Washington DC: National Geographic [a Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum book], 2003. Presumed First Edition, First printing thus [Portions adapted from Crouch's 1989 book "The Bishop's Boys]. Hardcover. The format is approximately 10.375 inches by 10.25 inches. 240 pages. Illustrations (photographs and drawings). Bibliography. Index. The dust jacket is price clipped. Inscribed by Peter L. Jakab and signed by Tom D. Crouch on the title page. The inscription reads For Dusty, With all best wishes, Peter L. Jakab. This book was produced in connection with the exhibition "The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Aerial Age". Tom Day Crouch (born February 28, 1944)[2] is an American aeronautics historian and curator. An employee of the Ohio Historical Society, 1968–1974, Crouch planned the exhibits for the Neil Armstrong Museum, Wapakoneta, Ohio and the history exhibitions for the Ohio Historical Center. He accepted a curatorial position with the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in 1974, and prepared exhibitions for the opening of that building in 1976. He was named chairman of the aeronautics department of the NASM in 1990, and in 1999 was named senior curator, aeronautics. Crouch was appointed by then-president William J. Clinton to chair the federal advisory board planning activities commemorating the first flight of Orville and Wilbur Wright in 2003. Crouch is the author of some fifteen books and many articles, primarily on topics related to the history of flight technology. Peter L. Jakab holds a BA, MA, and Ph.D. in American history from Rutgers University. Jakab also serves as a Curator of Aeronautics at the museum. He has curated numerous exhibitions and frequently lectured on the history of technology, the history of invention, and the Wright brothers and pioneer aviation. More

Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 2000. First Printing stated. Hardcover. ii, [2], 316, {2] pages. Includes Acknowledgments, and Introduction. DJ has some sticker residue at the back. Topics covered include The Age of the Flying Machine Had Come (The Wrights tell Their Story); Some Aeronautical Experiments (Technical Articles by the Wrights); The Greatest of the Precursors (The Wrights Assess Their Contemporaries); and It is Never Safe to Prophesy (The Wrights on the Future of Aviation). Also includes an Appendix (Witnesses to the Birth of Flight). Also includes Bibliography, Photography Credits, and Index. The authors bring together for the first time nearly seventy of Wilbur and Orville Wright's published writings into a single, annotated reference. Spanning the decades from the brothers' turn-of-the-century experiments with gliders until Orville's death in 1948, the articles describe the design of their aircraft, early test flights, and camp life at Kitty Hawk. As the airplane evolved, the brothers frequently commented on such subjects as the future of commercial aviation and air travel, sport flying, air safety, and military aviation. Because Wilber's sudden death in 1912 ended any hope that the Wrights would produce a book of their own, the articles collected in this volume are their only published words. The pieces illuminate how they chose to document their achievement and to shape their legacy. More