'Young men assumed that the Grim Reaper would harvest their seniors long before their own turn came. Captain Paul Schluter knew better. During his long seafaring career there had been occasions when the Reaper had swung his scythe indiscriminately, cutting down the young with the old. Yet Schluter had volunteered to navigate in a suicidal air race to Hawaii – and he had never flown before. He declared: 'I'll go for the glory!'
'Other glory-seekers included Hollywood movie stars, newspaper reporters, elderly ladies, boy scouts, and a young schoolteacher.
'The pilots were among the world’s most illustrious aviators and the names of their financial backers read like a Who’s Who of big business - but all the aircraft in the race were experimental. And one was still being constructed at the starting line, only hours before the race.
'President Calvin Coolidge was warned that it was not a sporting contest. It was a catastrophe about to happen. Lloyds of London classified it - "an uninsurable risk". But no one could stop it. The US Pacific Fleet made ready for a massive search and rescue operation…
'This amazing story is a factual account of aviation in the Roaring Twenties when Lindberg Fever gripped America. Other books have been written about it, but this is the definitive one. It is a brilliantly researched and forensic study of how the aircraft were constructed, the motivation of the financiers and the politicians - and of the aviators' bravery and folly. ' (Publication abstract)
