For those who would like to read more about some of the early aviation pioneers, I offer the following compilation of biographies where they exist, as well as books written by the pioneers themselves. Such a list can never be complete (the following are titles from my personal library) - but I will add to this list as I learn of more titles. Please note that this list is not a recommendation for any book.
Clément Ader
C H Gibbs-Smith Clément Ader, his flight claims and his place in history (Science Museum, 1968)
Georges de Manthé Clément Ader (Privat-Didier, 1936)
Patrick Alexander
Brewer & Alexander Aeronautics 1815 – 1891 (1893)
Gordon Cullingham Patrick Y Alexander (Cross, 1984)
Hap Arnold
Flint O DuPre Hap Arnold (MacMillan, 1972)
Harry Atwood
Howard Mansfield Skylark (University Press of New England, 1999)
Gertrude Bacon
Gertrude Bacon Balloons Airships and Flying Machines (T C & E C Jack)
Gertrude Bacon All About Flying (Methuen, 1915)
Gertrude Bacon Memories of Land and Sky (Methuen, 1928)
Roger Bacon
Brian Clegg The First Scientist, a life of Roger Bacon (Carroll & Graf, 2003)
Horatio Barber
Horatio Barber The Aeroplane Speaks (R M McBride, 1928)
Lincoln Beachey
Frank Marrero Lincoln Beachey (Scottwall, 1997)
André Beaumont
André Beaumont My Three Big Flights (Eveleigh Nash, 1912)
Melli Beese
Barbara Spitzer Melli Beese (Heimat, 1992)
Alexander Graham Bell
Jack Carpenter Bell & Curtiss (Arsdalen, Bosch & Co, 2000)
Dorothy Harley Eber Genius at Work (Nimbus, 1991)
Jacqueline Langille Alexander Graham Bell (Four East, 1989)
Judith Tulloch The Bell Family in Baddeck (Formac, 2006)
James Gordon Bennett
Richard O'Connor The Scandalous Mr Bennett (Doubleday, 1962)
Noel Pemberton Billing
Barbara Stoney Twentieth Century Maverick (Bank House, 2004)
Lilian Bland
Arthur McKeown Flying at Carnmoney (Ulster, 2006)
Guy Warner Lilian Bland (Ulster Aviation Society)
Louis Blériot
Tom Crouch Blériot XI, the story of a classic aircraft (Smithsonian, 1982)
Brian A Elliott Blériot, Herald of an Age (Tempus, 2000)
Alice & Martin Provenson The Glorious Flight (Viking Press, 1983)
Louis Breguet
Guy Michelet Breguet (France-Empire, 1963)
Starling Burgess
Bartlett Gould Burgess of Marblehead (Essex Institute Historical Collections, 1970)
Barlett Gould Burgess (WW1 Aero, 198 – 19 editions111-143)
Llewellyn Howland III The Burgess Legacy (Wooden Boat magazine, 1986 – 1987)
Mario Calderara
Icare Mario Calderara (Icare No 181)
Gianni Caproni
Abate, Alegi & Apostolo Aeroplani Caproni (Museo Caproni, 1992)
Gianni Caproni Gli Aeroplani Caproni (Museo Caproni, Arno, 1980)
Romano Turrini Gianni Caproni per Arco (Il Sommolago, 2007)
Jorge Chavez
Luigi Barzini El Vuelo Que Surco Los Alpes
Luciano Martini Geo Chavez (Tarara, 2003)
Gaston & René Caudron
Roger Labric Les Frères Gaston et René Caudron (Fernand Sorlot)
Fernand Poidevin Les Frères Caudron (E Dumont, 1918)
Sir George Cayley
Richard Dee The Man who Discovered Flight (McClelland & Stewart, 2007)
