The Algernon Blackwood Collection (Annotated)

Introduction In my approximately twenty years of flying, I’ve heard many yarns spun by aviators when they knew they were talking to men who spoke their own language, but in those years I’ve seen few of these yarns reproduced in print. It was with the thought in mind that many people, whether they fly or not, would be interested in these hitherto untold stories of dramatic moments in flight that I’ve compiled this book. Some of them are my own experiences. Some are those of friends whose kindly cooperation has permitted them to be included. Aviation is rapidly passing into the realm of the prosaic, but there are still many times when a pilot’s heart is way up in his throat, when his pulse approximates the RPM’s of his motor and when he wonders whether he’s going to get away with it and be able to discuss it, later, at the next hangar-flying session. No pilot, if he tells the truth, ever gets to the point where he cannot be thrilled by unexpected and hazardous experiences in the air. He would not be human were this not so. And I confess there have been plenty of times when I wished myself safe on the ground again; although it’s also true that I’ve been scared in automobiles much more often than in the air. In any case, the chapters in this book tell the stories of many pilots in many parts of the world, as recounted to me. I hope the reader will be as entertained in reading them as I was in hearing them ... or, in the case of my own, in undergoing the experiences!