The Story of Flight

Sandy Campbell is a reference librarian in the Science and Technology Library at the University of Alberta.

This book is a gorgeously illustrated history of flight, as it is
portrayed in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in
Washington, D.C. The text and photographs are excellent and highlight
the most important exhibits in the museum. For a book of this quality
that is so profusely illustrated, one might expect to pay twice the
listed price.

However, this is an American-centred view of the development of flight
and space exploration. While there was much experimentation going on in
many countries before the Wright Brothers, and there are still at least
three different claims to manned flight predating the Wright Brothers,
little non-American flight is discussed or portrayed. The book should
have been titled The Story of American Flight.

From a Canadian perspective, most of the major developments are
missing. There is nothing about Canada’s famous bush pilots, or the
Avro Arrow, or Max Ward’s pioneering work in the air-charter business,
or the Canadarm on the space shuttles (although it appears in an image),
or Canadian astronauts.

This is also a history that recounts few mistakes or disasters, unless
they are early history. The Challenger disaster merits a single
sentence, and there is nothing about the Hindenberg or the role of
aircraft in the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The book is already dated,
because it shows four operating shuttles, including Columbia, which
disintegrated on reentry in February 2003.

Overall, a good book but without a Canadian point of view. Recommended
with reservations.