Fairlie & Cayley The Life of a Genius (Hodder & Stoughton, 1965)
Laurence Pritchard, Sir George Cayley (Ma Parrish, 1961)
C H Gibbs-Smith, Sir George Cayley 1773-1857 (Science Museum, 1968)
C H Gibbs-Smith, Sir George Cayley's Aeronautics 1796-1855 (Science Museum, 1962)
Octave Chanute
Octave Chanute Progress in Flying Machines (1894)
Simine Short Locomotive to Aeromotive (University of Illinois Press, 2011)
Henri Coanda
V Firoiu Din nou acasă … convorbiri cu H Coandă (Sinteze, 2002)
Samuel Cody
Arthur Gould Lee The Flying Cathedral (Methuen, 1965)
Jerry Kuntz A Pair of Shootists (University of Oklahoma, 2010)
Peter Reese The Flying Cowboy (Tempus, 2006)
Percy B Walker Early Aviation at Farnborough (Macdonald, 1974)
Glenn Curtiss (a selection)
Louis Casey Curtiss, The Hammondsport Era 1907 1915 (Crown, 1981)
Glenn Curtiss The Curtiss Aviation Book (Stokes, 1912)
Alden Hatch Glenn Curtiss, Pioneer of Naval Aviation (Messner, 1948)
Ellen Hopkins Storming the Skies (Avisson, 2004)
Mitchell & House Glenn H Curtiss, Aviation Pioneer (Arcadia, 2001)
C R Roseberry Glenn Curtiss, Pioneer of Flight (Syracuse, 1972)
Scharff & Taylor Over Land and Sea (McKay, 1968)
Lyman Seely Flying Pioneers of Hammondsport (Fenton, 1929)
Seth Shulman Unlocking the Sky (Perennial, 2002)
Clara Studer Sky Storming Yankee (Stackpole, 1937)
Kathryn & James Terzian Glenn Curtiss, Pioneer Pilot (Rutledge, 1966)
Leonardo da Vinci
Marco Cianchi Leonardo's Machines (Becocci Editore, 1984)
C H Gibbs-Smith Leonardo da Vinci's Aeronautics (Science Museum, 1967)
Domenico Laurenza Leonardo on Flight (Giunti, 2004)
Geoffrey de Havilland
Geoffrey de Havilland Sky Fever (Airlife, 1979)
Martin Sharp DH (Faber & Faber, 1960)
Gabriel de La Landelle
Gabriel de La Landelle, Dans Les Airs (Haton, Paris, 1884)
Léon Delagrange
O & Y Delagrange Léon Delagrange, Le “Dandy Volant” (Larivière, 2003)
Armand Deperdussin
James Laux The Rise and Fall of Armand Deperdussin (French Historical Studies, 1973)
Armand & Henri Dufaux
Alfred Waldis Die Brüder Dufaux (Schweizer Pioniere der Wirtschaft und Technik No 46, 1987)
John Dunne
J W Dunne An Experiment with Time (A & C Black, 1927)
Percy B Walker Early Aviation at Farnborough (Macdonald, 1974)
Jacob Ellehammer
Louise Skyggebjerg J C H Ellehammer (Klassisk Bil & MC, 2006)
'Spuds' Ellyson
George van Deurs Anchors in the Sky (Presidio Press, 1978)
Robert Esnault-Pelterie
F Torres & J Villain Robert Esnault-Pelterie (Confluences, 2007)
Pionniers No 3 Robert Esnault-Pelterie ( Revue Aéronautique Trimestrielle des Vielles Tiges, 1965)
Michael Stoiko Pioneers of Rocketry (Hawthorn Books, 1974)
Igo Etrich
John de Vries Taube, Dove of War (Historical Aviation, 1978)
Hanuš Salz Igo Etrich, Leben und Werk (Flugzeug, 2000)
August Euler
Michael Düsing Abenteuer Gelber Hund (Ergonomia, 2008)
Henri Fabre
Henri Fabre Les 3 Hydravions d'Henri Fabre (Guirimand, 1979)
Henri Fabre J'ai Vu Naïtre L'Aviation (Guirimand, 1980)
Pionniers No 12 Henri Fabre ( Revue Aéronautique Trimestrielle des Vielles Tiges, 1967)
