1927 - Summer of Eagles
The Story of an Unforgettable Summer When a Courageous Group of Airmen Risked Their Lives in Unchartered Skies in Search of Gold and Glory
Huttig, Jack
Today transoceanic flights are so commonplace that it is hard for us to imagine what a challenge they were to the courageous pioneers who first attempted them. Modern technology has made what was once a thrilling (and often tragic) adventure into an exercise in boredom to be relieved by movies and cocktails. Thus, it is aspecial achievement that Jack Huttig has accomplished in recreating the excitement, indeed the hysteria, that surrounded the early flights, bringing to life the brief but shining time when a small group of airmen became the world's heroes; lionized worldwide if they succeeded and mourned worldwide if they failed.
While Charles A. Lindbergh was the most celebrated man of his time, there were many other air pioneers who have for too long been overshadowed by Lindbergh's flight to Paris. 1927 - Summer of Eagles emphasizes the characters, personalities, and highly competitive interrelationships of the airmen involved and presents their achievements in proper historical perspective.
Among the eagles of that fascinating summer were Clarence Chamberlin and the controversial millionaire Charles Levine who broke Lindy's distance record by crossing nearly 4,000 miles from New York to Germany, and then got lost less than a hundred miles from their goal, Berlin; Charles Nungesser and Francois Coli who tried to preempt Lindbergh's achievement by taking the more difficult western trip from Paris to New York and, like so many of their compatriots, were never seen again; the aristocratic explorer and inventor Richard E. Byrd who set no records with his Atlantic crossing, but did on his polar expeditions; and the intrepid competitors in the famous Dole race from California to Hawaii, half of whom never found their tiny target and were lost forever in the depths of the Pacific.
The glorious "Summer of Eagles" lasted from March until the end of September, 1927, when the steamer Nerissa brought the tattered remains of Bertrand, Hill, and Payne's Old Glory back to New York Harbor after its fatal crash off Newfoundland - one of the few cases in which any wreckage was ever found. It was a unique period in history when a few air pioneers with comparatively little financial backing risked everything on a dramatic bid for world fame. Anyone reading this exciting book can retrieve a glimpseof the undying glory ofthat magic summer's epic flights; vicariously share in moments of victory, defeat, and despair; and comprehend both the environment and the personal drives which mad.e these airmen among the most famous legends and martyrs of aviation history.
Softcover
147 Seiten / pages
many photos
good condition, however several pages loose
Chicago - 1980 - Nelson-Hall
Art.Nr. 25541
