Tom D. Crouch

Beginning in 1998, Crouch has served as the Senior Curator of the Division of Aeronautics at the National Air and Space Museum. A Smithsonian employee since 1974, he has served both the National Air and Space Museum (NASM) and the National Museum of American History (NMAH) in curatorial and administrative posts. (1973-1974).He is the author or editor of more than 18 books and over 100 articles for both popular magazines and scholarly journals. Most of his work has been on aspects of the history of flight and flight technology. Crouch has won a number of major writing awards including: the history book prizes offered by both the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Aviation/Space Writers Association; the Christopher Award (1989)for The Bishop's Boys: A Life of Wilbur and Orville Wright; the Gardner-Lasser Literature Prize, 2005; and the AIAA for Wings: A History of Aviation From Kites to the Space Age.

Articles by this Author

Has Amelia's Plane Been Found?, Summer 2012 | Vol. 62, No. 2

Seventy-five years ago, the "first lady of the air" vanished over the Pacific Ocean while attempting to circumnavigate the globe. Today, there may be renewed hope of solving the mystery.

“A Machine of Practical Utility”, Winter 2010 | Vol. 59, No. 4

While lauded for their 1903 flight, the Wright brothers were not convinced of their airplane’s reliability to sustain long, controlled flights until October 1905.

Airplane, October 2003 | Vol. 54, No. 5

The First Season at Kitty Hawk, April 1988 | Vol. 39, No. 3

What the Wright brothers did in a wild and distant place made its name famous around the world. Their biographer visits the Outer Banks to find what remains of the epochal outpost.

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