An Airman's Odyssey: Walt Braznell and the Pilots He Led into the Jet Age Book

An Airman's Odyssey is the fascinating saga of the airline industry's early years and of the pioneer airmen who tamed America's last great wilderness—the sky. It is both a sweeping adventure story and an absorbing history of the evolution of flight and flight management, as witnessed by one of the industry's pioneer aviators, Walt Braznell.

An Airman's Odyssey describes the airlines' origins and early development, dwelling at length upon that crucial and immensely colorful period between the awarding of the first air mail contracts in 1925 and the infamous "Airline Spoils Scandals" of 1934. The book goes on to chronicle the advent of the first great passenger liner, the DC-3; the tremendous advances in aviation technology and the boom in air travel during and immediately following World War II; and the reasons U.S. aircraft manufacturers and airlines lagged so far behind the British and the French in ushering in the Jet Age.

Side by side with this fast-paced historical narrative, An Airman's Odyssey relates the story of a fledgling air mail pilot's education in aerial survival and his subsequent progress up the ranks to chief pilot and ultimately to vice president and director of American Airlines' six-thousand-man flight department. Along the way, the reader is introduced to a cast that includes a young (and surprisingly rambunctious) Charles A. Lindbergh; Missouri Air National Guard's beloved commander Phil Love; St. Louis's Robertson brothers; aviation novelist Ernie Gann; National Air Races champion Benny Howard; and dozens of other legendary figures of American aviation.

A mixture of fact and legend, humor and tragedy, history and memoir—"with a set of operating instructions thrown in for good measure"—An Airman's Odyssey includes dozens of photographs of these airmen and the aircraft they flew, as well as illustrations and discourses on subjects ranging from aerial maneuvers (aerobatics) to the anatomy of a thunderstorm.

An Airman's Odyssey should appeal to not only airmen and aviation enthusiasts but also any airline passenger who has ever given a passing thought to the human endeavor and personal sacrifice that, in scarcely more than a generation, transformed air travel from the most dangerous to the safest mode of mass transportation in the world.

Publishers Weekly

A former air force pilot, author Braznell states from the outset that he himself does not know quite what to make of this hybrid work. Parts memoir, biography and history, the book traces the career of Braznell's pioneer aviator father, Walt, as he progresses from airmail pilot to vice-president of American Airlines. Along the way, Walt participates in the evolution of commercial air transport and hobnobs with the likes of legendary pilot Charles Lindbergh, National Air Races champion Benny Howard and aviation novelist Ernie Gann. As the story unfolds, the author breaks up the narrative with snippets of aviation lore and with minitutorials on such matters as dead reckoning and the anatomy of a thunderstorm. On one level, the book will be of great interest to aviation enthusiasts enthralled with the process by which commercial air travel progressed from exotic adventure to everyday occurrence. On another, the lore is simply delicious for anyone. Pilots for American, for example, were routinely fed cold fried chicken in flight; they would dispense of the bones by holding them near an open window and allowing them to be sucked into the slipstream. Walt (who died before the book was completed) recalls: "We left a trail... from Newark to Chicago." Air buffs will love this book, but it doesn't quite have the focus or breadth to break out of its niche--though it is all the more charming for it. Period photos of dashing Walt and cohorts, with a surprise trove of thoroughly charming sketches by Braznell family friend Dick Clark. (Feb.) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.