Barons of the sky

the long version

This book is a vivid, panoramic history of the rise of the American aerospace industry. The story opens in the early years of this century when anyone who chose to make flying machines dwelt on the fringes of polite society. In several interwoven strands, the author traces the careers of the men whose names became synonymous with today's military-industrial complex. These founding fathers, an eccentric combination of showmen and seat-of-the-pants technologists, endured the disdain of a doubting public and government.