THE Rocket MAN

And Other Extraordinary Characters in the History of Flight

The wonder of flight has long captured the human imagination. In this beguiling history ranging from the first aircraft to astronauts and beyond David Darling tells the stories of the colorful adventurers whose wonder has translated into bizarre contraptions, magnificent achievements and, sometimes, startling folly.

Discover outrageous attempts to fly like a bird and the secret military planes that never made it off the ground including the flying pancake and the plane with thirty wings. Meet Amelia Earhart, the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, before disappearing without trace over the Pacific Ocean; the real X-Men who flew the supersonic experimental X-planes for the US Air Force; stuntman Lincoln Beachey, looping-the-loop in a pinstripe suit; and, of course, The Rocket Man himself: Yves Rossy, who was the first person to cross the English Channel with the aid of a jet-pack.

Eccentric and imaginative, reckless and resourceful Darlings daring cast of dreamers is guaranteed to entertain and inspire.