Henry Farman
Dick & Henry Farman The Aviator’s Companion (Mills & Boon, 1910)
Jacques Sahel Henry Farman et L’Aviation (Grasset, 1936)
Frederick Usher The Brothers Farman: Adventures on land, at sea and in the air (Automobile Quarterly, 1985)
Ferdinand Ferber
Ferdinand Ferber L’Aviation (Berger-Levrault, 1910)
Ferdinand Ferber Les Progrès de L’Aviation (Revue d’Artillerie, 1904, 1905)
Pionniers No 9 Ferdinand Ferber ( Revue Aéronautique Trimestrielle des Vielles Tiges, 1966)
Harry Ferguson
Field, Baber & Walker Harry Ferguson (Massey Ferguson)
Michael Clarke Harry Ferguson before the plough (Ballyhay, 2009)
Colin Fraser Harry Ferguson, inventor and pioneer (Old Pond, 1972)
Massey Ferguson Harry Ferguson (Massey Ferguson, 1993)
Michael Winter Harry Ferguson and I (Michael Winter, 1995)
Anthony Fokker
Mark Dierikx Fokker, a transatlantic biography (Smithsonian, 1997)
Anthony Fokker Flying Dutchman (George Routledge, 1931)
Henri Hegener Fokker – the man and the aircraft (Harleyford, 1961)
A R Weyl Fokker: the Creative Years (Putnam, 1965)
Robert Fowler
Maria Burden The Life and Times of Robert G Fowler (Border, 1999)
Roland Garros
Roland Garros Mémoires de Roland Garros (Hachette, 1966)
Jean-Pierre Lefevre-Garros Roland Garros (Carrere, 1988)
Stéphane Nicolaou Roland Garros, Héros du Siècle (Musée de l'Air de l'Espace)
William Wallace Gibson
Kay Parley, William Gibson Flash-in-the-sky-boy (Saskatoon, 1967)
Hans Grade
Manfred Günther Hans Grade (Berlin, 1990)
Eckhard Schulz Hans Grade (Schriftenreihe, 1990)
Karl-Dieter Seifert Hans Grade (Ost-Nordost, 2008)
Claude Grahame-White (a selection of his books)
Claude Grahame-White The Story of the Aeroplane (Small, Maynard & Co)
Claude Grahame-White The Aeroplane – Past, Resent, Future (T W Laurie, 1911)
Claude Grahame-White Aviation (Collins, 1912)
Claude Grahame-White Flying, an Epitome and a Forecast (Chatto & Windus, 1930)
C Grahame-White & H Harper With the Airmen (Henry Frowde, 1913)
C Grahame-White & H Harper Heroes of the Air (Henry Frowde)
Graham Wallace Claude Grahame-White (Putnam, 1960)
Gustav Hamel
L K Blackmore Hawker (Orion, 1991)
G Hamel & C C Turner Flying (Longmore, Green, 1914)
Michael Hamel-Green Gustav Hamel: Airmail Pioneer (Aviation Quarterly, 1980)
Frederick Handley Page
Alan Dowsett Handley Page – A History (Tempus, 2003)
Lawrence Hargrave
Elena Grainger Hargrave and son (University of Queensland Press, 1978)
J D Walker Lawrence Hargrave (Australian Government Publishing, 1984)
Billy Hart
Phil Hart-Johnson Billy Hart Story (Northair, 1994)
Harry Hawker
Muriel Hawker H G Hawker, airman: his life and work (Hutchinson, 1922)
Hilda Hewlett
Gail Hewlett Old Bird, the Irrepressible Mrs Hewlett (Matador, 2010)
Tony Jannus
Thomas Reilly Jannus, an American Flier (University Press of Florida, 1997)
Karl Jatho
Gunter Hartung Tüftler und Querdenker (Leuenhagen & Paris, 2009)
Wolfgang Leonhardt Karl Jathos erster Motorflug 1903 (Nüsse Design, 2002)
