Skyward - Man's Mastery of the Air as Shown by the Brilliant Flights of America's Leading Air Explorer, His Life, His Thrilling Adventures, His North

By Richard Evelyn Byrd

Book Overview

This book contains a fascinating biography of the famous American explorer, Richard E. Byrd. It includes information on his life, his thrilling adventures, and his North Pole and trans-Atlantic flights, together with his plans for conquering the Atlantic by air. This insightful and unparalleled biography is highly recommended for those with an interest in early twentieth century exploration, and it would make for a great addition to any bookshelf. Contents include: "The Flyer's Viewpoint", "Learning to Fly", "On the Thin Edge of Eternity", "Thwarted Hopes", "First Trans-Atlantic Flight", "Political Interlude", "The ZR-2 Disaster", "I Turn Explorer", "The North Pole", "Success at Last ", "This Hero Business", "Trans-Atlantic Flight", "A Narrow Escape", etcetera. Many vintage texts such as this are increasingly scarce and expensive, and it is with this in mind that we are republishing this volume now in an affordable, modern, high-quality edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author. This book was first published in 1928.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1447423941
• ISBN13: 9781447423942
• Release Date: November 2014
• Publisher: Read Books
• Length: 424 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

A great story about Amarican aviation history

When I received this book as a birthday gift, I was unsure if I even wanted to read it. However, I gave it a try one boring afternoon. To my astonishment it was very entertaining and as equally enlightening. Admiral Richard E. Byrd came from a very patriotic family (His brother Tom was a captain on the Hindenburg and his other brother Harry was governor of Virginia) and humbly recounts many of his pioneering adventures in aviation. In the earlier chapters Adm. Byrd shares his aviation training and many of the small contributions he made to aviation in the areas of politics, administration, and navigation that helped shift public option of aircraft towards "safe and feasible" and away from "dangerous and unreliable". The later chapters become more interesting when Byrd begins his exploration flights. I was astonished at how seemingly easy Byrd's flight to the North Pole seemed. Byrd's next flight was to prove the feasibility of commercial flights across the Atlantic by flying with 3 other men and a small cargo of airmail only a month after Lindbergh's famous flight. Byrd's last adventure involves his treacherous adventure in Antarctica. If you are looking for a surprisingly addicting biography of one of America's greatest explorers and airman, this book is a must. Even if you have a casual interest in history, aviation, or great Americans, I highly recommend this book.

underrated true adventure story

SKYWARD is a terrific book about the early days of aviation in this country! Written by one of our country's greatest explorers, the most highly decorated american ever, Byrd takes us from his early trainning days at pensacola to his north pole flight, transatlantic crossing, and south polar flight, and includes some other pretty exciting adventures along the way. It is a vibrant story written by a young man who is probably best known in literary circles for ALONE , a much more introspective book which he wrote later in life.