Wings of Their Dreams: Purdue in Flight

In the early 1950's as an undergraduate at Purdue, I was in one class with Neil Armstrong. There was a "Rocket Society" club at Purdue and I attended some of their meetings not realizing that only one other university had anything like that. Purdue's President, Hovde, had been in charge of U.S. rocket research and so knew what was going to happen. Von Braun sometimes came to campus to give talks. And the mechanical engineering department had focused on developing powerful liquid fuel rocket motors which they tested frequently. The test stands were south west of the Purdue airport which itself was south west of the main campus. Two or three times a year, walking across campus you would hear a loud "boooom" as one of the rocket engines blew up. So I wasn't surprised that so many of the first astronauts were Purdue grads.But until I read this book, I didn't appreciate how early Purdue had been to join the pioneers of aviation. Only five years after their first flight, the Wright brothers hired a Purdue grad to work with them on engineering and to fly demonstrations.The book is especially valuable for any young person who is considering going into the space business. And the series of stories are so compelling that you have trouble putting it down.A special story about a special place. Quotes from the various Purdue astronauts exhibit the special values and family atmosphere - all too rare in these days - of perhaps the leading university in exploring all aspects of flight.