More books have arrived at the Early Days Biplanes headquarters! Somewhat surprisingly, Half Price Books is where a lot of our books find themselves before being stashed on the shelves of our ever-growing library. The recent haul included the Spirit of St Louis Workshop Manual and The American Heritage History of Flight, two pieces that I believe will serve well for our research. The Spirit of St Louis Workshop Manual resumes the theme of a book I read before my current book titled Oceans, Poles, and Airmen, a book about the daring men of the exploration days of aviation such as Lindbergh himself, Italian General Umberto Nobile during his dirigible flights to the north pole, his brave crew on the Norge and Italia expeditions, the shenanigans of Charles Levine, the bravery of Clearance Chamberlain and the numerous other aviators to attempt and achieve the Atlantic crossing by air, and the questionable acts of the famous Richard Byrd among numerous other flying events including the Dole Aerial Derby.
In my opinion, Byrd’s actions from his North Pole trip onwards were indeed controversial due to the suspicious nature in which he defended the journeys and acted throughout each, even causing internal strife amongst the crew of his first Antarctic expedition. When Bernt Balchen, a member of that first Antarctic expedition, was still figuring the mathematics of Byrd’s northern pole flight with Floyd Bennett, Byrd responded by saying “God damn you, who asked you to go into that? You’re not going to do anything of the kind! Just cut that out. It’s none of your damned business. Lay off the whole thing or you’re going to find yourself in trouble.” [Montague 1971, p.257] From the aviation layman’s viewpoint, that quote along with many others from that Antarctic trip are very puzzling and raise numerous questions as to Byrd’s trustworthiness and reliability as an explorer.
There is no question as to the bravery of these aviation pioneers, although it’s interesting to note the mild theatrics that ensued behind the media curtain of most of these golden aged flying events. Montague does an outstanding job of describing these as he was a media reporter at the time of these events and, in many cases, was present at their outset. These quotes along with many others were fundamental in constructing a further understanding of the multitude of early aviation adventures and I believe they will have the same impression on you. I cannot suggest Oceans, Poles, and Airmen enough as an addition to your library and wealth of aviation history knowledge. I am sure I will have the same opinion of my newest additions as I believe they will contribute nicely to my research of aviation’s beginnings.
BOOKS MENTIONED:
-Oceans, Poles, and Airmen
-Spirit of St Louis Workshop Manual
-The American Heritage History of Flight
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