Although successful heavier-than-air flight is less than two decades old, and successful dirigible propulsion antedates it by a very short period, the mass of experiment and accomplishment renders any one-volume history of the subject a matter of selection. In addition to the restrictions imposed by space limits, the material for compilation is fragmentary, and, in many cases, scattered through periodical and other publications. Hitherto, there has been no attempt at furnishing a detailed account of how the aeroplane and the dirigible of to-day came to being, but each author who has treated the subject has devoted his attention to some special phase or section. The principal exception to this rule—Hildebrandt—wrote in 1906, and a good many of his statements are inaccurate, especially with regard to heavier-than-air experiment.
If you like statistics, such as volume, diameter, length etc. of dirigibles, for example, go for it. Apparently this book was written around 1920. The author did not cover the great law suit concerning the Wright brother’s patent claim that stymied airplane development for some time. You would be better off reading a biography on Edison or Curtis that covers their attempt to prove that Leland could have flown before the Wright brothers barring an accident during their launch. The author believed that aeroplanes would never be a commercial success, but dirigibles would. The author repeated events often.
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