Title:
The great air race : glory, tragedy, and the dawn of American aviation / John Lancaster.
ISBN:
9781631496370
Personal Author:
Edition:
First edition.
Publication Information:
New York, N.Y. : Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company, 2023.
©2023
Physical Description:
xviii, 346 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 24 cm
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:
"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.
Genre:
OCLC Number:
on1349861775
Availability:
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