Weak Force Press

Huntsville, Alabama

Specializing in Technical History

The Development of Aircraft Engines and Fuels

Almost no serious work on aircraft engine history written during the past 50 years fails to reference Robert Schlaifer’s and Sam Heron’s fine history of aircraft engine and fuel development. Long revered as THE seminal engine research book, it has become increasingly rare and expensive. Now, Weak Force Press makes it available on CD−ROM as a series of high-quality scans at a price affordable by anyone. Dr. Schlaifer’s book, commissioned by the Harvard Business School and published in 1950, explores relationships between the governments of the United States and Great Britain and their respective aircraft engine industries. His research aims to discover whether one system is clearly better at producing technological innovation. In order to pursue this line of research, Schlaifer needed a technical history of aircraft engine development starting at approximately the end of World War I. Finding none, he set about to write that history. Fortunately, he was able to enlist the assistance of one of the most prolific engine and fuel researchers of all time — Samuel D. Heron. Together they contacted almost every important engine designer and condensed the memories of these men who had made aircraft engine history into a single volume. This book is not only an invaluable reference tool, but a good read as well.

Table of Contents Part 1 (592K PDF)
Table of Contents Part 2 (757K PDF)
Table of Contents Part 3 (472K PDF)

The Development of Aircraft Engines, by Robert Schlaifer
and
The Development of Aviation Fuels, by S. D. Heron.

Note: You must have Adobe® Acrobat® Reader® 5.0 or later installed on your computer to view this CD-ROM.
Acrobat® Reader® is a free download from www.adobe.com.

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