flying

This 1909 publication is a photograph collection of aerial views of the city of Paris and other notable nearby sites, like Versailles. The photographers, A. Schelcher and A. Omer-Decugis, produced about thirty pictures using an oblique point of view and provide a different visual of monuments like the Eiffel Tower in a perpendicular photograph. These photos show the streets and boulevards of Paris captured at a time when aerial photography was in an experimental stage and the results helped alter human perceptions of the world.

This 1967 commemorative newspaper issue documented the 40th anniversary of Charles Lindbergh’s 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic in the Spirit of St. Louis monoplane. It features photos of a replica of the Spirit of St. Louis and of pilot Frank Tallman, cofounder of Tallmantz Aviation, which built the replica. The replica was flown to Paris by the U.S. Air Force to be displayed during the 1967 Paris Air Show.

This is an anniversary compendium of Ryan Airplanes (1925-1975), the company that built the Spirit of St. Louis—the airplane Charles Lindbergh flew across the Atlantic—as well as many other commercial and military aircraft. The book details the many aircraft Ryan produced, and includes photos, advertisements, promotional brochures, and even a comic strip. It is an informative overview of an aircraft manufacturer that made a substantial contribution to aviation history and technology.

Published in 1946, this adventure story is set in Peru in 1938. It is the tale of a father and his two sons’ pursuit of an Incan treasure known as the "golden condor." This copy has a bookplate identifying the book as a gift from the publisher, Alfred A. Knopf, to the Aeronautical Archives. It is representative of the many works of popular aviation adventure stories in the National Air and Space Museum library collection that document how motorized flight captured young people's imaginations.

What is an aircraft book doing at the national postal museum library? Airplanes have also carried the mail—and continue to do so. The golden age of private aircraft spanned the end of World War I to the start of World War II. During these years of temporary calm, aircraft engineers made significant technological advances, producing safer, stronger, and faster aircraft. Many of these innovations appeared in aircraft made for the private market.

This copy of a 1784 tribute to the Montgolfier Brothers was owned by the author, Comte d'Imbert de La Platière. A tipped-in engraved portrait of the author appears at the end of the book. Joseph-Michel and Jacques-Étienne Montgolfier invented the globe aérostatique, a hot air balloon made of fabric and paper, and tested its flight through summer and autumn 1783 in France. The first manned, untethered flight took place in a Montgolfier balloon piloted by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes on November 21, 1783 in Paris.

This is book 2, the second of two volumes containing collections of cigarette cards that are souvenirs of the zeppelin age. Cigarette cards were used by cigarette companies to stiffen cigarette packaging and to advertise their brand. Due to their unique design and limited printing, they often became collectibles. This collection includes cards featuring pictures of zeppelins and images taken while the photographer was in a zeppelin. Notable photographs include the Italian Alps and Mediterranean Sea.

This is book 1, the first of two volumes containing collections of cigarette cards that are souvenirs of the zeppelin age. Cigarette cards were used by cigarette companies to stiffen cigarette packaging and to advertise their brand. Due to their unique design and limited printing, they often became collectibles. This collection includes cards featuring pictures of zeppelins and images taken while the photographer was in a zeppelin. Notable photographs include the Italian Alps and Mediterranean Sea.

The eponymous “stubborn dirigible,” Zep, goes against orders during a flight in order to save his crew and passengers from a terrible storm in this children's book. In the wake of many zeppelin disasters in the 1930s—both in America and abroad—this book resists disaster and excites the young imaginations who looked to the sky for inspiration and adventure. Published by Rand McNally and Company in 1935, The Stubborn Dirigible was one of many children’s books released by the famous cartographic corporation.