The Big Jump: Lindbergh and the Great Atlantic Air Race
The trans-Atlantic air race of 1927 and the flight that made Charles Lindbergh a hero

The race to make the first nonstop flight between the New York and Paris attracted some of the most famous and seasoned aviators of the day, yet it was the young and lesser known Charles Lindbergh who won the $25,000 Orteig Prize in 1927 for his history-making solo flight in the Spirit of St. Louis. Drawing on many previously overlooked sources, Bak offers a fresh look at the personalities that made up this epic air race – a deadly competition that culminated in one of the twentieth century's most thrilling personal achievements and turned Charles Lindbergh into the first international hero of the modern age.

  • Examines the extraordinary life and cultural impact of Charles Lindbergh, one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, and his legendary trans-Atlantic flight that captured the world's imagination
  • Explores the romance of flying during aviation's Golden Age of the 1920s, the enduring mystique of the aviator, and rapid technological advances that made for a paradigm shift in human perception of the world
  • Filled with colorful characters from early aviation history, including Charles Nungesser, Igor Sikorsky, René Fonck, Richard Byrd, and Paul Tarascon

History and the imagination take flight in this gripping account of high-flying adventure, in which a group of courageous men tested the both limits of technology and the power of nature in pursuit of one of mankind's boldest dreams.

1100273638
The Big Jump: Lindbergh and the Great Atlantic Air Race
The trans-Atlantic air race of 1927 and the flight that made Charles Lindbergh a hero

The race to make the first nonstop flight between the New York and Paris attracted some of the most famous and seasoned aviators of the day, yet it was the young and lesser known Charles Lindbergh who won the $25,000 Orteig Prize in 1927 for his history-making solo flight in the Spirit of St. Louis. Drawing on many previously overlooked sources, Bak offers a fresh look at the personalities that made up this epic air race – a deadly competition that culminated in one of the twentieth century's most thrilling personal achievements and turned Charles Lindbergh into the first international hero of the modern age.

  • Examines the extraordinary life and cultural impact of Charles Lindbergh, one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, and his legendary trans-Atlantic flight that captured the world's imagination
  • Explores the romance of flying during aviation's Golden Age of the 1920s, the enduring mystique of the aviator, and rapid technological advances that made for a paradigm shift in human perception of the world
  • Filled with colorful characters from early aviation history, including Charles Nungesser, Igor Sikorsky, René Fonck, Richard Byrd, and Paul Tarascon

History and the imagination take flight in this gripping account of high-flying adventure, in which a group of courageous men tested the both limits of technology and the power of nature in pursuit of one of mankind's boldest dreams.

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The Big Jump: Lindbergh and the Great Atlantic Air Race

The Big Jump: Lindbergh and the Great Atlantic Air Race

by Richard Bak
The Big Jump: Lindbergh and the Great Atlantic Air Race

The Big Jump: Lindbergh and the Great Atlantic Air Race

by Richard Bak

Hardcover(First Edition)

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Overview

The trans-Atlantic air race of 1927 and the flight that made Charles Lindbergh a hero

The race to make the first nonstop flight between the New York and Paris attracted some of the most famous and seasoned aviators of the day, yet it was the young and lesser known Charles Lindbergh who won the $25,000 Orteig Prize in 1927 for his history-making solo flight in the Spirit of St. Louis. Drawing on many previously overlooked sources, Bak offers a fresh look at the personalities that made up this epic air race – a deadly competition that culminated in one of the twentieth century's most thrilling personal achievements and turned Charles Lindbergh into the first international hero of the modern age.

  • Examines the extraordinary life and cultural impact of Charles Lindbergh, one of the iconic figures of the twentieth century, and his legendary trans-Atlantic flight that captured the world's imagination
  • Explores the romance of flying during aviation's Golden Age of the 1920s, the enduring mystique of the aviator, and rapid technological advances that made for a paradigm shift in human perception of the world
  • Filled with colorful characters from early aviation history, including Charles Nungesser, Igor Sikorsky, René Fonck, Richard Byrd, and Paul Tarascon

History and the imagination take flight in this gripping account of high-flying adventure, in which a group of courageous men tested the both limits of technology and the power of nature in pursuit of one of mankind's boldest dreams.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780471477525
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
Publication date: 07/01/2011
Edition description: First Edition
Pages: 336
Product dimensions: 6.50(w) x 9.30(h) x 1.20(d)

About the Author

RICHARD BAK is a Detroit-based journalist and the author of twenty-five books, including Henry and Edsel: The Creation of the Ford Empire and Peach: Ty Cobb in His Time and Ours. He has received three ForeWord magazine Book-of-the-Year awards, the Stuart D. and Vernice M. Gross Prize for Literature, and two Emmys for his work as writer and coproducer of Stranded at the Corner, a feature-length documentary about the fight to save Detroit’s Tiger Stadium.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments ix

Prologue: Instant Fame—or Flaming Gasoline 1

1 "We've Come to Fly the Atlantic" 6

2 "Where Does France Come In?" 23

3 "The Ace with the Wooden Leg" 35

4 The Fortune of the Air 54

5 Slim 80

6 Giuseppe, the Gypsy, and the Junk Man 92

7 Revving Up 101

8 Against the Prevailing Winds 111

9 Come to Earth 121

10 Little Silver Plane 132

11 Paris au Printemps 139

12 A Stout Heart Does Not Fear Death 149

13 Limbo 160

14 Hunting Dragons 169

15 We Two 184

16 "Vive l'Amérique!" 205

17 "Lindbergh Is Our Elijah" 218

18 Two More Across 233

19 The Atlantic No Longer Exists 246

Epilogue: Restless Spirits 264

Notes 274

Bibliography 297

Index 312

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