First World Flight [Hardcover]

Spencer Lane (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 17, 2001

In 1924, three years before Lindbergh flew to Paris, four young army airmen answered the call of General Billy Mitchell to save U.S. aviation from destruction by the politicians by winning the race with a dozen other nations to make the first flight around the world. In primitive open-cockpit biplanes powered by unreliable engines and few airfields, they were given little chance of success or even survival. This is the untold epic story of American patriotism, valor, and can-do ingenuity which triumphed over adversity and led to aviation dominance for the balance of the Century -- and the forgotten heroes that made it happen. Over 15 years of research, including the first access ever to the private Donald Douglas collection of Aviation memorabilia including worldwide newspaper accounts, diaries and logs of the aviators, have gone into the writing of this remarkable story.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Two of the most fascinating stories in the history of American aviation are intertwined. Both are little known. One, the first flight around the world is a gripping story of incredible courage, determination and endurance. It is a significant part of our aviation history that few American know about. The second is the story of General Billy Mitchell, a World War 1 flying hero and arguably the the most far-sighted officer ever to serve in the armed forces. Spencer Lane, an accomplished pilot, has spent 15 years researching both of these stories and has written a book, not only rich in aviation history, but riveting in its account of both stories. His book, First World Flight - The Odyssey of Billy Mitchell, is the first detailed account of the first flight around the world, and an in-depth analysis of one of the most extraordinary men who ever wore a U.S. uniform. The flight began in Seattle. Early on, Major Frederick Martin, the flight leader, and his mechanic Alva Harvey, were flying through a Mountain pass in Alaska, when a blinding snowstorm obscured their visibility and they crashed. They were presumed dead, but ten days later they, weak and exhausted, the pair stumbled upon a group of Native Americans and were miraculously rescued. Their compatriots flew on encountering every type of adversity imaginable. They flew through freezing weather, in their open cockpit airplanes battling typhoons, monsoons, sandstorms and 20 foot waves. They flew around towering icebergs under low ceilings. In the course of the flight they suffered broken oil lines, exploding cylinders, blown engines and damaged pontoons. The fliers landed back in Seattle on Sept. 28, 1924 after a trip of almost 6 months. They had covered 26,445 miles in 363 hours and seven minutes. That was three years before Lindbergh's crossing of the Atlantic. All of their competitors had crashed and the two aircraft that completed the flight became the first to fly around the world. Lane's "First World Flight" is a marvelous account of two significant events in U.S. Military history, an engrossing and suspenseful telling of what was the most extraordinary flight in aviation history and a revealing insight into the effects bureaucracy and political correctness can have on the nation's preparedness. It is a highly recommended absorbing work that will stay with you long after you have put the book down. --Jack Elliott - N.J. Sunday Star Ledger

Spencer Lane's First World Flight is the story of two odysseys. One odyssey is Billy Mitchell's and Lane ably relates the genuinely heroic accomplishments of Mitchell's early military career, as a member of the signal corps, and later, in World War 1 flying borrowed French planes fearlessly of the sinuous front lines, spotting for artillery and gathering intelligence for the use of the American Military. Through Lane, one gets the impression of Mitchell as a forceful, ambitious, tireless military machine, always thinking, always right, always frustrated with the lack of support from the [powers that be. In the environment of of World War 1, watching from the air, as the youth of Europe and America hurled themselves at each other, only to be cut to pieces by artillery fire, it must have been very frustrating to know that it didn't have to be that way, that air power was the way out of the deadlock. Where Lane, and First World Flight really shines is in his detailed descriptions of the other "odyssey, the flight around the world of three rather large Biplanes, flown by Army personnell. The background to the flight is interwoven with Mitchell's history, appropriate as he saw the World Flight as a way to galvanize support behind air power in general, and the idea of a separate Air Service specifically. During the flight, Mitchell was on a tour of Pacific military installations, but his mark was on all aspects of the flight, as he was instrumental in the choice of aircraft, the route, and had introduced many of the people undertaking the mission into the Army Air Service. Spencer Lane makes all this real. First world Flight draws you in to the point where you'll be staying up late to finish it (as I did). The airmen had so many close calls with navigation, mountain crashes, diplomatic difficulties in Japan, and the unreliability of their Liberty modular engines (none of which ever operated for more than 50 hours without replacement), it seems like a miracle that any of them survived. By the time the aviators get back across the Atlantic and onto the relatively safe ground of North America, you'll be rooting for their success. Highly recommended. --Pageclot - EPINIONS.COM

