The Pathfinders (The Epic of Flight)

The Pathfinders is a Time-Life aviation book included in the Epic of Flight series. The miracle of early flight, achieved hundreds of times by the audacious pilots of aviation's infancy, raised the question in their minds, "Can I get there from here in an aeroplane?" Before the great Atlantic Ocean could be crossed, the English Channel had to be crossed - and it was crossed in 1909 by Louis Bleriot, by the narrowest of margins with his crutches (necessary from an earlier accident). He did not a single navigational instrument. Next the Alps were conquered, then the Pyrenees and the Mediterranean Sea. Great cities were linked. The advent of war in 1914 ended the brief era of these pathfinders but their deeds had contributed to the prelude of the Golden Age of Aviation.