Textbook in PDF format Abundantly illustrated and engagingly narrated, the book provides a detailed historical survey of aircraft piston engines from the turn of the 20th century to the book s publication in 1981. In its pages the reader will encounter aircraft piston engines and their components in all their fascinating variety: air-cooled and liquid cooled; radial, in-line, and opposed; poppet valves and sleeve valves; diesel and spark-ignited; two-stroke and four-stroke. Some of these configurations were oddities and do not receive much coverage, but more common types, such as air-cooled radials, are extensively described and analyzed. With its extensive coverage and trenchant observations, A History of Aircraft Piston Engines belongs on the bookshelf of anyone with a serious interest in the history of aviation technology