This is a great book + a great reminiscence of my childhood.American Flyers in WW1 in the Lafayette Escadrille. Brought to you by Nordhoff + Hall,the 2 lads who wrote "Mutiny on the Bounty".Required reading in my opinion but definately recommended.

Looking it up!

Here in NY we have the Rhinebeck Aerodrome where the have a fascinating Working !! collection of WWI planes .They put on a show each weekend about 6 months of the year. All the reading you do suddenly comes alive as you see these complex, fragile bits of fabric and wood take to the air !

My first flights weren't in a plane built of "fragile bits of fabric and wood," but it was close.

One my jobs in high school in the early 1950s was to load and flag for a cropduster in Yuma, Arizona. His plane was a Stearman biplane, and I donned goggles and a respirator and rode in its hopper to the various fields that he dusted.

Most of the stuff he spread over the fields was the now-banned DDT. It was used on everything in those days, including every "mojado" (wetback laborer) the border patrol detained.

I probably breathed and ingested through contact enough of that pesticide to kill every bug in two states.

At any rate, Woody (the pilot) was a crazy guy. Every morning, he would take off and spin the wheels of his Stearman on the roof of a little cafe where an especially busty waitress worked.

His license was suspended briefly for flying under the bridge across the Colorado River.

He did not die in a plane crash, though. He froze to death while hunting elk in the early 1970s, when Arizona's high country was hit by a huge snow and ice storm.

They found his body the next spring under a juniper tree. There were burned matchbooks where he had tried to start a fire.

Bill Quimby

My first flights weren't in a plane built of "fragile bits of fabric and wood," but it was close.

One my jobs in high school in the early 1950s was to load and flag for a cropduster in Yuma, Arizona. His plane was a Stearman biplane, and I donned goggles and a respirator and rode in its hopper to the various fields that he dusted.

Most of the stuff he spread over the fields was the now-banned DDT. It was used on everything in those days, including all "mojados" (wetback laborers) the border patrol detained.

I probably breathed and ingested through contact with enough of that pesticide to kill every insect in two states.

Bill Quimby

Check Amazon. For those who have'nt read it,I envy you your first reading.