Charles Ira Coombs (1914–1994)

story of the work being done by aeronautical engineers, specialists in aviation medicine, and courageous test pilots, to overcome the handicaps imposed on the minds and bodies of men by high speed and high altitude flight.
look at the human factors involved in the rapidly expanding field of terrestrial flight. Much of his material does cover the work being done to study the possibilities of space flight and this includes chapters on the G- load experiments of Col. Stapp as well as the psychological factors men must consider when floating in space. But for the most part his text is an excitingly presented consideration of test planes now being developed, of physical and mechanical problems tangential to flying beyond the speed of sound, of possibilities for civilian travel as well as military endeavors, of experiments such as the convertiplane (which may revolutionize air travel) and the pogo stick. A good layman's introduction made interesting by its suspenseful style and its speculations on the effect of machinery on man.… (meer)