Excerpt from Airplane Characteristics: A Systematic Introduction for Flyer and Student and for All, Who Are Interested in Aviation Logical sequence, rather than historical development has been kept in mind and no attempt has been made to ascribe particular features to their inventor or author. Military uses of the airplane, as well as its history, are left to others who may more appropriately discuss such phases of the subject. The author has confined his attention to the principles of airplane flight and has given no discussion of materials of construction - very important, of course, in air plane building - nor of the gas engine, on Which there are many specialized treatises. The author had occasion, as a member of a commission for planning the courses in our schools OF military aeronau tics, to study carefully the needs of such courses. He has had occasion, also, to conduct several classes in aero dynamics and the principles of flight, made fip not only of those with a direct practical interest in flight, as future pilots and designers, but likewise of others with an indirect interest - students in civil and mechanical engineering and physics who have been interested in the airplane as in any of the mechanisms of our present day civilization. He has noted particularly those parts of the subject that have proved vital and of interest to all, - no matter from what angle the subject is approached. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.