Arch Whitehouse, one of the air aces of World War I whose own experience spans nearly the entire modern history of powered flight, tells the story of aviation's momentous fifteen years- from the Wrights' twelve second flight to the deadly wartime air battles of 1918.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- Chapter I, There shall be wings: The written records, Roger Bacon's machine, Blanchard's flying machine, America's air effort, Development of the parachute, The inspiraton of Cayley -- Chapter II, The goal of the gliders: Life with the Lilienthals, The search continues, Was Ader the first?, The perils of Pilcher, Hiram Maxim's marvelous machine, The saga of Santos-Dumont, Lanchester and Prandtl, The contribution of Chanute, The trials of Mr. Montgomery -- Chapter III, On the treshold: Day of destiny, The saga of the Wrights, On to Kitty Hawk, The Wright engine, Assisted take-off, No prophets in their own land -- Chapter IV, The experiment continues: Santos-Dumont flies again, It war comes, The flight of the Farman, The Aerial Experiment Association, Selfridge's first flight, Canada takes to the air, McCurdy's great flight -- Chapter V, The rise of Glenn Curtiss: The Wrights maintain their lead, Success before the skeptics, The death of Lieutenant Selfridge, British interest, Another flying school -- Chapter VI, The new industry: The Wright Racer, The Aeronautics Society of New York, Kimball's helicopter, Fred Schneider's bad luck, Another Curtis case, But accidents will happen, The loss of Delagrange, The fate of George Chavez, Ralph Johnstone joins the list -- Chapter VII, The great Colonel Cody: The flying cathedral, The channel flight, Latham's gallant failure, Enter Louis Blériot, The Reims competitions, Aviation meets galore, Good old Blackpool, Flight by moonlight -- Chapter VIII, The Great expansion: A dangerous sport, International discord, Heroes of the headlines, The grand circuits, The Paris-Rome-Turin Classic, Another Roman holiday, A man named Weymann, For honor and glory, The Royal Flying Corps is formed, Hap Arnold's aerial hoax, The golden years -- Chapter IX, Military aviation: What it took, The gunnery problem, The eyes of the Army, Germany's air strength, The photography problem, Bombs and bombers, Guns and gunnery, Roland Garros again, The world's first ace, What Fokker learned -- Acknowledgements -- Bibliography -- Index.