Bill, and my old and dear friends Will Whitehorn and Burt Rutan, have all stepped back in recent months, as Virgin Galactic prepares to launch. Our spaceline is entering a new era, and a new generation will carry it forward. Bill’s term of office has come to an end. Will, having made Virgin Galactic a commercial reality, is pursuing his own projects—but not before he found us a cracking replacement CEO in George Whitesides. And Burt?
After a lifetime sculpting astonishing vehicles, Burt says he’s retiring to a ranch in Wyoming. He says he’s just going to kick back and relax. Like that’ll ever happen!
Burt, anytime you get bored, you have my number . . .
Notes
Chapter One: Walking on Air
Page 18: “Some have made flying cars” Needham, 1965.
Page 19: “For not only many eminent Greeks” Gellius, 1927.
Page 29: “We have had bird’s-eye views” Vanderbilt, 2002.
Page 30: “No imagination can paint” Ibid.
Page 31: “obtains . . . unerring tokens” Mason, 1838.
Page 32: “We had difficulty hearing each other” Marion, 1874.
Chapter Two: Lighter than Air
Page 44: “While I do not see any evidence” Nott, 2009.
Page 45: “Get in a supply of taffeta” Crouch, 2003.
Page 46: “grew large even under the eyes of the spectator” Marion, 1874.
Page 49: “surrounded on all sides by eager multitudes” Ibid.
Page 50: “an immense crowd” Ibid.
Page 50: “a number of peasants” Ibid.
Page 51: “they immediately began to assail it” Ibid.
Page 53: “its beautiful emerald color” Ibid.
Page 56: “The dead body of Rozier” Mason, 1838.
Page 57: “a machine furnished with oars” Marion, 1874.
Page 57: “For my sake, my good friend, reflect” Ibid.
Page 59: “The rays of the sun had so heated” Ibid.
Page 59: “The cold became excessive” Ibid.
Page 61: “and in fifteen to twenty minutes I arrived” Ibid.
Page 61: “had fitted a sort of ventilator” Ibid.
Page 62: “After many vicissitudes” Ibid.
Page 64: “All of a sudden, however, it burst into its proper shape” Mason, 1838.
Page 65: “especially trained for the purpose” Ibid.
Page 65: “In [Green’s] view, the Atlantic is no more than a simple canal” Ibid.
Page 68: “and the wounded, almost crippled travelers” Harper’s, 1863.
Page 75: “quite a little airship” The British Women’s Emancipation Movement.
Chapter Three: “To Fly Is Everything”
Page 81: “They keep telling me I should learn to fly” Northern Echo, 2003.
Page 82: “Please, Sir George” Wintle, 2002.
Page 87: “From the time we were little children” Culick and Dunmore, 2001.
Page 88: “My own active interest” Journal of the Western Society of Engineers, volume 6, 1901.
Page 93: “We certainly can’t complain of the place” Crouch, 1990.
Page 95: “I cut the crankshaft” New American Supplement to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1897.
Page 95: “nothing about a propellor” Crouch, 1990.
Page 96: “It is so simple it annoys one” Crouch, 2003.
Chapter Four: The Golden Years
Page 101 : “the United States to fall” Crouch, 2006.
Page 103: “It is not beautiful” Ibid.
Page 105: “I was entirely ignorant about the activities of our flying men” Richthofen, 1917.
Page 105: “The draft from the propeller” Ibid.
Page 106: “Whether you’re on your back” Lewis, 1936.
Page 107: “When it was blowing hard” Culick and Dunmore, 2001.
Page 112: “Instead of having a harness” Ryan, 1995.
Page 113: “I do it to demonstrate what can be done” Onkst, www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/wingwalkers/EX13.htm.
Page 117: “We know he broke some part of the Federal Aviation Act” BBC, www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A21776709.
Page 118: “Here . . . the crust of the earth” Saint-Exupéry, 1939.
Page 118: “Map-reading was not required” Heppenheimer, 1995.
Page 124: “I knew I had to fly” California Museum, 2008.
Page 125: “I was just baggage” Summerscale, 2007.
Chapter Five: “A Great River of Air”
Page 132: “The distinction between combatant and noncombatant” Vanderbilt, 2002.
Page 133: “The brutal but inescapable conclusion” Douhet, 1942.
Page 146: “Beginning his workday ritual” Armstrong, 2003.
Page 146: “What captured me” DeBlieu, 2006.
