They Never Gave Up: Adventures in Early Aviation

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, and the author of Kurlek, Margaret Laurence: The
Long Journey Home, and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

Part history, part theory, and part biography, this entertaining story
chronicles the courageous exploits of pioneering aviators.

Although the age of aviation officially began on December 17, 1903, at
Kitty Hawk in North Carolina, when the Wright brothers flew the first
powered aircraft, Wilkey begins with the Greek legend of Daedalus and
Icarus. There are separate chapters on such topics as the first airmail,
first flights across mountains, and the early years of the AVRO story; a
technical chapter entitled “How an Aircraft Flies”; and a chapter
that shows readers how to construct simple paper planes.

Wilkey, fascinated by flight since he was a child, has published
hundreds of magazine articles on aviation. His attractive
black-and-white illustrations add greatly to the interest of this
introduction to the history of flight.