Audiobook10 hours
The Great Air Race: Glory, Tragedy, and the Dawn of American Aviation
Written by John Lancaster
Narrated by Jonathan Todd Ross
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
()
About this audiobook
The incredible, untold story of the men who risked their lives in the first transcontinental air contest-and put American aviation on the map.
The Great Air Race reclaims one of the most important moments in the history of American aviation: the transcontinental air race of October 1919 that saw scores of pilots compete for the fastest roundtrip time between New York and San Francisco in frail, open-cockpit biplanes. Riveting the nation, the aviators-most of them veterans of the Great War-pioneered the first coast-to-coast air route, braving blizzards and driving rain as they landed in fields or at the edges of cliffs. Bringing the pilots and the race's impresario, Billy Mitchell, to vivid life, journalist and amateur pilot John Lancaster captures the challenges of flying in that almost prehistoric age-the deafening roar of the engine, the constant fear of mechanical failure, the threat posed by mere rain. As he demonstrates, the race, despite much drama and tragedy, was a milestone in the development of commercial aviation. The Great Air Race is a captivating story of man and machine, and the debut of a major new popular historian.
The Great Air Race reclaims one of the most important moments in the history of American aviation: the transcontinental air race of October 1919 that saw scores of pilots compete for the fastest roundtrip time between New York and San Francisco in frail, open-cockpit biplanes. Riveting the nation, the aviators-most of them veterans of the Great War-pioneered the first coast-to-coast air route, braving blizzards and driving rain as they landed in fields or at the edges of cliffs. Bringing the pilots and the race's impresario, Billy Mitchell, to vivid life, journalist and amateur pilot John Lancaster captures the challenges of flying in that almost prehistoric age-the deafening roar of the engine, the constant fear of mechanical failure, the threat posed by mere rain. As he demonstrates, the race, despite much drama and tragedy, was a milestone in the development of commercial aviation. The Great Air Race is a captivating story of man and machine, and the debut of a major new popular historian.
Related to The Great Air Race
Related audiobooks
Black Snow: Curtis LeMay, the Firebombing of Tokyo, and the Road to the Atomic Bomb Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mercury Rising: John Glenn, John Kennedy, and the New Battleground of the Cold War Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Flight: Charles Lindbergh's Daring and Immortal 1927 Transatlantic Crossing Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A Ball, a Dog, and a Monkey: 1957---The Space Race Begins Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5His Majesty's Airship: The Life and Tragic Death of the World's Largest Flying Machine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Blackett's War: The Men Who Defeated the Nazi U-boats and Brought Science to the Art of Warfare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tiger in the Sea: The Ditching of Flying Tiger 923 and the Desperate Struggle for Survival Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Watchdog: How the Truman Committee Battled Corruption and Helped Win World War Two Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The War for the Seas: A Maritime History of World War II Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Freedom's Forge: How American Business Produced Victory in World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pan Am at War: How the Airline Secretly Helped America Fight World War II Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Importance of Not Being Ernest: A Writing Life with an Uninvited Guest Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAcross the Airless Wilds: The Lunar Rover and the Triumph of the Final Moon Landings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The New Guys: The Historic Class of Astronauts That Broke Barriers and Changed the Face of Space Travel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wanderlust: An Eccentric Explorer, an Epic Journey, a Lost Age Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pentagon: A History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Heavy Metal: The Hard Days and Nights of the Shipyard Workers Who Build America's Supercarriers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Last Man On the Moon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Hidden Hindenburg: The Untold Story of the Tragedy, the Nazi Secrets, and the Quest to Rule the Skies Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars: The Story of the First American Woman to Command a Space Mission Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ultimate Engineer: The Remarkable Life of NASA's Visionary Leader George M. Low Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Burning Blue: The Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA's Challenger Disaster Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
United States History For You
The House of Hidden Meanings: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cuba (Winner of the Pulitzer Prize): An American History Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Ghosts of Honolulu: A Japanese Spy, A Japanese American Spy Hunter, and the Untold Story of Pearl Harbor Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing the Witches: The Horror of Salem, Massachusetts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How to Hide an Empire: A History of the Greater United States Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Untold History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Waco: David Koresh, the Branch Davidians, and A Legacy of Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vanderbilt: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing the Guys Who Killed the Guy Who Killed Lincoln: A Nutty Story About Edwin Booth and Boston Corbett Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Indifferent Stars Above: The Harrowing Saga of the Donner Party Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Master Slave Husband Wife: An Epic Journey from Slavery to Freedom Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Teacher Told Me: 2nd Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Up From Slavery Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How the South Won the Civil War: Oligarchy, Democracy, and the Continuing Fight for the Soul of America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon to Understand the Soul of a Nation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis Thomas Jefferson And The Opening Of The American West Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5UFO: The Inside Story of the US Government's Search for Alien Life Here—and Out There Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Land of Delusion: Out on the edge with the crackpots and conspiracy-mongers remaking our shared reality Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Book of Charlie Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Nations: A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Wright Brothers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5John Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for The Great Air Race
Rating: 0 out of 5 stars
0 ratings
0 ratings0 reviews