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2 reviews for:
Mavericks of the Sky: The First Daring Pilots of the U.S. Air Mail
Catherine Macaulay, Barry Rosenberg
3.0 AVERAGE
2 reviews for:
Mavericks of the Sky: The First Daring Pilots of the U.S. Air Mail
Catherine Macaulay, Barry Rosenberg
3.0 AVERAGE
Too much data to cover in a review. If you have an interest in early (WWI-and-forward) aviation, enjoy learning about the precursor to modern technologies, or just learning about logistics, then this will be enjoyable.
The head of transportation for the Post Office made it his mission to have viable airmail service up and running within DAYS (yes, days) of being tasked with it. He did it - technically. Like many great feats of engineering, there are asterisks next to the accomplishment. Did we get mail from DC to Chicago? YES! Did it take us 4 days and two planes, when a train takes about 16 hours to get there? Well, yeah, but we proved the concept. And when they beat the trains from, say, DC to NYC, it was a matter of an hour, and at significantly greater logistical cost (find a working plane that's fueled, get a pilot, hope the weather is clear all the way, dont get lost, hope the landing goes smoothly, and then drive the letter an hour into Manhattan from the airfield, while the train just stops right at Penn Station).
So this is not so much beating the train, but rather proving it could be done. The author is very neutral in his history, not painting the overzealous, uncompassionate, and stubbon head of transportation as simply "a driven man." No, assholes are assholes.
One aspect I had not considered before is that, at the start of probably just about any Federal program, there must be trailblazers. Rangers to, well, blaze trails, diggers to undertake giant waterworks projects, and (in this case) the best-of-the-best WWI pilots and aces to fly what would eventually amount to be a paper route. Seeing the metamorphosis from cowboys on horses to guys in little white trucks was eye-opening.
The head of transportation for the Post Office made it his mission to have viable airmail service up and running within DAYS (yes, days) of being tasked with it. He did it - technically. Like many great feats of engineering, there are asterisks next to the accomplishment. Did we get mail from DC to Chicago? YES! Did it take us 4 days and two planes, when a train takes about 16 hours to get there? Well, yeah, but we proved the concept. And when they beat the trains from, say, DC to NYC, it was a matter of an hour, and at significantly greater logistical cost (find a working plane that's fueled, get a pilot, hope the weather is clear all the way, dont get lost, hope the landing goes smoothly, and then drive the letter an hour into Manhattan from the airfield, while the train just stops right at Penn Station).
So this is not so much beating the train, but rather proving it could be done. The author is very neutral in his history, not painting the overzealous, uncompassionate, and stubbon head of transportation as simply "a driven man." No, assholes are assholes.
One aspect I had not considered before is that, at the start of probably just about any Federal program, there must be trailblazers. Rangers to, well, blaze trails, diggers to undertake giant waterworks projects, and (in this case) the best-of-the-best WWI pilots and aces to fly what would eventually amount to be a paper route. Seeing the metamorphosis from cowboys on horses to guys in little white trucks was eye-opening.
A solid read about the launch of the US Air Mail service and some of its early successes and failures. The service was started during WWI as a way to train pilots before sending them off to fly in the war, and to prove the viability of air mail as a service.
There's a lot of discussion of the big moments - the first day of DC-PHI-NYC flights, the expansion to include NYC-CHI and the eventual launch of a cross-country service. There's also a lot of discussion of the political side of things, and how the service was supported (or not) by various politicians and administrations. There are some stories of the pilots themselves and some recounting of some of the more harrowing flights thrown in as well.
The logistics of setting up the routes themselves was probably the most interesting, along with the flights themselves.
There's a lot of discussion of the big moments - the first day of DC-PHI-NYC flights, the expansion to include NYC-CHI and the eventual launch of a cross-country service. There's also a lot of discussion of the political side of things, and how the service was supported (or not) by various politicians and administrations. There are some stories of the pilots themselves and some recounting of some of the more harrowing flights thrown in as well.
The logistics of setting up the routes themselves was probably the most interesting, along with the flights themselves.