Pan Am Ferry Tales: A World War II Aviation Memoir

by W. Gordon Schmitt

Overview

During World War II, an eccentric band of barnstormers, stunt flyers and commercial pilots joined military recruits to form the Pan American Air Ferries. These civilian pilots helped develop a strategically crucial and highly efficient system for shuttling aircraft to Allied forces around the world that contributed significantly to key campaigns throughout the war. W. Gordon Schmitt's engaging, often amusing memoir recounts the close calls and indelible characters he encountered as navigator in the PAAF, from Brazil to Africa to the Middle East and beyond.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781476686820
Publisher:	McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Publication date:	07/29/2022
Pages:	199
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

The late W. Gordon Schmitt served as a navigator for the Pan American Air Ferries and later the U.S. Air Force from 1942 to 1945. Peter Schmitt of Miami, Florida, is the author of six collections of poems.

Table of Contents

Editor's Introduction Peter Schmitt 1

1 The War Approaches 11

2 A Troubling Diagnosis 14

3 Taking Off 22

4 Training in Miami 29

5 On Our Way: Port o' Spain, Belém, Natal 42

6 Crossing the Atlantic: Destination, Africa 53

7 Kano to Khartoum, Cairo to Tehran 63

8 Back in the States 77

9 Ascension 87

10 The Dark Continent: Incident at Kano 94

11 "You're in the Army Now!" 110

12 The Northern Route: Through Iceland to Scotland 122

13 Close Calls in Nashville 135

14 Adventures with the "Fireball Express" 147

15 Characters Unforgettable 166

16 May 1945: Going Home! 177

Postscript: An Essay Contest 183

"What I Consider Requisites for a Private Pilot" 187

Index 191

Editorial Reviews

Engaging, often amusing…impressively informative and inherently interesting…extraordinary and recommended”—Midwest Book Reviews

From the Publisher