What We Are Reading Today: The Great Air Race

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Updated 22 January 2023
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What We Are Reading Today: The Great Air Race

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Author: John Lancaster

In “The Great Air Race,” amateur pilot John Lancaster finally reclaims this landmark event and the unheralded aviators who competed to be the fastest man in America.
His thrilling chronicle opens with the race’s impresario, Brigadier General Billy Mitchell, who believed the nation’s future was in the skies.
Mitchell’s contest was a risky undertaking, given that the DH-4s and Fokkers the contestants flew were almost comically ill-suited for long-distance travel.
A thrilling tale of men and their machines, the book offers a new origin point for commercial aviation  even as it greatly expands our pantheon of aviation heroes.