Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Directory of Airplanes: Their Designers and Manufacturers, The

Sea Power, Aug 2003 by Gardner, Sherry L

THE SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM'S DIRECTORY OF AIRPLANES: Their Designers and Manufacturers, Edited by Dana Bell, Mechanicsburg, Pa.: Greenhill, 2002. 352pp. $49.95. ISBN: 1-85367-490-7. Editor Dana Bell is a leading expert on the history of aviation and a curator in the National Air and Space Museum's Archives Division.

Directory of Airplanes is a wealth of data on aviation history, attempting to identify every aircraft, along with its manufacturer and designer. An essential reference book for the aviation enthusiast, it is a comprehensive guide to the large number of aircraft produced in the last 100 years. Types of aircraft covered include airplanes (powered fixed-wing); unpowered fixed-wing (gliders and hang gliders); powered-rotor rotorcraft such as helicopters; and unpowered-rotor rotorcraft such as autogiros. With 38 black-and-white photographs.