One Chance for Glory: First Nonstop Flight Across the Pacific

The book is about Clyde Pangborn, a Washington-born early aviator who accomplished feats far exceeding those of persons such as Charles Lindberg but got nearly zero recognition for is deeds. The book, One Chance for Glory is a historical fiction book about Pangborn being the first to fly the 4500 miles nonstop across the Pacific in 1931. To do this, he had to jettison his landing gear into the ocean shortly after takeoff from Japan, do an in-flight repair job outside the airplane at 17,000 feet at night in frigid October weather, put the airplane into a terrifying dive down to 1400 feet over the Bering Sea to restart the engine, divert the flight path to avoid collision with Mt Rainer upon arrival in the US, and belly-land (crash land) the airplane on a landing strip cut out of the sage brush above Wenatchee, Washington.

There has been much written on Clyde Pangborn and his accomplishments during his lifetime.  He was a unique individual born during the ideal time during the coming of age of heavier-than-air flight.  Just by putting "Clyde Pangborn" in a computer web search engine, numerous articles appear.  Although contradictory, a feeling about him and his partner Hugh Herndon begins to take shape.
 
It is hard to imagine a mom's feelings as her son in his thirties proclaims his intention of flying around the world in a single-engine airplane--as poor reliability was prevalent in those days.
 
This book was written in an attempt to solidify some of these contradictions, fill in possible solutions to the voids in the history and to bring to light the feelings and concerns the family members and friends must have experienced in those trying times. Possibly the most important thing was to bring to light the one thing that these guys should be famous for--being the first to fly the Pacific nonstop--an accomplishment that wasn't even duplicated until after WWII.
 
The result was a very interesting story filled with action from cover to cover.  Kirkus Indie calls it a novel with "cinematic quality" while the Midwest book review people say it is "a must for followers of aviation history".
 
Read it, and if you like it--pass on the word.  We need to put these guys on the map!!