The Face of the Earth as Seen from the Air by Willis T. Lee

Scarcely a generation has passed during the evolution of the airplane from a ridiculous dream to a practical factor in the work of the world. Men who once read with derision, or only passive interest at best, of the experiments of Langley, Chanute, and the Wrights have seen the airplane developed suddenly into an indispensable instrument of war and an agency of demonstrated value and of such diversity of application that its future is hard to estimate.