Voyager

The two fliers who made it happen tell their own stories of the designing and building of the Voyager, and the first circumnavigation of the world without refuelling. 16 color and 48 black-and-white photographs.

On the morning of December 23, 1986, Yeager and Rutan, man and wife, set down their one-of-a-kind, home-built airplane, Voyager, at the base in California where, little more than nine days earlier, they had begun their nonstop flight around the worlda 25,000-mile-plus adventure they describe in dramatically human terms in this richly illustrated book. They tell their story in alternating and nicely dovetailed this-is-how-it-was first-person pieces, with help from Phil Patton, who wrote Open Road and Razzle Dazzle. More than half the book focuses on the several years before the flight, which Jeana and Dick, with a growing legion of professional and volunteer helpers, spent designing, building, testing and testing again (dangerously) their ultra-light, catamaran-shaped craft with its tiny "horizontal telephone booth" cockpit. The intrepid pair, who "didn't know what we were getting ourselves into," met at an airshow, he a Vietnam flier of 105 missions, she both a pilot and a horse-trainer. They shared the dream of the flight, fell in love, married and went on to see their know-how and courage tested almost beyond endurance in the voyage that more than once nearly ended in disaster. Photos. 70,000 first printing; BOMC alternate.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

The Voyager 's nine-day epic flight around the world without refueling was a media event and the culmination of a dream. The demanding physical requirements of the flight and the setbacks in its preparation represent a pinnacle of endurance by Yeager and Rutan, who spent six years designing, building, and testing the aircraft. Voyager 's uniqueness was in its airfoil design, immense fuel capacity, and very light composite structure. The human interest in this achievement will appeal to those who followed the story in the news. Well-written and highly recommended. BOMC alternate.William A. McIntyre, New Hampshire Vocational-Technical Coll. Lib., Nashua
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.