FLYING THROUGH TIME: A Journey Into History in a World War II Biplane
Jim Doyle
Brassey's Inc. (2003)

As he lovingly restored a vintage Boeing Stearman biplane, former advertising executive Jim Doyle became fascinated by its history–both of his particular aircraft and Stearmans in general, which came into service in 1939 as the primary trainer for U.S. army pilots. (Tens of thousands of WW II bomber and fighter pilots did their first solos in Stearmans.)

Thanks to the Army Air Corps’ legendary devotion to paperwork, Doyle was able to retrace the history of his own plane from its construction in Wichita through assignments at nine training fields from California to South Carolina, and finally to its sale to a crop duster for $850 in 1945. Meticulously-kept flight logs recorded each of several hundred pilots who earned his wings in Doyle’s plane and a few who didn’t – the plane was rebuilt twice after being crashed by cadet pilots. Amazingly, Doyle was able to track down and reminisce with some of the very pilots who had flown his plane – including one who crashed it 60 years ago!.

Fascinated by their stories, Doyle decided to retrace his aircraft’s wartime journeys, touching down at each base where it had been stationed and talking to every WW II Stearman pilot he could find. FLYING THROUGH TIME is the leg-by-leg narrative of that 8,000-mile trip and Doyle’s experiences as he met, talked and flew with Stearman vets along the way. Woven into the 85,000-word book are the wartime recollections of these and other pilots about their flying experiences in training and later in combat.

E-Mail us at nepa@nepa.com if you are interested in obtaining the rights for this book. Please let us know which rights you are seeking.

To return to the previous page, click the Back button on your browser.