Great Aviators and Epic Flights

Adding to the growing collection of books celebrating 100 years of flight, Hardesty, in cooperation with the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, focuses on pioneers of the skies. The more than 350 color and black-and-white photos and illustrations show close-up shots of the famous Wright Flyer and the Wright Brothers in various stages of flight; a smiling Amelia Earhart standing next to a 1936 Ford convertible and her Lockheed Electra 10E a year before her ill-fated flight; a proud Louis Bleriot after becoming the first man to fly across the English channel in 1909; and Amy Johnson, who, in 1930 flew from London to Australia in 19 days. A two-page spread of the globe maps these and other historic flights and rescues. While glorifying the flying greats, the author doesn't shy from the disasters, such as the crash of the Hindenburg, in a chapter on zeppelins, or on the Allied bombing of Japan (he includes aerial footage of a devastated Nagasaki). Hardesty does include flying feats that, while they may be minor in terms of distance, are great in terms of humanity. In the chapter subtitled ""Flying Against Prejudice,"" he discusses black pilots such as James Herman Banning, who, along with a few other black flyers, obtained a pilot's license in the late 1920s. (June)