AD INEXPLORATA Edwards Air Force Base Coin and Patch AND AUTOGRAPHED "Flight Testing at Edwards: Flight Test Engineers' Stories 1946-1975" Book (3-Item Bundle)

Description

Edwards Air Force Base's (EAFB) motto is AD INEXPLORATA, which means "Toward the Unexplored". This Edwards Air Force Base gift set includes 3 exclusive EAFB items: AD INEXPLORATA coin, AD INEXPLORATA patch, and a book about Flight Testing at Edwards Air Force Base. The book is signed by two of the surviving authors (on the Title page) and NASA's X-24B pilot John Manke (on pg 253, at the end of the X-24B chapter). Dedication is by Chuck Yeager and Foreword is by Fitz Fulton. The time period from the end of World War II to the mid 1970s is considered the golden age of flight test. With war's end, America found itself with a large supply of young, experienced pilots, a bustling manufacturing capability, a robust economy, and a talented cadre of test engineers who were eager to push the known limits of flight. After the sound barrier was broken in the fall of 1947, the momentum of aviation progress was unstoppable. Year after year, model after model, the industry made huge technological leaps forward, often above the dry lakebeds of Edwards Air Force Base. The hustle and bustle -- and occasionaly tragedy -- of those go-go years wrought a camaraderie among the flight test engineers at Edwards lasting nearly half a century. Now, for the first time, those flight test engineers have authored the touching, funny, poignant, and personal stories behind this exciting period. These stories explore the human side of technology, where real people laugh, cry, admire each other's remarkable achievements, and -- sadly -- mourn each other's losses. It is a fascinating insider's look into one of aviation's secret worlds -- that of the flight test engineer.