Turbulent Skies: The History of Commercial Aviation

This book spends 350 pages in a very thorough history of commercial aviation. It is an excellent history of the early planes of commercial service. We have many histories of military aircraft and their use in war. This book goes into the early airliners like the DC 2 and DC 3. It tells the story of the magnificent DC 6. The Constellation story is told. All of this is fascinating history for me as I was long ago an aeronautical engineer. The modern period is well done up to the mid-90s and the great story of Southwest Airlines and the 737 will have to be found elsewhere. Still, this is excellent history, very readable and reliable.

This is a great book, giving a detailed history of commercial aviation, but doing so in a lively manner cognizant of the interests of any reader. It hits on all aspects of the development of commercial flight, paying attention to those connections between actions in the aviation industry and what was going on with the rest of the world at the time.