Just as the airplane is a defining technology of the twentieth 
century, aerodynamics has been the defining element of the 
airplane.

    In The Bird Is on the Wing Hansen provides an easily 
understandable introduction to the role of aerodynamics in the 
design of such historic American aircraft as the DC-3, X-1, and 747. 
He presents a history of aircraft technology and a collective 
biography of the scientists, engineers, and designers who created 
the airplanes. He skillfully guides the reader through the 
development of such critical concepts as streamlining, flutter, 
laminar-flow airfoils, the mythical “sound barrier,” variable-sweep 
wing, supersonic cruise, blended body, and much more.

    Hansen’s explanation of how vocabulary and specifications were 
developed to fill the gap between the perceptions of pilots and the 
systems of engineers will fascinate all those interested in how 
human beings have used aerodynamics to move among, and even 
beyond, birds on the wing.

_________________________________________________________

JAMES R. HANSEN, a former NASA historian, teaches the history 
of flight and the history of science and technology at Auburn 
University in Auburn, Alabama.


Number Six: Centennial of Flight Series


What people are saying about this book

“. . . a splendid overview of the R&D processes that characterized 
the evolution of American aerodynamics and aviation. Bravo.”
—Roger Bilstein, University of Houston–Clear Lake