Book Review: The Aviators: Eddie Rickenbacher, James Doolittle, Charles Lindbergh, and the Epic Age of Flight

         Author Winston Groom focuses on a well known trio of American aviator heroes who somehow managed to survive an incredible number of near disasters, crashes, wars, and relentless media attention.   All three were recipients of the Medal of Honor; all three were accorded the status given only to classic heroes for their accomplishments.   Author Groom, a novelist as well as an historian, weaves his accounts together as he chronicles the events of each pilot as they advance the young science of aviation through its difficult, formative years: the teens and twenties and thirties of the 20th century.
        Eddie Rickenbacker is the first and oldest.   He is well known for his WW I exploits as a fighter pilot against German airmen over the battlefields of France and Belgium.  Jimmy Doolittle is remembered for his epic flight over Tokyo in 1942 when he led US bombers from an aircraft carrier to Japan to make the first strike against the homeland city.   Charles Lindbergh, of course, remembered for his record-braking flight across the Atlantic Ocean, alone, without any significant navigational aids other than a compass, landing in Paris over 31 hours later.
       Author Groom has done his homework, flushing out the characters of each; filling in the blanks of long careers in aviation.   These heroes were not single event heroes, but men who continually exceeded all limitations of performance in many areas, including aircraft design, mechanics, navigation, experimentation, training, and the propagation of new advances across the field of aeronautics.  That they lived long lives testifies to their own prowess as pilots, leaders, and thinkers of all things aviation.  He describes Charles Lindberghs travails as a media darling who turned against the same relentless people who created his heroic status.   He endured the kidnapping and murder of his first son; and he endured the rigors of over 50 combat missions in the South Pacific in WW II.
Jimmy Doolittle is given credit for his his ability to organize and complete a one-of-a-kind raid against all odds four months after the attack on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.  Somehow, he was able to survive that ordeal and perform again in Europe against Nazi air forces over France and Germany.  Trained as an engineer, Doolittle was able to incorporate many technical advances directly into the  cockpits of aircraft during production.
        This book is an essential compendium of the development of modern aviation in the 20's and 30's.   For those with an interest in the era, this is the book.