Box Kites & Flying Contraptions, Down Under. The early days of flight in Australia.

Description

Box Kites & Flying Contraptions, Down Under. The early days of flight in Australia.

At the beginning of the last century, before the Great War, the Wright brother of the USA in 1903 flew a heavier than air machine and became the first to do so. The Frenchman Bleriot flew the English Channel in 1909. Both were remarkable achievements. France led the world in aircraft manufacture many of which were shipped to Australia.

This book, through the aid of wonderful images shows the early days of aviation in this country in machines that can only be described as contraptions. Many of these planes were under powered and simply did ‘bunny hops’ in an attempt to get airborne. Like fledglings leaving the nest they hopped and flew into things.

The First World War saw vast improvement in aviation. But that is another story.