Published to coincide with the centennial celebration of U.S. Navy aviation, this book details the history of U.S. Navy aviation from its earliest days, before the Navy s first aircraft carrier joined the fleet, through the modern jet era marked by the introduction of the F-18 Hornet. It tells how naval aviation got its start, profiles its pioneers, and explains the early bureaucracy that fostered and sometimes inhibited its growth. The book then turns to the refinement of carrier aviation...