Flyings Strangest Moments: Extraordinary But True Stories from Over One Thousand Years of Aviation History

FLYING'S STRANGEST MOMENTS is part of a series put out by England's Robson Books (CRICKET'S STRANGEST MOMENTS, GOLF'S STRANGEST ROUNDS, POLITICS' STRANGEST CHARACTERS, etc.), some two dozen titles being published to date. Like the others in the series, John Hardings' 2006 volume relates 'extraordinary but true' anecdotes, in this case drawn from 1,000+ years of aviation history. Harding's book is chronologically arranged, the first entry dating from 875 A.D. when Abbas Ibn Firnas, a young astronomer/poet/daredevil, made mankind's inaugural glider flight. (One of Baghdad's airports is named after Firnas). The closing anecdote dates from June 2005 when three Brits broke the world's record for highest dinner party(!) by dining on poached salmon, duck a l'orange, etc. in a balloon at 24,262 feet before skydiving back to earth. In between those two incidents, Harding presents stories, usually 2-3 pages in length, on: the first and only(!) test of the Conical Parachute in 1817; the famous 'Mystery Airship' that appeared in American skies in 1896; the various failed aircraft invented by 'Colonel' Samuel Franklin Cody; Harry Houdini's flights in Australia circa 1910; career highlights of Hollywood stuntmen Ormer Locklear and Dick Grace; Amelia Earhart; the Hindenburg tragedy; Rudolf Hess' 1941 flight to England; the 'Lady be Good' saga; the 1945 B-25 Empire State Building crash; Buddy Holly's death; various crashes attributed to bombs/hijacking/mechanical failures; unbelievable survival stories; Dick Rutan and Jeanna Yaeger's 1986 round-the-world flight; Matthias Rust landing in Red Square; etc. Overall I found FLYING'S STRANGEST MOMENTS an interesting read. Some stories were well-known to me; others less so. One quibble: I question the extraordinary but true subtitle since Harding includes stories dealing with ghost planes, ghost crews, etc. but that's just me. Considering the price tag of $13.00, you can't go wrong picking up a copy of Harding's book. It's a real smorgasbord of aviation history: try it, you'll like it.