1946 Ernest K Gann BLAZE OF NOON Daredevil pilots novel HC/DJ BCE adventure

Description: Author: Ernest K. Gann Title: Blaze of Noon Binding: hardcover with jacket Size: octavo; about 6" x 9" Pagination: 310pp Published: Henry Holt, 1946 (Book Club Edition) Condition: Good; jacket present, but scuffed and tattered at margins; interior clean and complete; owners name on title page [OCR is approximate, as always] THis is a novel about four brothers-crazy daredevil youths-who came of age with the airplane after the first World War. And it is also the love story of Lucille who married one of the four Flying McDonalds and shared him with the ever-present perils that beset men who defied the skies in those early days of avi-ation. It was the 1920s. The Flying MacDon-alds had bought themselves two airplanes, and were barnstorming the country as stunt fliers, reveling in the nomadic life of daily excitement and danger. The Mac- who taught the other three to fly; Tad, the daredevil who hung from the plane a thousand feet above the ground and made the crowds gasp; Colin, the restless one; and young Keith, whose specialty was changing planes in midair and dropping off into space before the terrified spectators knew he had a parachute. A happy and reckless lot, they flew because they liked to fly better than anything else in the world. It was Colin who brought an end to the roving life of the Flying MacDonalds. He wanted to take a job with the newly established airmail service, and his three brothers followed him to the airport in Newark and signed up with him. It was Colin who met Lucille there and married her in a few days, but after the honeymoon Ro-land, Tad, and Keith moved in and lived with them. Lucille found she had married four men, not one, and that she was part of all their lives. From there on the story races at breakneck speed through those years from 1925 to 1929 when boys like the MacDonalds were blazing the trails for commercial aviation, flying the mail through days and nights of ice and wind, meeting the emergencies of storm and cloud with tremendous sagacity and cour-age, flying "by the seat of their pants" and with very little other equipment. There are unforgettably dramatic scenes in BLAZE OF NOON: Keiths seeking the cloud-covered little airport at Albany; Rolands testing the bank-and-turn instrument and getting lost in a blizzard; Colins guiding his heavily-iced ship home in a storm to Lucille and Newark, using a plane radio for the first time and hearing the frantic, cryptic advice of his anxious brothers on the ground. There is high gaiety, breathless excite-ment, deep comradeship, and some very real human tragedy in this story of the pioneer days of aviation. It is a story that has never been told before and Ernest Gann, himself a seasoned flier who knows so well the lore and legend of aviation when it was young, has brought to it his remarkable narrative gifts and both love and understanding of those early knights of the air; he has produced a novel which is as original as it is enthralling. Take a close look at the auction images for details of contents and condition. If you have any questions at all please send a message through eBay before bidding. NOTE: There may be more images in this listing than eBay shows in the top "gallery". Be sure to scroll down to view the full set, if so. Be sure to check our eBay Store for thousands of other listings like this one. Orders will be sent out within three business days of receipt of payment. If youre in a hurry and would like expedited shipping (Priority or Express shipping), please let us know before paying so we can adjust your invoice. Books are sent Media Rate within the US, and other small items are sent Parcel by default. If you would like combined shipping, please (1) contact us to let us know, and then (2) wait to pay until youre finished shopping (but try to keep it within a 4 day period, please). Just leave the items in your eBay Cart and then request an updated invoice after youre done. If you pay for an item, we are obliged to ship it to you, and cannot combine it with subsequent purchases. If youre waiting for a separate auction item to finish, please contact us to let us know. _gsrx_vers_1680 (GS 9.8.3 (1680))

Price: 7.29 USD

Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan

End Time: 2024-11-16T15:23:21.000Z

Shipping Cost: 5.71 USD