Eastern Air Lines
Eastern Air Lines

Author: David Lee Russell

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2013-09-28

Total Pages: 247

ISBN-13: 1476601968

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Eastern Air Lines began in 1926 when aviation pioneer Harold Pitcairn started the first carrier air mail route from New York to Atlanta under his company, Pitcairn Aviation. Clement Keys of National Air Transport bought the company in 1929, changed the name to Eastern Air Transport and began passenger service the next year on daily round trips between New York and Richmond. The growing airline was purchased by General Motors and became Eastern Air Lines in 1934. World War I flying ace Edward V. Rickenbacker purchased the airline four years later and led it to become by the 1950s the most profitable airline in the United States. Former astronaut Frank Borman became president of Eastern in 1975 and tried to manage the airline through deregulation, labor union conflict, and heavy debt, ending with the sale of Eastern to Frank Lorenzo and Texas Air in 1986. The airline entered bankruptcy in March 1989 and ended service in less than two years. This detailed history follows Eastern from start to finish, studying such corporate decision-making as aircraft purchases and route expansions, as well as the personalities that shaped the airline throughout its history.

A People's History of SFO
A People's History of SFO

Author: Eric Porter

Publisher: Univ of California Press

Published: 2024-03-12

Total Pages: 304

ISBN-13: 0520402332

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An illuminating profile of the San Francisco Bay Area, and its regional and global influence, as seen from the focal point of San Francisco International Airport (SFO). A People's History of SFO uses the history of San Francisco International Airport (SFO) to tell a multifaceted story of development, encounter, and power in the surrounding region from the eighteenth century to the present. In lively, engaging stories, Eric Porter reveals SFO's unique role in the San Francisco Bay Area's growth as a globally connected hub of commerce, technology innovation, and political, economic, and social influence. Starting with the very land SFO was built on, A People's History of SFO sees the airport as a microcosm of the forces at work in the Bay Area—from its colonial history and early role in trade, mining, and agriculture to the economic growth, social sanctuary, and environmental transformations of the twentieth century. In ways both material and symbolic, small human acts have overlapped with evolving systems of power to create this bustling metropolis. A People's History of SFO ends by addressing the climate crisis, as sea levels rise and threaten SFO itself on the edge of San Francisco Bay.

Babe Ruth and the Creation of the Celebrity Athlete
Babe Ruth and the Creation of the Celebrity Athlete

Author: Thomas Barthel

Publisher: McFarland

Published: 2018-07-25

Total Pages: 287

ISBN-13: 1476626626

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From his first year in the majors, George Herman "Babe" Ruth knew he could profit from celebrity. Babe Ruth Cigars in 1915 marked his first attempt to cash in. Traded to the Yankees in 1920, he soon signed with Christy Walsh, baseball's first publicity agent. Walsh realized that stories of great deeds in sports were a commodity, and in 1921 sold Ruth's ghostwritten byline to a newspaper syndicate for $15,000 ($187,000 today). Ruth hit home runs while Walsh's writers made him a hero, crafting his public image as a lovable scalawag. Were the stories true? It didn't matter--they sold. Many survive but have never been scrutinized until now. Drawing on primary sources, this book examines the stories, separating exaggerated facts from clear falsehoods. This book traces Ruth's ascendance as the first great media-created superstar and celebrity product endorser.

Taking Flight
Taking Flight

Author: Raquel Ramsey

Publisher: University Press of Kansas

Published: 2022-09-30

Total Pages: 312

ISBN-13: 0700634169

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In October 1944 Nadine Ramsey was thirty-three and she was flying the cutting-edge P-51 Mustang to New Jersey, its last stop before heading to the war in Europe. The irrepressible young woman from Wichita had long been determined to fly and the gathering storm clouds of World War II had provided an unexpected opportunity. Taking Flight is the inspiring story of a girl from Depression-era Kansas who overcame tremendous challenges and defied convention to become an elite pilot—one of the few American women to fly fighter aircraft during World War II. Taking Flight follows Nadine as she became one of 1,102 women to join the Women’s Airforce Service Pilots and one of only 303 WASPs to take to the skies in military cockpits, transporting aircraft to bases across the nation for use in the theaters of war. This book marks her milestones: the first Kansas woman to earn a commercial pilot license; among the earliest women to fly the US Air Mail; one of only 26 WASPs who flew the Lockheed P-38 Lightning, a fighter aircraft—and the first woman to own one; the only woman in the country to instruct male pilots to fly fighter planes after the war. Disbanded in late 1944 to make way for male pilots and barred from piloting for commercial airlines, the WASPs spent the next three decades fighting to win veteran status. Taking Flight: The Nadine Ramsey Story is a profile in courage of a woman who helped clear the flight path for today’s female combat and commercial aviators.