The year was 1919. The flight had all the earmarks of failure. The aeroplane was the first American designed and built medium bomber the Army Air Service had bought.
The durability of it airframe was unknown. The reliability of its 400 hp Packard Liberty motors was uncertain. The plans described the operation as a “test flight” and the planners themselves regarded it as totally hazardous venture with little chance of success.
Three officers and two master sergeants rode in unheated open pits without parachutes. They logged 9,823 miles, re-built the aeroplane in an open field after their one and only crash landing, demonstrated the potential of air travel to citizens of 46 cities and established the beginnings of formal air routes. Their efforts gave impetus to the development of aerial charts, aviation weather service, and many of the other tools of modern flying.
Using the actural log of the Flight, Seymour has created a day-by-day account of events that is a tribute to the men who built the aeroplane and its motors and the men of the Army Air service. It is a dramatic reminder that determination, courage, and ingenuity have always been bhasic values for the people of these United States.
THE AROUND THE RIM FLIGHT
by Miriam Orr Seymour
155 pages- Hardcover ISBN 0-917882-52-0
Purchase from: Barnes & Noble Book Stores; Amazon.com. $24.95