The book First World Flight is really a twofer. It's at least as much of a biography of the late General Billy Mitchell as it is about the first ever completed flight around the world. Mitchell was the youngest person ever promoted to flag rank, doubtless a genius, but too far ahead of his time, and too outspoken a critic of his seniors, to survive the inevitable backlash from those he embarrassed. He conceived and organized the 1924 flight around the world as a continuation of his efforts to convince his superiors of the value of airborne strategic elements. The demonstrations of precision tactical bombing in 1921 and 1923 had failed to accomplish this objective, and indeed his outspoken advocacy had antagonized most of the policy-makers. The book is a fascinating, somewhat novelized but historically accurate, account of the flight and its personnel carrying it out against the background of aviation's level of development at the time, and of Mitchell's ongoing fights to bring about the creation of an independent air service similar to that which he had helped convince the British to do during World War 1. It was deliberately planned to outdo the Navy's central Atlantic crossing with the Navy's Curtiss flying boats in 1919, but using land planes convertible to alight on water by adding pontoons. The flight would be against the prevailing winds, from east to west, making various landfalls along a mainly northerly route - in fact the Atlantic leg was similar to that used by by Lindbergh three years later, but with stops in Iceland and Greenland. Though it entailed no loss of U.S. lives, the six month expedition completed by two of the original four starting craft, with a third non-production prototype replacing one of the two wrecked, convinced very few that routine long-range, over-water operations were practical at the time with existing technology. Moreover, it was hard to see the immediate direct relevance of the project to the creation of an independent air force. Unpopular and derided as his views were, the book makes the point largely forgotten today, that the personal comments Mitchell made publicly about those he regarded as responsible for the lack of preparedness for attack from Japan against Hawaii and the Philippines was really the leading cause of his 1925 court-martial and dismissal. Hindsight, enlightened by events of the succeeding two decades, of course completely vindicated him, and in 1946 President Truman awarded him posthumously the Medal of Honor. The book contains two prefaces, one by the President of the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, the other by the founder of the Experimental Aircraft Association, the most influential of Aviation's advocacy groups. These together say all that can be said about the interest and value of this book to those valuing the history of aviation's development. I think it will be fascinating and instructive to the general reader. So far as I can determine from my own considerable library on the subject, it is factually accurate, and I recommend it highly. --Andrew Smith - Lebanon MO Daily Record

About the Author

Historian Spencer Lane has flown 10,000 hours over much of the world in aircraft ranging from biplanes to jets and holds Airline Transport and Commercial Pilot Licenses. He made the first recorded unrefueled turboprop crossing of the U.S. and set new transcontinental speed records in single and multi-engine aircraft. He participates in international air races and rallies and is an active member of AOPA, EAA, and the NAA.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 498 pages
• Publisher: U S Press (September 17, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0971011001
• ISBN-13: 978-0971011007
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,656,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best book I ever read, January 30, 2011

By 

John Purner "John Purner" (Longwood, FL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: First World Flight (Hardcover)

I am a pilot. When I am not in an airplane I like to read about airplanes and the people who fly them. This book deliveries on those counts as I suspected it would. The huge reward and great surprise was the amazing craftsmanship of the author. Spencer Lane says more in a sentence than most others can say in a chapter and says it in a way that makes you pause for a meditative moment. His use of language is surpassed only by Shakespeare. If you admire good writing and are charmed by the telling of a great story don't pass up this book. Once you've read it, loan it to a friend but make certain to get it back as you'll want to read it more than once.

Thank you Spencer for opening my eyes to what good writing is all about - a good story well told.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A man helped foster a new era in American aviation history, November 10, 2001

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: First World Flight (Hardcover)

Early American pilot Billy Mitchell's accomplishments don't end with a single flight: he assembled the world's largest air armada and led it to victory during the first World War, among many other achievements. He was a general who believed only successful world flight could save the American Air Force from destruction by politicians, and he helped foster a new era in American aviation history, almost single-handedly. First World Flight is his story. Highly recommended.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Avation's Role in Shaping American History, May 2, 2002

By 

Alison Seropian (North Haven, CT United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: First World Flight (Hardcover)

First World Flight tells the tale of Billy Mitchell, aviation pioneer and military hero who orchestrates the first flight around the world to promote the role of aviation in the United States. Author Spencer Lane steps into the shoes of the brave pilots who persevered to make the dream of flight a reality. Aviation, history, and war buffs will particularly enjoy this story of bravery, dedication and the will to succeed.