The Vortex and The Jet: A Journey into the Beauty and Mystery of Flight

This open access book is an introduction for the lay reader to understand the basics of flight. The exposure is to the mysteries of lift generation by wings and the basic function of the jet propulsion engine. The text relies on simple descriptions of the physics of air flow without unduly involving mathematics. The text is richly illustrated with sketches and photographs to enrich verbal descriptions.

The book takes the viewpoint that a reader does not have a background in the engineerin...