Airlines of the United States Since 1914 [signed]

The world's first scheduled air service began operation before World War I - with flying-boats in Florida. From the mid-1920s, passenger airlines were built up and the U.S. aircraft industry produced outstanding aircraft such as the Ford Tri-Motor, the Boeing 247, and the Douglas DC-3. These great airplanes and their successors established the U.S. as the leader in world air transport and led to today's domination of the world's air routes. 'Airlines of the United States Since 1914' traces the whole story from those first tentative steps in 1914 up to the present when the U.S. air transport system carries half of all air passengers outside the USSR. Every development in airline progress is covered. There are chapters on the exploratory pioneer days before the Air Mail Act of 1925, the adventurous years of the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Air Mail Scandal of 1934, and the era of the DC-3, culminating in the civil Aeronautics Act of 1938, and the establishment of the basic framework of the establishment of the basic framework of the airline industry as we know it today. There are chapters on all the main categories of present-day airlines, Trunks, Local Service, International, Supplemental, All-Cargo, and of the U.S. overseas territories. The historical development of routes, fleets, and fortunes of every airline, large or small - including the commuter airlines - are dealt with in a narrative which avoids excessive statistical detail. However, for reference purposes, there are numerous tables of data, supplemented by many maps and charts. The interplay between individual initiative, government regulation and control, the role of factors such as competition, international policy, and public opinion, all find a place in this airline story. The author, R. E. G. Davies, occupied the Charles A. Lindbergh Chair of Aerospace History at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.