary note. 

_________________________________________________________

JANET R. DALY BEDNAREK is currently an associate professor 
and chair of the department of history at the University of Dayton 
in Dayton, Ohio. She wrote America’s Airports, the first title in the 
Centennial of Flight Series, published by Texas A&M University 
Press. Her husband and coauthor, MICHAEL H. BEDNAREK,  
works as an acquisition manager with Dynamics Research 
Company. In 1988 he completed a twenty-year active duty USAF 
military career as an aeronautical engineer and program manager.


Number Four: Centennial of Flight Series


What people are saying about this book


Dreams of Flight is a welcome addition to the American aviation 
history, and its lucid prose makes it accessible to a wide audience, 
from aviation enthusiasts to scholars and students."—Dr. Richard 
Byers, professor of history at North Georgia College and State 
University
 
"Human flight is not a simple matter of science and technology. It 
is a continuing epic of dreams and obsession, of yearning and 
striving to harness the intellect in the service of the emotions."
—Technology and Culture