What Makes Airplanes Fly?

§Für Philologie-Sudenten in Yale entwickelt und für eine breite Leserschaft geschrieben, behandelt dieses Buch Aerodynamik im weitesten Sinne. Es beschreibt die historische Entwicklung des Fluges und wagt einen Ausblick auf zukünftige Entwicklungen. P.P. Wegener legt besonderen Wert auf Anschaulichkeit. Er vermittelt die zugrundeliegende Wissenschaft exakt und doch verständlich, unter Verwendung einfachster Mathematik.Developed for humanities students at Yale and intended for the general reader interested in flight, this book is about aerodynamics in the broadest sense. To put the science into its social context, the author describes (with many illustrations) the history of human attempts to fly and discusses the outlook for future developments, as well as the social impact of commercial aviation. Although only elementary mathematics is used, the underlying science is discussed rigorously, but clearly, and with an emphasis on the visualizable aspects. Thus readers whose background is not in physics will deepen their knowledge of physics, gain an understanding of what keeps the huge airliners up, and appreciate some of the details of the exciting recent developments in technology.