Air Atlantic
A History of Civil and Military Transatlantic Flying
Wykes, Alan
First Edition
At a time when manned flight to the moon is imminent, it is worth recalling that as short a time ago as 1909 the New York Times and the Daily Telegraph jointly sponsored the first trans-Atlantic flight. Ten more years were to pass before "the old pond" was conquered. Alan Wykes recounts the saga of the creation of the air link between the new and the old worlds from the early hilarious efforts of Walter Wellman and his polar airship America (a lifeboat slung below provided "parlour, smoking-room and dormitory") to the valorous endeavours after the First World War and the secure and restful sub-sonic six-hour crossings of the present day when short-lived tedium seems to be the only enerny.
Alan Wykes excercises his discerning skill for uncovering the bizarre and downright funny. His accounts of trans-Atlantic air travel when there were twice as many crew as passengers, when you could personally praise the chef for your four-course dinner, and stroll at will from lounge to lounge - decorated by Somerset Maugham's wife for a fee of $7500 - is wonderfully evocative. But his history also includes many occasions of drama and several of tragedy: "the silent valhalla" of the Hindenburg's flaming death in 1937, for example.
For the reclining jet passenger of 1967 nothing could be more entertaining - and reassuring - than this splendidly illustrated history by the author of Snake Man and Nimrod Smith.
Hardcover
210 Seiten / pages
photos
ex library copy, some damage to spine (label removed)
London - 1967 - Hamish Hamilton
Art.Nr. 574
