Includes bibliographical references (pages 419-503) and index.

This work is an account of the race to cross the Atlantic, and the larger-than-life personalities of the aviators who captured the world's attention. In 1919, a prize of $25,000 was offered to the first aviator to cross the Atlantic in either direction between France and America. Although it was one of the most coveted prizes in the world, it sat unclaimed (not without efforts) for eight long years, until the spring of 1927. It was then, during five incredibly tense weeks, that one of those magical windows in history opened, when there occurred a nexus of technology, innovation, character, and spirit that led so many contenders (from different parts of the world) to all suddenly be on the cusp of the exact same achievement at the exact same time. This book is about the race; it is a milestone in American history whose story has never been fully told. Richard Byrd, Noel Davis, Stanton Wooster, Clarence Chamberlin, Charles Levine, Rene Fonck, Charles Nungesser, and François Coli, all had equal weight in the race with Charles Lindbergh. Although the story starts in September 1926 with the crash of the first competitor, or even further back with the 1919 establishment of the prize, its heart is found in a short period, those five weeks from April 14 to May 21, 1927, when the world held its breath and the aviators met their separate fates in the air.

Winged messengers -- Phantom Travelers. Strange days ; The sure thing ; "This hero business" ; The explorer ; The most spectacular race ever held" ; The farm boy ; The cowboy ; The professionals ; The Lord of Distances. -- Five Weeks. Cruel days ; A little patch of green ; The maiden flight ; The white bird ; Curtiss Field ; The waiting game ; A bad case of nerves The chosen. -- Am I aLittle Nobody? . Passengers ; Four men in a fog ; "The clouds between must disappear" ; The way the wind sock blows ; "In the clouds." -- Transatlantic time line.

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