Chapter Six: Shrinking the World
Page 161: “I never feel more keenly” Lindbergh, 1974.
Page 172: “People would make up names” Trend, 1999.
Page 174: “and we were having our fish and chips” National Security Archive, at www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv.
Page 177: “We carried oil drums” Ibid.
Page 178: “I shouted and got headline treatment” Trend, 1999.
Page 178: “I fought, kicked, shouted” Calder, 2006.
Page 180: “Go . . . has been given permission” Ibid.
Page 186: “We change the way people live their lives” Ibid.
Chapter Seven: Fanning the Flames
Page 192: “As I came up to him” Royal Air Force History (2003–5).
Page 194: “I wanted to wipe the floor with him” Nahum, 2004.
Chapter Eight: Above the Sky
Page 224: “My name is Magnus von Braun” Bille and Lishock, 2004.
Page 225: “an intercontinental outer-space raspberry” Wikipedia.
Page 227: “We must . . . have a hermetically sealed cabin” Ryan, 1995.
Page 229: “unofficial projects funded on the sly” Ibid.
Page 232: “Well above the haze layer” Simons, 1957.
Chapter Nine: Fast Glass
Page 247: “All of us, and I was no exception” Ryan, 1995.
Page 248: “A few of us want to open up the air” Ibid.
Page 256: “If you can chew gum and walk a straight line” Rollo, 1991.
Chapter Ten: Back to the Future
Page 283: “I’m not at all embarrassed” David, www.msnbc.msc.com/id/7646263.
Page 284: “We believe a proper goal” Burt Rutan Testimony—Opening Statement. The House Committee on Science, Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics hearing: “Future Markets for Commercial Space.” Wednesday, April 20, 2005, 9:30 a.m.
Page 285: “Now that the Space Age has begun” Wolfe, 1979.
Page 288: “I didn’t even tell my wife” Belfiore, 2007.
Epilogue: Joyriding
Page 292: “As you look up the sky looks beautiful” Ryan, 1995.
Page 311 : “It took us so long to build a 24-hour forecast” De Villiers, 2006.
Further Reading
Armstrong, W. Just Wind. New York: iUniverse, Inc., 2003.
Belfiore, M. Rocketeers. New York: Smithsonian Books, 2007.
Bille, M. and E. Lishock. The First Space Race: Launching the World’s First Satellites. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2004.
The British Women’s Emancipation Movement 1830–1930 (retrieved 2009), at www.hastingspress.co.uk/history/muriel.htm.
Calder, S. No Frills: The Truth Behind the Low-Cost Revolution in the Skies. London: Virgin Books, 2006.
Clary, D. A. Rocket Man: Robert H. Goddard and the Birth of the Space Age. New York: Hyperion, 2003.
Crouch, T. D. The Bishop’s Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright. London: W. W. Norton, 1990.
———. Wings: A History of Aviation from Kites to the Wright Brothers to the Space Age. New York: W. W. Norton & the Smithsonian Institution, 2006.
Culick, F. and S. Dun
more. On Great White Wings: The Wright Brothers and the Race for Flight (1st U.S. edition). New York: Hyperion, 2001.
David, L. “Space Tourism’s Next Giant Leap,” MSNBC (retrieved November 13, 2009), at www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7646263.
DeBlieu, J. Wind: How the Flow of Air Has Shaped Life, Myth and the Land. Berkeley, Calif.: Counterpoint, 2006.
De Villiers, M. Windswept: The Story of Wind and Weather. New York: Walker, 2006.
Doganis, R. The Airline Business (2nd edition). London and New York: Routledge, 2006.
Douhet, G. Command of the Air. New York: Arno Press, 1942.
Eglin, R. and B. Ritchie. Fly Me, I’m Freddie! London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1981.
Fortier, R. The Balloon Era. Ottawa: Canada Aviation Museum, 2004.
Fossett, S. Chasing the Wind. London: Virgin Books, 2006.
Gregory, M. Dirty Tricks: British Airways’ Secret War Against Virgin Atlantic. London: Virgin Books, 2006.
Harper’s Weekly, “The French Balloon ‘Le Géant,’” December 5, 1863.
Heppenheimer, T. A. “Flying Blind.” Invention and Technology, vol. 10, no. 4, Spring 1995.
Jones, L. easyJet: The Story of Britain’s Biggest Low-Cost Airline. London: Aurum, 2005 and 2007.
