A Flight Through Life - An Aviator's Memoir


Book Description

"A Flight Through Life" begins with a boy growing up during World War II, and records his youthful fascination with aviation. It follows his career in aviation from becoming a private pilot through his eventful life as an Aviation Cadet and his careers in both the Air Force and commercial aviation. Al DeGroote's captivating descriptions of his experiences give both pilots and non-pilots a feel for the excitement and wonder of flying while sharing with them the experience of being part of aviation's transition from the piston to the jet age. While aviation is the central theme of the narrative, Al's wide ranging experience in command and staff positions brings the non-flying reader into his life as a war planner, accident investigator and international affairs specialist. As the U.S. Air Attaché at the embassy in Laos he and his family experienced the tragedy of the fall of Southeast Asia first hand and he provides a ringside seat for the reader to observe the many blunders and few triumphs of that debacle.




The Pilot and the Little Prince


Book Description

Peter Sís's remarkable biography The Pilot and the Little Prince celebrates the author of The Little Prince, one of the most beloved books in the world. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was born in France in 1900, when airplanes were just being invented. Antoine dreamed of flying and grew up to be a pilot—and that was when his adventures began. He found a job delivering mail by plane, which had never been done before. He and his fellow pilots traveled to faraway places and discovered new ways of getting from one place to the next. Antoine flew over mountains and deserts. He battled winds and storms. He tried to break aviation records, and sometimes he even crashed. From his plane, Antoine looked down on the earth and was inspired to write about his life and his pilot-hero friends in memoirs and in fiction. A Frances Foster Book This title has Common Core connections.




The Aviator's Wife


Book Description

In the spirit of Loving Frank and The Paris Wife, acclaimed novelist Melanie Benjamin pulls back the curtain on the marriage of one of America’s most extraordinary couples: Charles Lindbergh and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. “The history [is] exhilarating. . . . The Aviator’s Wife soars.”—USA Today NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER When Anne Morrow, a shy college senior with hidden literary aspirations, travels to Mexico City to spend Christmas with her family, she meets Colonel Charles Lindbergh, fresh off his celebrated 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic. Enthralled by Charles’s assurance and fame, Anne is certain the aviator has scarcely noticed her. But she is wrong. Charles sees in Anne a kindred spirit, a fellow adventurer, and her world will be changed forever. The two marry in a headline-making wedding. In the years that follow, Anne becomes the first licensed female glider pilot in the United States. But despite this and other major achievements, she is viewed merely as the aviator’s wife. The fairy-tale life she once longed for will bring heartbreak and hardships, ultimately pushing her to reconcile her need for love and her desire for independence, and to embrace, at last, life’s infinite possibilities for change and happiness. Look for special features inside. Join the Random House Reader’s Circle for author chats and more. Praise for The Aviator’s Wife “Remarkable . . . The Aviator’s Wife succeeds [in] putting the reader inside Anne Lindbergh’s life with her famous husband.”—The Denver Post “Anne Morrow Lindbergh narrates the story of the Lindberghs’ troubled marriage in all its triumph and tragedy.”—USA Today “[This novel] will fascinate history buffs and surprise those who know of her only as ‘the aviator’s wife.’ ”—People “It’s hard to quit reading this intimate historical fiction.”—The Dallas Morning News “Fictional biography at its finest.”—Booklist (starred review) “Utterly unforgettable.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “An intimate examination of the life and emotional mettle of Anne Morrow.”—The Washington Post “A story of both triumph and pain that will take your breath away.”—Kate Alcott, author of The Dressmaker




Airman's Odyssey


Book Description




A Flight Through Life - An Aviator's Memoir (Dust Jacket)


Book Description

"A Flight Through Life" begins with a boy growing up during World War II, and records his youthful fascination with aviation. It follows his career in aviation from becoming a private pilot through his eventful life as an Aviation Cadet and his careers in both the Air Force and commercial aviation. Al DeGroote's captivating descriptions of his experiences give both pilots and non-pilots a feel for the excitement and wonder of flying while sharing with them the experience of being part of aviation's transition from the piston to the jet age. While aviation is the central theme of the narrative, Al's wide ranging experience in command and staff positions brings the non-flying reader into his life as a war planner, accident investigator and international affairs specialist. As the U.S. Air Attaché at the embassy in Laos he and his family experienced the tragedy of the fall of Southeast Asia first hand and he provides a ringside seat for the reader to observe the many blunders and few triumphs of that debacle.




Higher and Faster


Book Description

In 1961, pilot Robert M. White flew a hypersonic rocket-powered airplane six times faster than the speed of sound and higher than 300,000 feet above the Earth's surface. This is his story. Tracing his childhood on the rough streets of Manhattan during the Depression, his years as a pilot and POW during World War II, his service in Korea and Vietnam and his rise as an experimental test pilot in the Air Force, this autobiography is a testament to the role of persistence and excellence in the life of a man whose aeronautical feats are now legend. It is the portrait of an extraordinary man in pursuit of the American dream and a glimpse into a remarkable time in America's aviation history.







Flight to Success, Be the Captain of Your Life


Book Description

Inspiration, motivation and lessons learned... Flight to Success is the author's journey through eight airlines, seven type ratings, two master's degrees, and motherhood. Intertwined with her stories are those of others who share their successes, failures, losses, fears, hopes and dreams. They have all learned from their experiences. What drives people to phenomenal success? The secret correlates with many aspects of flight. If you apply these tips to your everyday life there will be nothing you cannot accomplish. Life is about choice. The choice now, is to open your mind and heart and begin to dream. This inspirational, motivational memoir will take you on a journey through the author's life, to assist you with yours. How did she do it? Why didn't she quit? Where did she find the time, courage, stamina, and strength to persevere during the most challenging times? The answers to these questions and many more will be answered.




Flight to Arras


Book Description

The World War II aviator and author of The Little Prince tells his true story of flying a reconnaissance plane during the Battle of France in 1940. When the Germans first invaded France in May of 1940, the French Air Force had a mere fifty reconnaissance crews, twenty-three of which served in Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Group II/33. After only a few days, seventeen of the crews in Saint-Exupéry’s unit had already perished. Flight to Arras is the harrowing story of a single mission over the French town of Arras, an endeavor Saint-Exupéry realized the futility of even as he witnessed it unfolding. Filled with tension, emotion, philosophy, and historical detail, and penned by a master storyteller, this extraordinary memoir serves as a record of a little-known chapter of the Second World War, and an unforgettable portrait of the brave souls who fought despite desperate odds.




Saint-exupery


Book Description

From a master biographer, the life story of the daring French aviator who became one of the twentieth century's most beloved authors Antoine de Saint-Exupéry disappeared at age forty-four during a reconnaissance flight over southern France. At the time he was best known for a career of daring flights over the Sahara, the Pyrenees, and Patagonia and for his contributions to the science of aviation. But the solitary hours he spent above the earth in open cockpit airplanes gave birth to a more famous legacy, a series of enchanting, autobiographical novels and the classic story The Little Prince, still the most translated book in the French language. An impoverished aristocrat from one of France's oldest families, Saint-Exupéry moved at age twenty-seven to the western Sahara Desert, to live alone in a plank shack and manage the way station for the Aéropostale, the French mail service. His careers as a novelist and an aviator were born here, and his life once he returned to Europe was defined--with brilliant and catastrophic results--by the sense of isolated fascination and curiosity he developed in the desert. In this definitive biography, Pulitzer Prize winner Stacy Schiff reveals an intrepid and unconventional life that rivals the best adventure stories.