Archives of American Aerospace Exploration

In this section, you will find resources related to the sciences of aerodynamics and aeronautics, including resources focused specifically on aviation and aircraft design.

Aerodynamics is simply defined by NASA as "the way objects move through the air." Aeronautics is the science of designing, constructing, and flying various forms of aircraft. While these go hand in hand with other fields such as astronautics, the materials below are focused on aircraft that do not exit the atmosphere. 

Click on a book or collection title to learn more about it. 

Aerodynamics, Aeronautics, and Aviation

• Abbott, Ira H. and von Doenhoff, Albert E. Theory of Wing Sections: including a Summary of Airfoil Data. 1959.
• Aero Club of America. Navigating the Air: a Scientific Statement of the Progress of Aeronautical Science up to the Present Time by the Aero Club of America; illustrated with Photographs and Diagrams. 1907.
• Barringer, Lewin Bennitt. Flight without Power: the Art of Gliding and Soaring. 1940.
• Berget, Alphonse. The Conquest of the Air: Aeronautics, Aviation; History, Theory, Practice. 1909.
• Carter, C.C. Simple Aerodynamics and the Airplane. 1932.
• Cummings, Russell M. et al. Applied Computational Aerodynamics: a Modern Engineering Approach. 2015.
• Diehl, Walter S. Engineering Aerodynamics. 1928.
• Duchêne, Emile. Translated by John H. Ledeboer. Flight without Formulae: Simple Discussions on the Mechanics of the Aeroplane. 1916.
• Emmons, H.W. Fundamentals of Gas Dynamics. 1958.
• Etkin, Bernard and Reid, Lloyd Duff. Dynamics of Flight: Stability and Control. 1996.
• Galison, Peter and Roland, Alex (eds). Atmospheric Flight in the Twentieth Century. 2000.
• Hart, Ivor B. and Laidler, W. Elementary Aeronautical Science. 1924.
• Hastings, Earl C. Development and Flight Tests of Vortex-Attenuating Splines. 1975.
• Humphries, John. Rockets and Guided Missiles. 1958.
• Hunsaker, Jerome C. Aeronautics at the Mid-Century. 1952.
• Kermode, Alfred Cotterill. Mechanics of Flight. 1950.
• Lancaster, Otis E. Jet Propulsion Engines. 1959.
• Maxim, Sir Hiram S. Artificial and Natural Flight. 1908.
• Pope, Alan. Aerodynamics of Supersonic Flight: an Introduction. 1950.
• Potter, Leslie S. The Navigation of Air and Meteorology. 1931.
• Reid, Elliot G. Applied Wing Theory. 1932.
• Sutton, George P. Rocket Propulsion Elements: an Introduction to the Engineering of Rockets. 1949.
• Walker, Sydney F. Aviation: its Principles, its Present and Future. 1913.

Aircraft and Airplane Design

• Anderson, Newton H. Aircraft Layout and Detail Design. 1941.
• Barber, H. The Aeroplane Speaks. 50 Full Pages of "types of aeroplanes" and 85 Sketches and Diagrams. 1928.
• Barton, Millard V. Fundamentals of Aircraft Structures. 1948.
• Camm, Sydney. Aeroplane Construction: a Handbook on the Various Methods and Details of Construction Employed in the Building of Aeroplanes. 1919.
• Cierva, Juan de la and Rose, Don. Wings of Tomorrow: the Story of the Autogiro. 1931.
• Conference on the Progress of the X-15 Project. Progress of the X-15 Research Airplane Program: Flight Research Center, Edwards Air Force Base, California, October 7, 1965. Sponsored by United States Air Force, United States Navy, National Aeronautics and Space Administration. 1965.
• Fraas, Arthur P.Aircraft Power Plants. 1943.
• Gibbs-Smith, Charles Harvard. A Directory and Nomenclature of the First Aeroplanes, 1809 to 1909. 1966.
• Gilruth, Robert R. Requirements for Satisfactory Flying Qualities of Airplanes. 1992.
• Green, William and Pollinger, Gerald. The Aircraft of the World. 1965.
• Hamburg, Merrill C. Beginning to Fly: the Book of Model Airplanes. 1930.
• Hearne, R.P. Zeppelins and Super-Zeppelins. 1916.
• Hoernes, H. A Compendium of Aviation and Aerostation, Balloons, Dirigibles and Flying-Machines. 1911.
• Judge, Arthur W. The Design of Aeroplanes. 1917.
• Kuhn, Paul. Stresses in Aircraft and Shell Structures. 1956.
• Langley, Marcus. Seaplane Float and Hull Design. 1935.
• Loening, Grover. Amphibian: the Story of the Loening Biplane. 1973.
• Nelson, William. Airplane Lofting. 1941.
• Owens, Albert A. and Slingluff, Ben F. How to Read Aircraft Blueprints. 1940.
• Petersen Publishing Co. Air Progress, World's Greatest Aircraft: an All-New Collection of Modern and Historic Classics. 1972.
• Robins, James G. The Wooden Wonder: a Short History of the Wooden Aeroplane. 1970.
• Sechler, Ernest E. and Dunn, Louis G. Airplane Structural Analysis and Design. 1942.
• Shamburger, Page. Classic Monoplanes. 1966.
• Smith, Robert T. Classic Biplanes. 1963.
• Stein, Joe. Lift is Where You Find It: what Helicopter People do for People. 1986.
• Titterton, George F. Aircraft Materials and Processes. 1940.
• Younger, John E. Airplane Construction and Repair: a Textbook for Airplane Mechanics. 1931.
• Zaic, Frank. Model Glider Design. 1944.

• William J. Alford, Jr. Papers, 1951-1988 (Ms1987-007)
• Aviation Brochures and Pamphlets Collection, 1910-1958 (Ms1994-015)
• John V. Becker Papers, 1936-1980 (Ms1990-052)
• J.A. Burke, Jr., Collection, 1936-1938, 1942-1947 (Ms1983-005)
• Edward H. Cahill Papers, 1909-1976 (Ms1988-002)
• George William Christopher Papers, 1961-1991 (Ms1991-031)
• Evert B. Clark Papers, 1949-1988 (Ms1989-022)
• John E. Duberg Papers, 1927-1980 (Ms1990-056)
• G. Grahame Duce Papers, 1920-1947 (Ms1987-005)
• Robert R. Gilruth Papers, 1936-1989 (Ms1990-053)
• Melvin N. Gough Papers, 1919-1971 (Ms1987-057)
• Paul R. Hill Collection, 1936-1996 (Ms2010-068)
• Christopher C. Kraft Papers, 1941-1998 (Ms1985-001)
• Alfred W. Lawson Collection, 1913, 1948 (Ms2023-053)
• F. Edward McLean Papers, 1950-1985 (Ms1990-054)
• W. Dale Parker Papers, 1914-2006 (Ms1989-093)
• William Hewitt Phillips Papers, 1918-2008 (Ms2005-019)
• Edward C. Polhamus Papers, 1962-1986 (Ms1990-051)
• Reed Precision Identifiers for Airplanes, ca. 1941-1945 (Ms2024-058)
• Hartley A. Soule Papers, 1945-1972, n.d. (Ms1987-004)
• Robert Eldred Taylor Papers, 1942-1948 (Ms1994-033)
• Earl A. Thornton Collection, 1885-2000 (Ms2010-026)
• U.S. Army Air Corps Photographs, 1928 (Ms2015-058)