Countdown to Flight

About the Book

It's December 17, 1903, and Wilbur and Orville Wright are about to do what man had dreamed of for centuries--fly! They have worked for five years, studying, trying new ideas, and testing their inventions on a lonely spot of sandy beach at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. Finally, after many setbacks and disappointments, they are ready to launch their engine-powered aeroplane--and this time it works! With Orville in the pilot's seat and Wilbur running alongside holding on to the bottom of the wing, the Kitty Hawk Flyer is in the air. The flight lasts just 12 seconds, but it is the beginning of a new era of the amazing flying machines that now take us all over the world.

About the Author

Steve Englehart has written for both kids and adults throughout his career, in a variety of media. He was the last lead writer for Marvel Comics during their ascendancy, wrote the Batman stories that became the 1989 movie, and created The Night Man, star of the recent television series. His first novel, The Point Man, won praise from critics and readers alike, and research for a second, set in the Silicon Valley, led him to the computer industry as a game designer. The historical mystery adventure series he writes with his wife Terry, The DNAgers, was chosen Best Juvenile Adventure Series of the Year in 1997. But he takes his greatest pride in bringing the heroism and humanity of the Wright brothers to those discovering them for the first time.