The Greatest Flying Stories Ever Told, edited by Lamar Underwood, is a bit like texting old friends—no real depth but it might kindle a desire for a longer visit.
High Point: Excerpts from two Ernest K. Gann classics
Low Point: Concluding the book with a section on catastrophic crashes
Editor: Lamar Underwood
Publication Date: 2002
Genre: Aviation
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The Greatest Flying Stories Ever Told, edited by Lamar Underwood, is a bit like texting old friends—no real depth, but it might kindle a desire for a longer visit.
This aviation anthology is a mix of excerpts from classic novels, memoirs and histories. Several are from popular books many of us have already read.
The better of the bunch includes snippets from old favorites—almost mandatory reading for pilots or those interested in flying: “The Spirit of St. Louis” by Charles Lindberg; “West With The Night” by Beryl Markham; “Yeager” by Chuck Yeager; and “The Right Stuff” by Tom Wolfe.
The real gold may be a couple selections from the king of aviation writers, Ernest K. Gann: “Island in the Sky” and “Fate is the Hunter.” Both pieces are conspicuous for their sense of realism and adventure.
A few of Underwood’s picks are forgettable. Yet two pieces from anonymous or relatively unknown writers stand out. “An Airman’s Letter To His Mother” by an unknown RAF pilot is particularly poignant—especially after you learn the writer was listed as missing and believed killed shortly after posting the letter.
And “Fire and Rain” by American journalist Jerome Greer Chandler is intense. It’s about the Delta Flight 191 crash at Dallas-Fort Worth in 1985. It’s presented in clinical fashion and offered as a lesson learned, but you can feel the pressure build as you walk through events leading to the accident.
Underwood made a curious choice, though, by concluding The Greatest Flying Stories Ever Told with a section focused on catastrophic crashes. Two of the three excerpts are stellar, but one is simply macabre voyeurism. It shouldn’t have been included in the book, let alone as part of the collection’s wrap-up.
Despite its inconsistencies, The Greatest Flying Stories Ever Told is worth a read even if it doesn’t always live up to its title. Use it as a springboard into the aviation classics you haven’t visited in awhile.
Quotes
| “When old men decided to barter young men for pride and profit, the transaction was called war.” —-From “Eleven Declarations of War” by Len Deighton |
Movie/TV Adaptation
The Greatest Flying Stories Ever Told includes excerpts from several books on which movies were based: Island in the Sky (1953) The Spirit of St. Louis (1957); Fate is the Hunter (1964) The Right Stuff (1983); Fire and Rain (1989).
Sources For This Book
Free eBook (Project Gutenberg): Not available
Free Audiobook (LibriVox): Not available
Available to Purchase: AbeBooks, Biblio, Thriftbooks
