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The Grand Designers

by John D., Jr. Anderson

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How airplane design ideas evolved alongside aviation itself

$65.72 USD
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Hardcover New English

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AlbakiReads Editorial

How airplane design ideas evolved alongside aviation itself

John D. Anderson, Jr. traces the history of conceptual airplane design through six case studies of influential designers. The book examines a central historical question: whether the rapid technical development of aircraft was matched by changes in the methods used to conceive them. Drawing on new research, it places the designers’ lives and ideas within the wider evolution of twentieth-century aviation, while revisiting established assumptions about how design methodology progressed. More than one hundred illustrations support this account of aircraft concepts, engineering thinking, and aviation history.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • Readers interested in the history of aviation and aircraft development
  • Aerospace engineering students and enthusiasts curious about conceptual design
  • Those seeking biographical case studies of influential airplane designers

Themes

Aviation historyConceptual aircraft designAerospace engineeringDesign methodologyInfluential designers

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Book overview

The airplane has experienced phenomenal advancement in the twentieth century, changing at an exponential rate from the Wright brothers to the present day. In this ground breaking work based on new research, Dr John D. Anderson, Jr, a curator at the National Air and Space Museum, analyzes the historical development of the conceptual design process of the airplane. He aims to answer the question of whether airplane advancement has been driven by a parallel advancement in the intellectual methodology of conceptual airplane design. In doing so, Anderson identifies and examines six case histories of 'grand designers' in this field, and challenges some of the preconceived notions of how the intellectual methodology of conceptual airplane design advanced. Filled with over one hundred illustrations which bring his words to life, Anderson unfolds the lives and thoughts of these grand designers.
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