Race to Hawaii: The 1927 Dole Air Derby and the Thrilling First Flights That Opened the Pacific

Description

Race to Hawaii is the thrilling account of the first flights to Hawaii during the Golden Age of Aviation. The Dole Derby was an unprecedented 1927 air race in which eight planes set off at once across the Pacific, all eager to reach the islands first and claim a cash prize offered by "Pineapple King" James Dole. Military men, barnstormers, a school

Jason Ryan is the author of Jackpot: High Times, High Seas, and the Sting That Launched the War on Drugs and Hell-Bent: One Man's Crusade to Crush the Hawaiian Mob.

"A page-turning account of 'the precarious, pioneering flights to Hawaii' during the late 1920s." Kirkus Reviews "Sputtering engines, empty fuel tanks, failed radios, never-ending foglots went wrong when early aviators tried to steer the first planes across the Pacific....Jason Ryan thrillingly recounts each pitfall as he details American airmen's ultimate triumph over the world's mightiest ocean." WINSTON GROOM, author of The Aviators and Forrest Gump " Race to Hawaii takes you on a wild ride over 2,400 miles of storm-tossed skies to a tropical paradise. Painting a mural of America's quest to reach Hawaii by air in lush, vivid colors, Jason Ryan breathes life into the death-defying pioneers of aviation's golden age." JONATHAN W. JORDAN, author of Brothers, Rivals, Victors and American Warlords "Beautifully captures the excitement, wonder, and tragedy of the pioneering age of aviation. Combining masterful research with his gift for storytelling, Jason Ryan has brought to life a thrilling story of adventure filled with an incredible cast of characters. This is, without a doubt, one of the best books I've read in ages. Race to Hawaii simply soars!" JAMES M. SCOTT, 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Target Tokyo "Jason Ryan's expertly told Race to Hawaii tells the fascinating, thrilling, and sometimes tragic story of the first flights to Hawaii in the 1920s, and the fearless pilots who risked everything for a chance at fame and money." CATE LINEBERRY, author of Be Free or Die "We all know Lucky Lindy conquered the Atlantic. But the Pacific was much wider and the goal just some distant specks of land. Learn who accomplished this impossible feat and how they did it in Jason Ryan's Race to Hawaii ." JAMES BRADLEY, author of Flags of Our Fathers and Flyboys "The characters in this book are so colorful you think you're reading fiction. . . . Ryan has uncovered a simply amazing tale." SKIP HOLLANDSWORTH, author of The Midnight Assassin "This is a tremendous read and a meticulously researched historical account of American aviators who embodied the courage to fly into the unknown. Not to be missed." JOHN BRUNING, author of Indestructible: One Man's Rescue Mission That Changed the Course of WWII