Bill Lancaster: The Final Verdict: The Life and Death of an Aviation Pioneer

by Ralph Barker

Overview

Captain William Lancaster was the subject of public attention and controversy during his life as a record-breaking flyer, because of his love affair with Jessie Chubbie Miller (dubbed the Australian Aviatrix) and as the defendant in one of the most sensational murder trials of the twentieth century. His disappearance, which occurred during an attempt to break the London to Cape Town record in 1933, less than a year after his acquittal, led to speculation that his ill-prepared last flight had been driven by desperation, perhaps even guilt.Twenty nine years later, a French military patrol in the Sahara stumbled across the wreck of Bills plane and his body, along with his perfectly preserved log book. For eight days he had calmly recorded his thoughts, looking back over his life as he stoically faced death. In Bill Lancaster: the Final Verdict, we are presented with the original story in full (first published in 1969 as Verdict on a Lost Flyer), complete with an additional postscript written by the late author's daughter. Meticulously researched by Ralph Barker and written with the full cooperation of Chubbie Miller and the Lancaster family, it includes a complete transcript and photographs of the moving account contained within Lancaster's final diary a precious record that has since gone missing.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781473855847
Publisher:	Pen & Sword Books Limited
Publication date:	01/31/2020
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	20 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Ralph Barker joined the RAF in 1940 as a radio operator/air gunner and logged 2,000 flying hours before he was demobilised in 1946. He later rejoined the RAF and retired from it in 1961 to write full-time as a journalist on several leading British national newspapers. He has many well-known books to his name as has been widely acclaimed by reviewers.

Ralph Barker, passed away on the 20th June, ages 93.

Table of Contents

Prologue 7

I The Man Without Fear 11

II Towards Australia 21

III Setback at Muntok 31

IV America: Failure or Success 44

V Hope lades for Chubbie 57

VI The House in Miami 67

VII Destination Mexico 76

VIII Chubbie falls in love 89

IX Lancaster Returns 99

X "Did you do this'?" 108

XI Building a Defence 117

XII The Evidence is Circumstantial 128

XIII The Prosecution rests its case 139

XIV Lancaster on the Stand 152

XV Cross-examination 163

XVI Of Haden Clarke and the Medical Evidence 175

XVII The Final Speeches 189

XVIII Consider your Verdict 199

XIX The Last Flight 206

XX The Diary 220

Epilogue 238

Postscript 241

Editorial Reviews

"...portrays Lancaster as a daring adventurer... Bill Lancaster: The Final Verdict – The Life and Death of an Aviation Pioneer is recommended."

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