Lewis, C. Sagittarius Rising. London: Penguin Books, 1936.
Lillienthal, O. Birdflight As the Basis for Aviation. Hummelstown, Pa.: Markowski International Publishers, 1891 (reprint 2001).
Lindbergh, C. A. Autobiography of Values. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1974.
Marion, F. Wonderful Balloon Ascents or The Conquest of the Skies. Whitefish, Mont.: Kessinger Publishing, 2004—first published in 1874.
Mason, M. Aeronautica. F. C. Westley, 1838.
Nahum, A. Frank Whittle: Invention of the Jet. London: Icon Books, 2004.
National Security Archive, at www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv.
Needham, J. Science and Civilisation in China, vol. 4. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1965.
Northern Echo. “Bid to Give George a Place in History Gets off the Ground,” July 7, 2003.
Nott, J. Julian Nott (retrieved 2009), at www.nott.com/Pages/projects.php.
Onkst, D. H. Wing Walkers. U.S. Centennial of Flight Commission (retrieved November 11, 2009), at www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Explorers_Record_Setters_and_Daredevils/wingwalkers/EX13.htm.
Orlebar, C. The Concorde Story. Twickenham, UK: Temple Press 1986.
Richthofen, M. trans. J. E. Barker, The Red Battle Flyer. New York: R. M. McBride, 1917. Reissued 2007, Kessinger Publishing.
Rollo, V., Burt Rutan: Reinventing the Airplane. Lanham: Maryland Historical Press, 1991.
Royal Air Force History (2003–2005), Frank Whittle (retrieved November 11, 2009), at www.raf.mod.uk/history_old. Crown Copyright.
Ryan, C. The Pre-Astronauts: Manned Ballooning on the Threshold of Space. Annapolis, Md.: Naval Institute Press, 1995.
Saint-Exupéry, A. de, Southern Mail/Night Flight. London: Penguin, 2000.
———. Wind, Sand and Stars, London: Penguin, 1939. New edition, 2000.
Simons, D. “A Journey No Man Had Taken,” Life, Vol. 43, No.10, September 2, 1957.
Simons, Lt. Col. David G., with Don A. Schanche, Man High. New York: Doubleday, 1960.
Spufford, F. Backroom Boys: The Secret Return of the British Boffin. London: Faber & Faber, 2003.
Summerscale, K. “Amelia Earhart: Missing in Action,” The Daily Telegraph, December 2, 2007.
Szondy, D., Tales of Future Past (retrieved November 13, 2009), at http://davidszondy.com.
Trend, N. “Laker Holds Court—Again,” The Sunday Telegraph, “Travel,” 1999.
Vanderbilt, T. Survival City: Adventures Among the Ruins of Atomic America. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2002.
Wintle, J. Makers of Nineteenth Century Culture: 1800–1914. Oxford: Routledge, 2002.
Wolfe, T. The Right Stuff. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1979.
Yaeger, J. and D. Rutan. Voyager. New York: Knopf, 1987.
Illustration Credits
Integrated Images
Page vi: Earth Touches Heavens © Mary Evans Picture Library
Page 5: Richard Branson with Steve Fossett © Getty Images
Page 14: Relief depicting Daedalus and Icarus, 1st–2nd century (stone) (b/w photo), Roman / Museo Torlonia, Rome, Italy / Alinari / The Bridgeman Art Library
Page 17: Da Vinci’s Parachute © Mary Evans / Rue des Archives / Tallandier
Page 20: Children’s Games (Kinderspiele): detail of left-hand section showing children making toys and blowing bubbles, 1560 (oil on panel; detail of 68945), Breugel, Pieter the Elder, (c.1525–69), Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria / Ali Meyer / The Bridgeman Art Library
Page 27: Cameron N-type envelope © Cameron Balloons Ltd. Bristol, UK, www.cameronballoons.co.uk
Page 29: Nadar (1820–1910) elevating photography to the height of art, published 1862, litho, Daumier, Honore (1808–79), Private Collection / The Stapleton Collection / The Bridgeman Art Library
Page 38: Branson with Per in cabin © Getty Images
Page 42: Nazca Lines © Charlie and Josette Lenars / CORBIS
Page 47: Lenormand’s parachute © Mary Evans Picture Library
Page 51: Peasants attacking a balloon © Mary Evans Picture Library