Tasch & Görg Es begann in Hannover … (AALEXX Buchproduktion, 2009)
Samuel Langley
Samuel Langley The “Flying-Machine” (McClure's Magazine, June 1897)
Gordon Vaeth Langley, Man of Science and Flight (Ronald Press, 1966)
Hubert Latham
Barbara Walsh Forgotten Aviator Hubert Latham (Tempus, 2007)
Ruth Law
Don Brown Ruth Law Thrills a Nation (Houghton Mifflin, 1993)
Alfred Lawson
Jerry Kuntz Baseball Fiends and Flying Machines (McFarland, 2009)
Jean-Marie Le Bris
d'Aurélie, Claire La Barque ailée de Jean-Marie Le Bris (Quimper, 2000)
Peslin, Yves Jean-Marie Le Bris (Les Ailes Journal, 1944)
Eugène Lefèbvre
M-C & Michel Damagnez Eugène Lefèbvre (Delattre, 2006)
Otto Lilienthal
Otto Lilienthal Der Vogelflug als Grundlage der Fliegekunst (1889)
Seifert & Waßermann Otto Lilienthal, Leben und Werk (Urban-Verlag, 1992)
Robert Loraine
Winifred Loraine Robert Loraine (Collins, 1938)
Roy Sloan Early Aviation in North Wales (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch, 1989)
Étienne-Jules Marey
Étienne-Jules Marey Animal Mechanism (D Appleton, 1874)
Frederick Marriott
Hernandez, Richard A Frederick Marriott: a Forty-Niner Banker and Editor (1963)
Glenn Martin
Henry Still To Ride the Wind (Julian Messner, 1964)
Marie Marvingt
Cordier & Maggio Marie Marvingt, la femme d'un siècle (Pierron, 1991)
Hiram Maxim
Arhur Hawkey The Amazing Hiram Maxim (Spellmount Ltd., Kent, 2001)
Hiram Maxim Artificial & Natural Flight (Whittaker, 1908)
Iain McCallum Blood Brothers (Chatham Publishing, London, 1999)
Frank McClean
Philip Jarrett Frank McClean (Seaforth, 2011)
James Means
James Howard Means James Means and the Problem of Manflight (Smithsonian, 1964)
John & Mathilde Moisant
Frank Potter Swan Song Flight of Miss Mathilde (Aviation Quarterly, 1979)
Doris Rich The Magnificent Moisants (Smithsonian, 1998)
John J Montgomery
Craig Harwood & Gary Fogel Quest for Flight (University of Oklahoma, 2012)
Arthur Spearman John Joseph Montgomery (University of Santa Clara, 1967)
John Moore-Brabazon
Lord Brabazon of Tara The Brabazon Story (William Heinemann, 1956)
Aleksandr Mozhaiski
Krylov, V J Alexander F Mozhajskij (Young Guard, 1951)
Édouard Nieuport
G & B Pommier Les Frères Nieuport (l'Officine, 2004)
Gérard Pommier Nieuport 1875 – 1911 (Schiffer, 2002)
Rosenthal & Borget Nieuport 1909 – 1950 (Larivière, 1997)
Lord Northcliffe
Paul Ferris The House of Northcliffe (World, 1972)
Hamilton Fyfe Northcliffe, an intimate biography (AMS, 1930)
Earle Ovington
Robert Campbell Reminiscences of a Birdman (Living History Press, 2009)
Adelaide Ovington An Aviator's Wife (Dodd, Mead & Co, 1920)
Earle Ovington Our Invisible Friends and Foes (Newton Centre, 1914)
Louis Paulhan
Pionniers No 21 Louis Paulhan ( Revue Aéronautique Trimestrielle des Vielles Tiges, 1969)
Richard Pearse
Gordon Ogilvie The Riddle of Richard Pearse (A H & A W Reed, 1973)
Geoffrey Rodcliffe Richard Pearse (Walsh Memorial Library MOTAT, 1977)
Adolphe Pégoud
Christiane Le Diouron Adolphe Pégoud, Le roi de l'air (ThoT, 2009)
