Spirit and Creator: The Mysterious Man Behind Lindbergh's Flight to Paris [DELUXE EDITION] (Hardcover)

~ Nova Hall (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

I recommend this book to all who are curious about Donald Hall's contribution to the Spirit of St. Louis. -- Ev Cassagneres, Aviation Historian

This is a wonderful true story of two young men working together in 1927 to bring a dream to life. -- Reeve Lindbergh, daughter and author.

Product Description

Within the cracked and weathered exterior of an old steamer trunk, a family secret was waiting to be discovered. In 1999 Nova Hall, grandson of Donald A. Hall, uncovered a locked World War I era steamer trunk in his family’s garage. Found inside was a collection of over 100 never-before-seen photographs, personal correspondence with Charles A. Lindbergh, original documents, design instruments, models, and film footage. Because of these "treasures" archived by Donald A. Hall, we discover the mysterious man behind Lindbergh’s historic trans-Atlantic flight to Paris. This book is a visually inspiring story of their teamwork and triumph.

Spirit and Creator brings to life, the previously unknown collection of secrets surrounding the creation of this famous airplane. The over-sized horizontal format includes more than one hundred unpublished photographs, personal correspondence with Charles A. Lindbergh, original documents, design instruments, models, and film footage excerpts. Aviation books have focused on the trans-Atlantic flight, but rarely describe the bigger story that is equally as remarkable. Spirit and Creator fills this historical gap. The Spirit of St. Louis was built in San Diego in only sixty-days, a feat that is impossible to recreate today without modern technology.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 185 pages
• Publisher: Safe Goods Publishing (June 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0970296444
• ISBN-13: 978-0970296443
• Product Dimensions: 12.6 x 9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #673,978 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 2004 Writers Notes Book Award First Runner-Up, April 19, 2005

By	Writers Notes Magazine "Book Editor" (www.WritersNotes.com) - See all my reviews

Rescued from an old steamer trunk, the personal notes, drawings, and photos of the Spirit of St. Louis' designer, Donald Hall, paint a portrait of the famous transatlantic flight and a vital friendship between engineer and pilot. It's a time capsule that sets the record straight, painstakingly arranged by Hall's only grandson, Nova. Donald Hall was essential to the flight's success, and in an incredible 60 days, he analyzed and built the legendary plane. Although he was not a glory-seeker like Lindbergh, Hall was an adventurer just the same, hunting out answers by pushing the envelope of technology and thereby attaining the ultimate achievement. In the end, this quiet and gentle man acquiesced to history, but thanks to this engrossing recount, Hall's legacy speaks loudly to future generations.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Donald Hall: The Man Behind History's Most Famous Plane, October 31, 2003

By	Mark Clark "Seeadler" (California) - See all my reviews

Nova Hall's "Spirit and Creator" presents a new and intriguing look at the design and construction of Charles Lindbergh's amazing plane, the "Spirit of St. Louis." Built in an astounding 60 days, the "Spirit" was a unique and, this book makes clear, radical aircraft designed for one goal: to make a flight from New York to Paris possible.

Although the story of the creation of the "Spirit of St. Louis" has hardly remained a secret, many details concerning its design have been obscure. Until now. One day in 1998 Nova Hall, the grandson of "Spirit" designer Donald A. Hall, discovered a locked trunk in his family's garage. Once it was pried open, the trunk revealed a literal treasure-trove of photographs, documents, and film footage of the plane during construction and in flight. This amazing book presents these materials with explanatory text, and does a great deal to clarify the historical record.

It is clear, after reading the book, that Donald Hall's design for the "Spirit" was the creation of a remarkable genius. Certainly Lindbergh contributed a great deal to the plane (biographer Scott Berg has noted that it was literally "a glove for Lindbergh's hands"), but it was Hall who came up with most of the innovative design. It's simplicity, apparent in a series of never-before-seen photos of the naked airframe, belies the complex challenges that faced Hall. That he was able to deliver a complete aircraft in a mere sixty days -- a time frame that did not even allow him to produce proper blueprints or pre-assemble many components -- makes clear that Lindbergh's arrival in Paris was a triumph not only for this pilot, but for the designer of his machine. As the title of the book implies, Lindbergh had the dream, and it took Hall's know-how and perserverence to create the plane that would make its fulfillment possible.

This is a terrific book for anyone interested in Lindbergh, and especially for anyone who would like to know more about the nuts and bolts of the "Spirit." The text is well-written and, while somewhat spare, it presents a highly reverential account of the life of Hall and his work on history's most famous plane (Wright Flyer notwithstanding). The photographs are amazing, and there are hundreds of them, some culled from extremely rare and precious nitrate motion picture film prints.

5.0 out of 5 stars Spirit and Creator: The Mysterious Man Behind Lindbergh's Flight to Paris, June 20, 2009

By	James R. Hawkins "hawk in flight" (Nashville, TN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Although the author Nova Hall is Donald Hall's grandson, his oversized book of photos and memories of an extraordinary event and two extraordinary men comes off quite well. It gives the reader insight into the life and accomplishments of Donald Hall, the man who designed and built the Spirit of St. Louis, the plane Lindbergh flew to Paris in 1927 to win the Orteg prize and international fame. The book is full of photos and designs of the aircraft as it was being created to Lindbergh's specifications in that sweaty, fish-smelling Ryan aircraft factory in San Diego, CA. But it is so much more than a boring technical treatise. It captures the day to day drama of a time when Lindbergh and the Ryan Aircraft factory were known to a very few. To think that all of this was accomplished in only 60 days is astounding. Two brilliant minds, two men after the same goal of immortality in aviation, came together at the perfect time. If you love the Lindbergh New York to Paris story, this is the book to have in your library.