Chasing Horizons: The Air Race that Changed the World
By Jim Bolander
Jim Bolander took his
daughter, Jamie, to The Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum where he showed her Chicago, his Great-Uncle Lowell Smith's plane. She was so
inspired she wrote about him for a school assignment. Then Bolander decides it
is time to take us all to that very time; around the world in an open-air
cockpit to win the first circumnavigation-aeronautical race. What an incredible
read, true story, and gift to all mankind!
Chasing
Horizons-The Air Race that Changed the World is a historical fiction depicting the aeronautical
challenge of 1924 in which four Douglas World Cruisers and eight American
crewmen set out from Seattle, Washington, to attempt the first around-the-world
airplane flight. One hundred seventy-five days later two of the aircraft and
crews became the first to circumnavigate earth.
Bolander
has taken 90% fact and added the background story to bring it to life. His
research and historical details will chill you to the bone when they are in the
tundra of Alaska, make you want to swat the mosquitoes in the Orient, feel the
sting of the sandstorms as they fly across the deserts of the Middle East, and
stand in ovation as they make each extraordinary landing. Imagine a single
engine, open cockpit, wooden and sheet metal airplane held together with wires
and bands; no GPS, no radios, no heater or a/c or toilet or any type of
refreshments and you are to fly this “just invented” flying machine around the
world – and before any of the other 5 countries who joined the race. To these
men, there was no turning back.
Britain,
Italy, Argentina, Portugal, and France were all vying with the United States in
1924 to win the race to be first to fly around the world. The story of what
transpired in the six months it took to accomplish this virgin task is the
stuff legends and heroes are made of. Lowell Smith, the first to complete the
mission, is not only a humble and patriotic aviation icon, but also the great
uncle to Jim Bolander, which makes this world and family history as well. The desire for
Bolander to honor his family by putting into words what the world has forgotten
was ignited by the curiosity of his daughter who chose Lowell Smith as the
subject of a fifth grade report and oral presentation concerning a famous
American.
From:
04/06/24 To: 09/28/24 (Seattle to Seattle, WA)
Miles
Flown: 26,350 miles
Flying
Time: 371H 11M
Plane
Type: Douglas World Cruisers - Amphibians
Plane
Names: Chicago, New Orleans, Seattle and Boston
Pilot
Names: Lowell H. Smith, Erik Nelson, Frederick L. Martin & Leigh Wade
Comments:
1st Flight Round-the-World, 4 Planes started, 2 finished.
Jim Bolander
Represented
by Jeanie Loiacono – Loiacono Literary Agency
www.loiaconoliteraryagency.com
Published
by Ecanus Publishing
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