What Makes Airplanes Fly?

This book is about aerodynamics in the broadest sense. In addition to airplanes, it discusses the aerodynamics of cars and birds, and the motion of diverse object through air and water. The underlying science is discussed rigorously, but only elementary mathematics is used, and only occasionally.

Zusammenfassung

From the reviews:

"Peter Wegener has written the perfect book for those of us who nurse some doubts to our understanding of what makes airplanes fly ... The volume is filled with clear and useful examples that illustrate the essential concepts ... [Anyone] who has ever tried to explain the principles of flight to a spouse or child without resorting to a blackboard full of equations will appreciate What Makes Airplanes Fly? *Take heart! The author proves it can be done." American Journal of Physics*

Inhalt
1 A Dream Comes True: The Wright Brothers and Their Predecessors.- 1.1 The First Flights at Kitty Hawk.- 1.2 Mythology and Legend.- 1.3 Early Adventures.- 1.4 From Cayley to the Wright Brothers.- 2 Milestones of the Modern Age.- 2.1 Notes on Aeronautical Research.- 2.2 Great Moments in Aviation.- 3 The Nature of Liquids and Gases.- 3.1 Description and Properties.- 3.2 Behavior of Liquids at Rest.- 4 The Atmosphere of the Earth.- 4.1 History and Composition.- 4.2 Structure.- 4.3 Global Circulation.- 5 Air in Motion.- 5.1 Description of Movement: Kinematics.- 5.2 Conservation of Mass and Energy.- 5.3 Viscosity and Turbulence.- 5.4 The Boundary Layer.- 6 Turning to Aerodynamics.- 6.1 How Do We Test Models of Airplanes?.- 6.2 Drag, Lift, and Other Coefficients.- 7 Aerodynamic Drag.- 7.1 What Is Drag? Blunt Bodies.- 7.2 The Strange Case of the Sphere.- 7.3 Slender Bodies, Skin Friction, Airfoils.- 7.4 Automobiles, Etc.- 8 Aerodynamic Lift.- 8.1 Early Experience and Some History.- 8.2 Lift of the Infinitely Extended Wing.- 8.3 The Finite Wing of an Airplane.- 8.4 How Birds Fly and Why We Cannot Copy Them.- 9 Notes on the Whole Airplane.- 9.1 Stability and Control.- 9.2 Propulsion: From Propellers to Rockets.- 10 Toward High Speed: Supersonic and Hypersonic Flight.- 10.1 Pushing the Speed of Sound.- 10.2 From Supersonic Transports to Future Dreams.- 11 Air Transportation and the Outlook for the Future.- 11.1 The New Traffic Patterns.- 11.2 What Next.- Appendix 1 Facts from Algebra.- Appendix 2 Model Testing and Similarity.- A2.1-Aircraft Nomenclature and Model Testing.- A2.2-Dimensions and Units.- A2.3-Similarity Parameters and Model Testing.- Appendix 3 History of the Metric System: The SI System and Conversion Tables.- Appendix 4 Suggestions for Further Reading.- Appendix 5 Study Guide.- Figure and Table Credits.- Name Index.