David Darling’s is a most agreeable voyage through the history of flight and the men – and women who took such risks in the battle to get airborne. There is as much stupidity as bravery on show with a plentiful leavening of derring-do and madness-with-a-purpose, the rewards great, failure deadly. Humans have tried – still try - every means possible to get above the earth and David Darling shows us just some of the enterprise that’s been used from balloons to the man who made SF a reality, Yves Rossy and the personal jet-pack. ~ Sue Baker
Mayday! A History of Flight Through its Martyrs, Oddballs, and Daredevils Synopsis
In a world without aircraft, to believe flight might be possible required a certain kind of character. You had to be starry-eyed, a possessor of practical ingenuity, nerves of steel and a level of sanity that would be best described as deficient. In Mayday!, David Darling tells the stories of the unconventional aviators across history who have been willing to risk all to further their craft. Meet Sophie Blanchard, a balloonist of nervous disposition whom Napoleon charged with organizing balloon displays at all major ceremonies in France. Then there's the daredevil stuntman Lincoln Beachey, the dogfighter aces of WWI, the man who performed the dance of death - switching planes in mid-air, the real X-Men who flew at the edge of space, and the BASE jumpers who want to fly without wings. The cast are eccentric, reckless and extraordinary, and Mayday! is made up of their riveting tales, bizarre contraptions, magnificent achievements and, sometimes, startling folly.
'Gripping... dazzling tales of madness and derring-do.' Brian Clegg, author of Inflight Science
'A hugely enjoyable roller-coaster aerial ride in the company of oddballs and heroes, complete with acts of mindless msochism in the name of science.' Jonathan Clancy, author of Spitfire: The Biography
Author
About David Darling
David Darling is a science writer and astronomer. He is the author of many books, including the bestselling Equations of Eternity, and the popular online resource The Worlds of David Darling. With Dirk Schulze-Makuch he wrote Megacatastrophes!: Nine Strange Ways the World Could End. He lives in Dundee, Scotland.
