The Big Jump Lindbergh and the Great Atlantic Air Race

by Bak, Richard

• ISBN13: 9780471477525
• ISBN10: 0471477524
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-07-26
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

The trans-Atlantic air race of 1927 and the flight that made Charles Lindbergh a hero The race to make the first nonstop flight between the New York and Paris attracted some of the most famous and seasoned aviators of the day, yet it was the young and lesser known Charles Lindbergh who won the $25,000 Orteig Prize in 1927 for his history-making solo flight in the Spirit of St. Louis. Drawing on many previously overlooked sources, Bak offers a fresh look at the personalities that made up this epic air race - a deadly competition that culminated in one of the twentieth century's most thrilling personal achievements and turned Charles Lindbergh into the first international hero of the modern age. Examines the extraordinary life and cultural impact of Charles Lindbergh, one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, and his legendary trans-Atlantic flight that captured the world's imagination Explores the romance of flying during aviation's Golden Age of the 1920s, the enduring mystique of the aviator, and rapid technological advances that made for a paradigm shift in human perception of the world Filled with colorful characters from early aviation history, including Charles Nungesser, Igor Sikorsky, Ren_ Fonck, Richard Byrd, and Paul Tarascon History and the imagination take flight in this gripping account of high-flying adventure, in which a group of courageous men tested the both limits of technology and the power of nature in pursuit of one of mankind's boldest dreams.

Author Biography

RICHARD BAK is a Detroit-based journalist and the author of twenty-five books, including Henry and Edsel: The Creation of the Ford Empire and Peach: Ty Cobb in His Time and Ours. He has received three ForeWord magazine Book-of-the-Year awards, the Stuart D. and Vernice M. Gross Prize for Literature, and two Emmys for his work as writer and coproducer of Stranded at the Corner, a feature-length documentary about the fight to save Detroit's Tiger Stadium.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	p. ix
Prologue: Instant Fame-or Flaming Gasoline	p. 1
"We've Come to Fly the Atlantic"	p. 6
"Where Does France Come In?"	p. 23
"The Ace with the Wooden Leg"	p. 35
The Fortune of the Air	p. 54
Slim	p. 80
Giuseppe, the Gypsy, and the Junk Man	p. 92
Revving Up	p. 101
Against the Prevailing Winds	p. 111
Come to Earth	p. 121
Little Silver Plane	p. 132
Paris au Printemps	p. 139
A Stout Heart Does Not Fear Death	p. 149
Limbo	p. 160
Hunting Dragons	p. 169
We Two	p. 184
"Vive l'Amérique!"	p. 205
"Lindbergh Is Our Elijah"	p. 218
Two More Across	p. 233
The Atlantic No Longer Exists	p. 246
Epilogue: Restless Spirits	p. 264
Notes	p. 274
Bibliography	p. 297
Index	p. 312
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