Page 56: The death of François Pilâtre de Rozier (1754–85) near Boulogne on June 15, 1785, after trying to cross the Channel in a Montgolfière balloon (gouache on paper), French School (18th century), Louvre, Paris, France / Archives Charmet / The Bridgeman Art Library
Page 60: The Flying Machine of Jean-Pierre-François Blanchard (1753–1809) (colored engraving), Martinet, François Nicolas (fl. 1731–80), The Bridgeman Art Library
Page 67: Felix Nadar’s Giant Balloon in Paris, c. 1863 (b/w photo), French photographer (19th century), Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris / Archives Charmet / The Bridgeman Art Library
Page 71: Giffard’s airship © Getty Images
Page 74: The Hindenburg © Getty Images
Page 79: Breitling Orbiter 3 © Cameron Balloons Ltd. Bristol, UK, www.cameronballoons.co.uk
Page 82: Sir George Cayley’s sketch of the Cayley Flyer, courtesy of the Royal Aeronautical Society (National Aerospace Library)
Page 85: Aerial Steam Carriage © Science Museum/SSPL
Page 86: Avion III, “The Bat,” designed by Clément Ader (1841–1925) at the Satory military camp, October 1987 (engraving; b/w photo), French School (19th century), CNAM, Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers, Paris / The Bridgeman Art Library
Page 89: Otto Lilienthal © Getty Images
Page 92: Wing illustration © Ruth Murray
Page 93: Evolution of wing design © NASA
Page 94: Wright brothers’ kite © Library of Congress—digital via / Science Faction / Corbis
Page 96: Wright brothers’ propeller © SSPL via Getty Images
Page 101: Curtiss in flight © Corbis
Page 102: Louis Blériot © Hulton-Deutsch Collection / CORBIS
Page 104: Hélène Dutrieu (1877–1961 ) standing beside a plane, before 1914 (b/w photo), French photographer (20th century), Private Collection / Archives Charmet / The Bridgeman Art Library
Page 107: Red Baron with father © Bettmann / CORBIS
Page 108: Bessie Coleman © Getty Images
Page 109: Florence Barnes © Underwood & Underwood / CORBIS
Page 111: Georgia “Tiny” Broadwick © Bettmann / CORBIS
Page 113: Ormer Locklear © Bertram / CORBIS
Page 115: Guillamet and Mermoz © Mary Evans / Rue des Archives / Tallandier
Page 120: A giant Sikorsky biplane, one of which bombarded the Germans in East Prussia © Hulton Archive / Getty Images
Page 121: Lindbergh and The Spirit of St. Louis at Sandpoint Airfield, Seattle © PEMCO—Webster & Stevens Collection / Museum of History and Industry / Seattle / CORBIS
Page 123: Wiley Post © Getty Images
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Page 124: Amelia Earhart © Getty Images
Page 126: Howard Hughes © Bettmann / CORBIS
Page 129: Hughes at the controls in the Spruce Goose © Bettmann / CORBIS
Page 132: La Guerre Infernale © Leonard de Selva / CORBIS
Page 136: Japanese fire balloon, U.S. Army photo A37180C
Page 139: The Coriolis effect © Ruth Murray
Page 140: The jet streams © Ruth Murray
Page 143: Richard Branson and Per Lindstrand © News (UK) Ltd / Rex Features
Page 151 : Interior of an Avro Lancastrian © Science Museum / Science and Society
Page 156: Interior of first-class compartment of commercial passenger plane © Getty Images
Page 162: Pan Am Boeing 377 © Hulton-Deutsch Collection / CORBIS
Page 165: Juan Trippe © Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images
Page 167: Dining passengers © CORBIS
Page 169: Pan American Airways System © Smithsonian Institution / CORBIS
Page 171: London Airport (Croydon) in 1925 (sepia photo), English Photographer (20th century), Private Collection / The Stapleton Collection / The Bridgeman Art Library
Page 173: Freddie Laker © Getty Images
Page 175: Remembrance stamp—Berlin Airlift © Getty Images
Page 176: Berlin Airlift © Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images
Page 185: Royal Flying Doctor Service © Getty Images
Page 190: Coandǎ’s missile-airplane © aviation-images.com
Page 192: Frank Whittle with turbojet engine © Bettmann / CORBIS
Page 196: Fracture in a Comet’s fuselage © aviation-images.com
Page 199: X-15 in a supersonic tunnel © NASA
Page 204: Avro Vulcan © Popperfoto / Getty Images
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