Customer Reviews

Lincoln Beachey: The Man Who Owned the Sky

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Frank Marrero made some serious mistakes, the most grievous of which was trusting the 1953 article about Lincoln Beachey which appeared in TRUE magazine. The "book-length feature," as TRUE touted it, was written by Air Force Colonel Hans Christian Adamson, and was replete with errors, invented dialogue, and fantasized facts. Mr. Marrero's book, written in a decidedly "popular" style, is thin on informative source-notes, indeed the first chapter has no source notes whatsoever. A photo purporting to depict Beachey's fiancé is rather mysteriously credited to "a relative of Miss Walton."

Mr. Marrero felt compelled, with apparently no hard evidence, to say the following about Lincoln Beachey's wife and marriage: "Then, very hastily, in a rash naivete of youth, Lincoln married the buxon May (Minnie) Wyatt. He soon learned to regret his impulsiveness. They made a go of it for a while, but Minnie showed herself to be more of a gold-digger than a wife. Yet Lincoln was not unhappy: from his newfound sexual experiences he learned a different form of flying." In fact, the evidence is that Mrs. Beachey loved her husband deeply until the day he died and far from being a "gold-digger" worked side-by-side with him as a partner for most of their marriage.

There are other, perhaps more serious, problems with the book. A photo on page 154 is said to be of Beachey flying over Mt. Tamalpais in California. The photo is, in fact, of Weldon Cooke, taken on December 19, 1911, and appears to have copied from the cover of the January 1912 issue of Aeronautics magazine. The magazine clearly identified Cooke as the aviator, while the image in Mr. Marrero's book appears to have been cropped to edit out the identifying text.

Mr. Marrero has produced neither a biography of Beachey nor a history, but compilation of errors, legends and myths. The writer of this review has been working on a serious biography of Beachey for many years, so these comments could be discounted simply as biased. However, in reciting press releases and invented dialogue and drawing on erroneous material produced without the benefit of serious research, Mr. Marrero has failed to grasp the larger significance of Beachey's life; Beachey deserved better. C. F. Gray enkedu@aol.com

While previous reviewers may dispute some of the facts recited, it remains that this is a great read about a man whose accomplishments deserve to be remembered. Indeed, a list of his feats would shame many of the more well-remembered aviators whose fame was based more upon subsequent movies than fact.

For instance: Beachey flew upside-down around the Washington Monument, buzzed the Capitol Building until Congress adjourned to see what was happening, and then landed on the White House lawn to meet Mrs. Teddy Roosevelt. It served his purpose perfectly as a lead in to his words to Congress "If I had had a bomb you'de be dead." He was an ardent supporter of aviation as a national defense tool and worked to prove it his whole life.

Mr. Marrero does not purport to offer a scholarly work, nor does he intend that this be a benchmark. Instead, we have a long-overdue refresher of what should never have been forgotten.

I enjoyed the book I borrowed sufficiently that I bought my own copy for my collection. And while I would not put it on the same literary level as, say, Hemmingway (hence only an 8), I would recommend it to anyone.

Frank Marrero writes from his heart, and that is a truly valuable quality in any historian. I learned about an admirable and legendary man, in a field at which I wouldn't have looked twice if it weren't for Mr. Marrero's folklorish and mythical style of writing. Beachey does indeed deserve such love and praise. I hope many more people research and write about him, and such writings would in no way take away from Mr. Marrero's devoted tribute.

It is exciting whenever anyone unearths a buried treasure and shares it with the world. Frank Marrero has done just that. Lincoln Beachey, the man who was key in starting the U.S. Air Force, is now deservedly on center stage.

This exciting and fast-paced read is informative, educational, and even surprising. This is a peak into the past that will delight anyone, whether or not they have any interest in aviation.

From the pages of forgotten history, Marrero's well-researched and well-written story of Lincoln Beachey restores an important and illuminatiing chapter. Before reading this book, I thought I had a good working knowledge of the history of early aviatiion, and yet I had never heard of Lincoln Beachey, arguably the single most important force in the history of early aviation, and by far the most famous in his own day of any aviator before or since.

The high esteem in which Mr. Marrero holds his subject shows in the care with which he gives life to the man as well as to his fabulous story. Marrero's book returns Beachey to the America public -- and so will the inevitable movie.

No Aviation or US History buff should let this book get by: it is literally the only book (so far) on the subject. It's also a damn good read! Marrero can tell a story

Marrero has provided a measure of fame to Beachey that was lost when WW I broke out shortly after his death, creating a host of new aviation heros This is a well written book that I recommend to anyone interested in aviation.

Fortunately, I was able to order this book from the author - and he was willing to write a special inscription for my son. How special! Although this book was intended for my son, who has a love of flying and is working on his pilot's license, I noticed my husband reading it yesterday afternoon! Word around our house is that it's incredibly interesting.

This biography of an unknown (at least in modern times) pioneer of aviation was well-done as a historical biography. But this was written more like a news story than a dramatic biography. The author also reprints large portions of newspaper stories and pamphlets at the time. This is interesting in that it gives us an idea of language that was used at the time, but otherwise reflects as a bit of laziness on the author's part. While reading these sections I'm thinking, you couldn't have summed this up in your own words and added some of your own analysis?

Some of the best nonficition books I've read have done a masterful job of doing just that... "The First Crusade" by Thomas Asbridge comes to mind, as well as any of the great work by Stephen Ambrose.

In all this is mildly interesting to those who are not aviation buffs, introducing us to a character, albeit in a rather droll manner, who was the first aviation celebrity and daredevil.

I can't help but wonder how good this story could have been in the hands of a writer who could add some drama and analysis to the story... Ambrose, for example.