Historic aviation and aeronautics books for sale

I am selling the books listed below. Shipping will be added to all
prices, however only the true shipping cost, depending on book size
and weight as well as chosen delivery speed, will be charged, without
any additional surcharge for handling. If you are interested, please
email me at (remove .NOSPAM from the
address) – the Compuserve address above is no longer valid.
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For sale is a copy of the "Forty-Fourth Annual Report of the National
Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, 1958, Administrative Report
Including Technical Papers Nos. 1342 to 1392 (Final Report)",
published by the United States Government Printing Office, Washington,
DC, 1959, hardcover, no dust jacket.
This book represents the final volume issued by NACA on its activities
before it was transformed into NASA and is the best primary source on
Committee activities and achievements. The Annual Report provides a
brief outline of Committee membership, policy, activities, facilities,
and budget, along with a summary of the state of aeronautical
research. Bound with the Annual Report are the Technical Reports
published in that year. The report starts with a letter of transmittal
by President Eisenhower to Congress and a letter of submittal to the
President by the famous James Doolittle, who then was NACA Chairman
and issued this final annual. The forwarding letters pointed out that
at the close of business of September 30, 1958, the NACA would cease
to exist and that all facilities and employees would be absorbed by
the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to be established
the following day.
Following a brief overview over NACA and how it operates, two special
contributions, "Forty Years of Aeronautical Research", first published
in the Smithsonian annual report for 1955 and reprinted in the Final
Annual Report, and its companion piece, "The Following Years,
1955-1958", by James Doolittle, provide a fascinating summary of the
history and accomplishments of NACA.
Additional sections peculiar to the final report concern reprints of
the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, which created NASA out
of NACA, and the proclamation making said act effective at close of
business of September 30, 1958.
The bulk of the volume is constituted by 51 individual technical
reports covering the whole spectrum of NACA activities. Many of the
papers concern classical aviation related topics, such as crash fire
prevention in turbojet aircraft, airfoil theory, atmospheric flight,
aerodynamics and fluid dynamics, but a number of publications on
topics like high energy fuels for ramjet engines, ballistic missiles
entry and hypervelocity vehicles herald the dawn of the space age.
The tome has a total of 1494 pages and is 9 ¼" x 11 ½" tall and 3"
thick, with a weight of 11 lbs. It includes black and white as well as
color photographs, diagrams, drawings, tables, formulas, and
literature references.
This report is now very rare and hard to find, and, being the last of
its kind ever to be published, it constitutes a unique historical
document on NASA's predecessor.
The book is an ex library copy that was recently surplussed by the
Boeing company branch library at the Huntington Beach plant. It has
typical library marks, stamps and stickers reading "Douglas Aircraft
Library" and "Douglas Aircraft Division Technical Library". Some shelf
wear, bumping of corners and cracking has occurred, and the pages have
yellowed, with small tears on a few of them. Otherwise the book is in
good condition.
The price is $60.
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For sale is a copy of "Aircraft Inspection Methods" by Niles Clark
Bartholomew, Pitman Publishing Corporation, New York, 1940, hardbound
in red cloth covers with black lettering on front and spine, no dust
jacket.
This book covers the inspection of the various parts of typical pre
WWII airplanes. The prime purpose of this book was defined "to
instruct the beginner, the student and mechanic in the essential
requirements of an airworthy airplane as well as in methods of
determining when such conditions are met." The author was employed by
the Curtiss Aeroplane Division of the Curtiss-Wright Corporation, and
consequently almost all of the photographs are of Curtiss aircraft,
including the Hawk III biplane fighter, the Type 75 (with both fixed
and retractable gear types) and the SOC. These photographs, which show
internal construction details not normally seen on the finished planes
as well as features like gun and bomb installations, make the book
especially interesting to aviation enthusiasts as well as model
builders. The book also includes a ten page example of a typical
inspection chart that provides a guideline for a thorough inspection
on an aircraft.
The book has a total of 131 pages and is 5 ¼" x 8 ¼" tall and ½"
thick. It includes 19 chapters illustrated with black and white
photographs and line drawings and an index.
The book is an ex library copy that was recently surplussed by the
Boeing company branch library at the Huntington Beach plant and wears
the stamps "Douglas Aircraft Library / Nov 25 1941 / Douglas Aircraft
Co. Inc. / Santa Monica, Calif." as well as "Withdrawn from Boeing
Library Holdings" and thus represents a bit of aerospace history in
itself. Apart from typical library marks, stamps and stickers, some
light fraying of the cloth cover at the back and light soiling and
rubbing of the outside and covers, bumped and worn corners and a
crease on one page, the book is in good condition.
The price is $14.
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For sale is a report "The Douglas Aerophysics Laboratory Four-Foot
Trisonic Wind Tunnel", Douglas Missile & Space Systems Division,
Douglas Report DAC-59809, October 1967.
This report describes the Four-Foot Trisonic Wind Tunnel, which
allowed to simulate aerodynamic phenomena in a speed range from
subsonic through Mach 5, and the Douglas Aerophysics Laboratory
facility in El Segundo, CA, where it was located. It also presents the
performance and operating characteristics of the tunnel, model support
and design considerations for tests, diverse test capabilities,
associated instrumentation and data recording equipment, data
processing and presentation, and customer responsibilities for
obtaining optimum planning and performance of wind tunnel tests. It
was intended fur use as an aid in planning and conducting tests in the
wind tunnel and constitutes a document reflecting a piece of aerospace
history.
The report has a total of 78 pages and is 8 ½" x 11" tall. It
comprises 9 sections and contains tables as well as black and white
photographs, drawings and diagrams. It has transparent plastic covers
and a plastic binding.
The price is $12.