Skyward: Man's Mastery of the Air as Shown by the Brilliant Flights of America's Leading Air Explorer. His Life, His Thrilling

by Richard Evelyn Byrd

Book Overview

Skyward is as much the memoir of great American explorer Admiral Richard E. Byrd, Jr. as it is a fascinating narrative of America's early aviation history, much of which Byrd shaped with his... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1585420107
• ISBN13: 9781585420100
• Release Date: January 2000
• Publisher: Tarcher
• Length: 330 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.5" x 8.2"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Grade 12 and higher

Customer Reviews

A great story about Amarican aviation history

When I received this book as a birthday gift, I was unsure if I even wanted to read it. However, I gave it a try one boring afternoon. To my astonishment it was very entertaining and as equally enlightening. Admiral Richard E. Byrd came from a very patriotic family (His brother Tom was a captain on the Hindenburg and his other brother Harry was governor of Virginia) and humbly recounts many of his pioneering adventures in aviation. In the earlier chapters Adm. Byrd shares his aviation training and many of the small contributions he made to aviation in the areas of politics, administration, and navigation that helped shift public option of aircraft towards "safe and feasible" and away from "dangerous and unreliable". The later chapters become more interesting when Byrd begins his exploration flights. I was astonished at how seemingly easy Byrd's flight to the North Pole seemed. Byrd's next flight was to prove the feasibility of commercial flights across the Atlantic by flying with 3 other men and a small cargo of airmail only a month after Lindbergh's famous flight. Byrd's last adventure involves his treacherous adventure in Antarctica. If you are looking for a surprisingly addicting biography of one of America's greatest explorers and airman, this book is a must. Even if you have a casual interest in history, aviation, or great Americans, I highly recommend this book.

underrated true adventure story

SKYWARD is a terrific book about the early days of aviation in this country! Written by one of our country's greatest explorers, the most highly decorated american ever, Byrd takes us from his early trainning days at pensacola to his north pole flight, transatlantic crossing, and south polar flight, and includes some other pretty exciting adventures along the way. It is a vibrant story written by a young man who is probably best known in literary circles for ALONE , a much more introspective book which he wrote later in life.