Hey everyone! New to the forum and was hoping to ask a question. As a bit of a brief introduction, I am not an aerospace engineering student. The question I'm asking is posed from the perspective of a technological historian interested in charting the technical history of the commercial aircraft manufacturing industry. With that in mind, I am interested in understanding the evolution of commercial aircraft innovation from the dawn of the jet-age to the present day. This question begins with the premise that commercial aircraft have improved drastically since the introduction of the Boeing 707 in most characteristics which matter to airlines - passenger capacity, range, fuel consumption, noise etc. I would like to understand how, at a technical level, this improvement occurred. That is, what new improvements in aircraft design and manufacturing enabled such improvement in measurable characteristics? There are of course, tons of different books which talk about specific companies and aircraft models out there. However, what I haven't found are any books or other resources which take an explicitly engineering lens and try to explain the technical evolution of the commercial airliner. I was hoping this community might be able to help! My interest is not limited to any one technical sub-system of the aircraft, and thus I'm interested in resources which discuss engine improvements, improvements in aerostructures (eg, wing design improvements, high-lift device design), materials improvements, hydraulics, manufacturing techniques, avionics, etc.
Thanks so much!
Moderators: richierich, ua900, PanAm_DC10, hOMSaR
Who is online
Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 15 guests