CHAPTER ONE. It’s Anybody’s Fight 1

TWO. The Power Plant, the Heart of an Airplane 12

THREE. Its Vital Spark 19

FOUR. A Backward Art 28

FIVE. Toil and Trouble 38

SIX. What the Doctor Ordered 47

SEVEN. Calvin Coolidge’s Town Meeting 58

EIGHT. Dwight Morrow Advances the Throttle 71

NINE. The Gospel According to Aunt Lucy 82

TEN. The Take-off 93

ELEVEN. A Lone Eagle Sets the Standard 102

TWELVE. A Change in Status 109

THIRTEEN. A Salt’s Solution 115

FOURTEEN. Germ of a Big Idea 121

FIFTEEN. Creation of Strategic Concept 129

SIXTEEN. Maneuver for Position 135

SEVENTEEN. Frigate Birds 144

EIGHTEEN. Another Turning 149

NINETEEN. Necessity, the Mother of Creation 160

TWENTY. Igor Sikorsky Spans Two Gaps 172

TWENTY-ONE. The Courage of Conviction 185

TWENTY-TWO. Review of Some Fundamentals 196

TWENTY-THREE. A Yankee Peddler 204

TWENTY-FOUR. A Chill Sets In 213

TWENTY-FIVE. An Unfavorable Climate 224

TWENTY-SIX. A Spark Is Struck 229

TWENTY-SEVEN. For What Is a Man Profited? 237

TWENTY-EIGHT. Off the Beam 247

TWENTY-NINE. For Survival 260

THIRTY. Toward Public Inquiry 271

THIRTY-ONE. Before the Bar of Public Opinion 290

THIRTY-TWO. The Hand on the Stick 296

INDEX. 311

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