xviii, 346 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates illustrations, map 24 cm
Type:
Biography
Biographies
History
Place:
United States
Date:
2023
Notes:
Purchased from S. Dillon Ripley Endowment
Contents:
Part I: The air service. The honeymoon special -- Willie -- The Western front -- Aftermath -- The flying parson -- Praeger -- "The greatest airplane race ever flown" -- Spaatz -- "Sure death if motor stops on the takeoff" -- Part II: The reliability test. "Interesting happenings" -- No parachutes -- "God's given children" -- "Snow hurricane" -- Rain -- Time and space -- Hungry hogs and a telegraph pole -- Spaatz vs. Kiel -- Salduro -- Hello Frisco! -- Roosevelt Field -- Part III: Triumph. Donaldson and Hartney -- "The man of a hundred wounds" -- Homeward bound -- A telegram from Omaha -- Buffalo -- The mechanic -- Victory -- Flying blind -- Three horses -- Part IV: Foundation. A sour parting -- The Woodrow Wilson Airway -- Epilogue -- 2019
Summary:
Reclaiming one of the most important moments in American aviation history, this incredible, untold story recounts the transcontinental air race of October 1919, which riveted a nation as the aviators pioneered the first coast-to-coast air route, despite much drama and tragedy
Lancaster recounts the incredible, untold story of the transcontinental air race of October 1919. The contest awakened Americans to the practical possibilities of flight-- and riveted the nation. Most of the pilots were veterans of World War I, flying DH-4s and Fokkers that were almost comically ill-suited for long distance travel. The aviators braved blizzards and mechanical failure, landing in cornfields or at the edges of cliffs. The race was a test of endurance that many pilots didn't finish because of exhaustion, mechanical failure-- or their deaths. -- adapted from jacket