“A new type of carburetor had been installed on the engines with its floats on backward, 
so that the fuel was cut off every time the plane tilted up.”

The hair-raising first flight of the Douglas DC-1, Invention & Technology, Fall 1988

“It is the consensus of scientific opinion that the balloon in any form is only a toy, except for special and limited purposes, most of them involving attachment to the earth by means of a cable...”

New York Times editorial, Oct.20, 1900

“Place a ladder, thirty feet long, upon an inclination so that one end shall be ten feet higher, and imagine a locomotive creeping up its course; you then have a semblance to the White Mountain Railway.”

"The Mount Washington Railway," Manufacturer & Builder, January, 1873

"...all doubts as to the feasibility of aerial navigation by heavier-than-air machines have been put at rest."

Dr. Alexander Graham Bell, President of the Aerial Experiment Association, 
New York Times, July 4, 1908

"...the vessel throbs like a strong giant that has just received the breath of life; the two great wheels turn fiercely round for the first time; and the noble ship, with wind and tide astern, breaks proudly through the lashed and foaming water."       - American Notes, Charles Dickens, 1842

"With a long plume of smoke belching from its trailing-edge the little aircraft raced along for five minutes and then glided gently down."

MX-324 described in FLIGHT, April 17, 1947, p.335

"It is proposed to deliver letters sent out from New York 24 hours later in San Francisco...Present 
railway schedules require about six days in which to make deliveries across the continent." 

"Air Mail Service," The Miami News, June 28, 1924

"The airmail service passed the experimental stage long ago. Infinitely faster than 
the train mail service, it is rated just as safe by the government..."

"Real Airmail Service Here At Last." The Pittsburgh Press - Apr 20, 1927

"Count Zeppelin will celebrate his seventy-fifth birthday on Tuesday by steering his 
twentieth airship on her maiden flight." 

"Zeppelin is 75 Tuesday" The New York Times, July 6, 1913

"Part of the [return] cargo of the Deutschland will be 3,000 bottles of Pennsylvania beer. Is not intended entirely as an importation, though some of it may survive the trip across."

The New York Times, July 24, 1916

"The swift, silver Lockheed monoplane that Hughes had whipped off Floyd Bennett Field for Paris a little over four days earlier, was the most foolproof private plane that ever flew."

"Transport: Sure Thing."  TIME, Jul. 25, 1938

"...for all the fuss that was made over the event it might as well have been the launching 
of the thousandth Eagle as the first."

"First Eagle Boat Launched by Ford," New York Times, Jul. 12, 1918

"During boom refueling operations, fuel is transferred to the receiver at a maximum rate of 1,100 gallons (4,180 liters) per minute; the hose and drogue refueling max. rate is 470 gallons (1,786 liters) per minute."

U.S. Air Force Fact Sheet: KC-10 Extender

"...our principal occupation is to stand and watch the cable entering the water 
so quietly and silently, I trust never to be seen again."

Sir Daniel Gooch aboard the steamer Great Eastern, July 14, 1866

"Two steel plates weighing thirteen tons each clicked together with the precision of a watch case here today and so was laid the keel of what will be the world's largest airplane carrier two and a half years hence."

"Keel Laid for U. S. Supercarrier,"  New York Times, Jul. 14, 1952

"As the sun set, a broad stream of golden light was thrown across the smooth billows toward their bows, 
as if to indicate and illumine the path marked out by the hand of heaven."

London Times correspondent Wm. H. Russell aboard the Great Eastern

"Flying at 1,000 miles an hour doesn't feel as fast as driving seventy miles an hour down a turnpike; 
in fact, it's more like sitting inside an I.B.M. calculator."

"Supersonic Champion; John Hershall Glenn Jr."  New York Times, Jul. 15, 1957

"Flying was such a novelty at that time that nine-tenths of the people who came to watch the preparations were sceptical while others declared that 'that thing won't fly, so what's the use of waiting 'round.' "

Glenn Curtiss describes his July 17th flight in The Curtiss Aviation Book, 1912

"When that baby lights, there's no doubt about it!"

Astronaut John Young describes the use of the coupled Agena Target Vehicle for extra propulsion
"Fattening the Record books." TIME, July 29, 1966

"When anchored in the [Thames] river she was crowded with visitors, who, according to the newspapers of the day, were astonished at her 'magnificent proportions and 'stupendous machinery.' "

Isambard Brunel Jr. describes the Great Western in his father's biography (1870)

"The achievements of Apollo were so bold and our subsequent efforts so timid that the energy 
of those years seems like a youthful dream.”

Words attributed to Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin

"The company owning the Savannah had despatched her to St. Petersburgh with the expectation of selling her to the Emperor, but in this they were disappointed, and the ship returned to America."

"A Reminiscence of the First Ocean Steamer."  Scientific American, Oct. 14, 1854

"This is the technological key that unlocked America's access to the world."

Cmdr. Michael Beck, USS Constitution's 64th commanding officer, describes the diagonal riders transferring the weight of the guns on the upper decks down to the ship's keel,  Inv. & Tech, Fall 1997

"Her immense spread of sail on her lofty masts presented a fine sight."

H.M.S. "Victory" -  Will's Cigarette card, Celebrated Ships No. 11, undated

"Three-fourths of the [polar expedition's] cost is being borne by foreign scientific bodies...the remainder by stamp collectors."

"Graf Flies North" TIME, Aug. 03, 1931

"I came in contact with the ground sooner than I expected. Both the machine and myself 
were badly shaken."

Louis Blériot describes his landing at Dover. New York Times, July 26, 1909.

"Tucked away in the side of Falcon, the collapsible, 10-ft.-long jumble of aluminum tubing, wire and rods might easily be mistaken for a Rube Goldbergian version of an old-fashioned foldaway Murphy bed."

"Roving the Moon" TIME, Jul. 26, 1971

"Complimentary greetings have passed through the Atlantic Cable, between the Queen and the Canadian Government. One of the messages took only eleven minutes to pass from Newfoundland to London."

"The Atlantic Telegraph" New York Times, Aug. 4, 1866

"While the Boeing's fuselage is designed to carry bomb-racks, it would need 
but slight modification to become a commercial airliner."

"Transport: 299"  TIME, July 15, 1935

"Every winter since the War a fleet of Finnish, Swedish and German windjammers has set out for Britain from Australia, scupper-deep with Australian wheat. They call it the 'grain race.' "

"Australia: Grain Race"  TIME,  June 05, 1933

"The P-8A Poseidon will equip the US Navy with the most advanced multi-mission maritime patrol 
and reconnaissance aircraft in the world."

Jim Albaugh, president and CEO of Boeing Integrated Defence Systems, July 30, 2009

"We call the masts fore, main, middle, Laeisz (owner's name) and mizzen masts..."

Captain R.R. Petersen of the windjammer Preussen settles a dispute over the names of the five masts 
while moored at Pier 3 in Brooklyn.  New York Times, April 15, 1908