The Proving Flight by David Beaty hits the £1 shelf in my shop.
Secker & Warburg and The Book Society, 1956, Hardback in dust wrapper.
From the cover: The proving flight of Emperor Able Dog had made the worlds headlines long before the giant aircraft took off from London Airport. For here at last, its sponsors claimed, was the final answer to transatlantic air travel, a machine capable of operating non-stop from London to New York even against the strongest headwinds.
For Sir James Joliffe, the self-made man who had risen to be Chairman of Air Enterprise, Limited, the success of the flight would be the crowning glory of a meteoric career. The world of civil aviation would be at his feet, for he would have secured supremacy for Britain in the Atlantic air.
And when, accompanied by his carefully chosen fellow passengers, who included the Under-Secretary for Air, and seen off by the Secretary of State himself, Joliffe took his place in the aircraft, his heart was as full of confidence as was his bearing of assurance. The machine had been fully tested, it had as joint captains, Bellamy, the youngest and most brilliant pilot in civil aviation, and Cavendish, veteran flyer with thirty years experience behind him. What could possibly go wrong?
The Chairmans confidence was to be put to a supreme test; and the adventures that befell Emperor Able Dog on its round trip to New York and Bermuda are the backbone of this immensely exciting novel of the air. Mr. Beaty describes them with all the skill and assurance he showed in his previous novel, The Heart of the Storm. Out of what befell the passengers and crew springs, too, a convincing love story. But what gives the proving flight its special distinction is the clash of character that arises as peril looms ahead between Joliffe and the younger of his pilots, between a man ruthlessly determined to achieve his purpose and using every art of command, persuasion and guile to that end and the flyer torn between loyalty to his chief and duty to his passengers.
Good+ in Good+ Dust Wrapper. Unlaminated dust wrapper a little edgeworn and faded with a 1″ closed tear to the foot of the upper panel. Edges of the text block lightly spotted. Text complete, clean and tight but a little age-tanned.
Blue boards with Silver titling to the Spine.
282 pages. 8″ x 5¼”.
This book will be listed, sooner or later, for £6.50 on my delightful website… but get 50% off buying from my blog… below…
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