Willy Bourgeois Les Portes du Ciel (Gerard, 1958)
Alphonse Pénaud
Pionniers No 47 Alphonse Pénaud ( Revue Aéronautique Trimestrielle des Vielles Tiges, 1976)
Percy Pilcher
Philip Jarrett Another Icarus (Putnam, 1987)
John Porte
Bill Mortimer John Porte – father of Britain's flying boats (Wingspan, 1988 – 3 parts)
Harriet Quimby
Sterling Brown First Lady of the Air (Tudor, 1997)
Ed Y Hall Harriet Quimby (Honoribus, 1990)
Henry Holden Her Mentor was an Albatross (Black Hawk, 1993)
Giacanta Koontz The Harriet Quimby Scrapbook (Little Looper Press, 2003)
Frank Reed Nichols One Brief Moment (Celo Valley, 1997)
Hugh Robinson
George Vergara Hugh Robinson, pioneer aviator (Univ. Press of Florida, 1995)
Cal Rodgers
Cantor & Lesser Cal Rodgers and the wonderful flight of the Vin Fiz
Eileen Lebow Cal Rodgers and the Vin Fiz (Smithsonian, 1989)
E P Stein Flight of the Vin Fiz (Arbor, 1985)
A V Roe
Edward Lanchberry A V Roe (The Bodley Head, 1956)
L J Ludovici The Challenging Sky (Herbert Jenkins, 1956)
Alliot Verdon-Roe The World of Wings and Things (Hurst & Blackett, 1939)
Charles Rolls
J W Axten The Hon. Charles Stewart Rolls 1877 – 1910 (Monmouth Historical & Educational Trust, 1977)
David Baines Why Not? (Dalton Watson, 2007)
Gordon Bruce C S Rolls (Monmouth District Museum Service, 1978)
Gordon Bruce Charlie Rolls – pioneer aviator (RR Heritage Trust, 1990)
Laurence Meynell Rolls, Man of Speed (The Bodley Head, 1953)
Lord Montague of Beaulieu Rolls of Rolls-Royce (Cassell, 1966)
Charles Rumney Samson
Charles Rumney Samson Fights and Flights (Ernest Benn, 1930)
Charles Rumney Samson A Flight from Cairo to Cape Town and back (E Benn, 1931)
Alberto Santos-Dumont
Rose Brown Bicycle in the Sky (Charles Scribner, 1953)
Aluzio Napoleāo Santos Dumont and the conquest of the air (Itatiaia, 1941)
Alberto Santos-Dumont Dans l'air (Charpentier & Fasquelle, 1904)
Nancy Winters Man Flies (Bloomsbury, 1997)
Peter Wykeham Santos-Dumont, a study in obsession (Putnam, 1961)
Blanche Stuart Scott
Julie Cummins Tomboy of the Air (Harper Collins, 2001)
Matthew Sellers
Barbara Sellers A Moment in Time (Two Harbors, 2009)
Horace, Eustace & Oswald Short
Michael Donne Pioneers of the Skies (Nicholson & Bass, 1987)
Igor Sikorsky
Robert Bartlett Sky Pioneer (Charles Scribner, 1947)
Cochrane, Hardesty, Lee The Aviation Careers of Igor Sikorsky (NASM, 1989)
K N Finne Igor Sikorsky, the Russian years (Airlife, 1987)
Igor Sikorsky The Story of the Winged-S (Dodd Mead, 1944)
Tom Sopwith
Alan Bramson, Neville Birch The Tiger Moth Story (Cassell, 1964)
Alan Bramson Pure Luck (Patrick Stephens, 1990)
Bruce Robertson Sopwith – the Man and his Aircraft (Harleyford, 1970)
Katherine Stinson
Mary Powell Queen of the Air (Coldwater Press, 1976)
Debra L Winegarten Katherine Stinson, The Flying Schoolgirl (Eakin, 2000)
John Stringfellow
Davy, M J B Henson and Stringfellow (Science Museum, London, 1931)
Penrose, Harald An Ancient Air (Airlife, 1988)
Emanuel Swedenborg
Söderberg, Henry Swedenborg's 1714 Airplane (Swedenborg Foundation, NY, 1988)
