When it comes to protagonists in the early history of aviation, Octave Chanute does not spring to mind perhaps so readily as the Wright brothers, who are generally accepted as being the pioneers who invented, built and flew the first motor-operated aeroplane.

Yet, as Simine Short observes at the start of her scholarly and highly readable ‘Flight Not Improbable: Octave Chanute and the Worldwide Race Toward Flight’ (Springer, £24.99, ISBN 9783031244308), it is something of an injustice that Chanute should not be as widely recognised today as he clearly once was. He was, after all, honoured with inclusion on the Frieze of American History that encircles the Rotunda of the United States Capitol.

The panorama depicts Chanute alongside no lesser luminaries than Leonardo da Vinci and the Wright brothers, sporting both his trademark goatee and model plane. Quite how the self-educated French immigrant earned his place on the American national artwork is but one...