Maurice Tabuteau
Denys Tabuteau Maurice Tabuteau, pionnier de l'aviation (Lys Éditions, 2000)
Victor Tatin
Tatin, Victor Elements d'aviation (Dunod et Pinat, 1908)
Tatin, Victor Théorie et pratique de l'aviation (Dunod et Pinat, 1910)
George Holt Thomas
George Holt Thomas Aerial Transport (Hodder and Stoughton, 1920)
John Towers
Clark G Reynolds Admiral John H Towers (Naval Institute Press, 1991)
Jim Travers
E Travers Cross Country (Hothershall & Travers, 1990)
Jules Védrines
Jules Védrines La vie d'un aviateur (L'officine, 2002)
Gabriel Voisin
Icare Gabriel Voisin, 1975
Gabriel Voisin Men, Women and 10,000 Kites (Putnam, 1963)
Traian Vuia
Ion Dumitrescu Traian Vuia şi Prioritatea Zborului Macanic (Semne, 2007)
Stefan Ispas Romanian Wings (industria Aeronautic Romana, c 1970)
George Lipovan Traian Vuia, Realizatorul Zborului Mecanic (Tecnică, 1956)
Waldo Dean Waterman
Waldo Dean Waterman Waldo, Pioneer Aviator (Arsdalen Bosch, 1988)
Sir George White
James Oughton Bristol, an aircraft album (Ian Allan, 1973)
John Pudney Bristol Fashion (Putnam, 1960)
Gustave Whitehead
O'Dwyer & Randolph History by Contract (Fritz Majer & Sohn, 1978)
Randolph, Stella Before the Wrights Flew (G P Putnam's Sons, 1966)
W Schwipps & H Holzer Flugpionier Gustav Weiβkopf (Aviatik Verlag, 2001)
Paul Wilber
Lane,Gibson,Kosbab,Morgan,Thomas Adventures of Paul Wilber (History of Flight, 1984)
Charles Willard
Cole & Schreiner Charles Willard: The Exhibition Years (AAHS Journal, 1974)
Cole & Schreiner Charles Willard: The Creative Years (AAHS Journal, 1976)
Denys Corbett Wilson
Donal MacCarron Letters from an Early Bird (Pen & Sword, 2006)
Howard T Wright
M H Goodhall The Wight Aircraft (Gentry, 1973)
Wilbur & Orville Wright (a selection)
Bruce Carter The Wright Brothers (Newnes, 1955)
Tom Crouch The Bishop's Boys (Norton, 1989)
F Culick & S Dunmore On Great White Wings (McArthur, 2001)
Russell Freedman The Wright Brothers (Holiday, 1991)
C H Gibbs-Smith The Wright Brothers (Science Museum, 1963)
Carroll Glines The Wright Brothers (Franklin Watts, 1968)
Richard Hallion The Wright Brothers, Heirs of Prometheus (Smithsonian, 1978)
Michael Harrison Airborne at Kitty Hawk (Cassell,1953)
T A Heppenheimer First Flight (Wiley, 2003)
Fred Howard Wilbur and Orville: A Biography of the Wright Brothers
Peter Jakab Visions of a Flying Machine (Airlife, 1990)
Fred C Kelly The Wright Brothers (George G Harrap, 1944)
Fred C Kelly Miracle at Kitty Hawk (Da Capo, 1996)
Marvin McFarland The Papers of Wilbur and Orville Wright (McGraw-Hill, 1953)
Laurence Meynell First Men to Fly (Werner Laurie, 1955)
Thomas Parramore First to Fly (Chapel Hill, 2002)
Anna Sproule The Wright Brothers (Exley, 1990)
Henry Thomas The Wright Brothers (Adam & Charles Black)
James Tobin To Conquer the Air (Free Press, 2003)
John Evangelist Walsh First Flight (George Allen, 1975)
Westcott & Degen Wind and Sand (Harry N Abrams, 1983)
Orville Wright How We Invented the Airplane (Dover, 1953)
