Flying in the face of adversity... Howard Hughes was known during his lifetime as one of the most financially successful individuals in the world. Funded by his considerable wealth, he formed the Hughes Aircraft Company in 1932 and spent the remainder of the decade setting multiple world air speed records. The enigma that was Howard Hughes and the saga of the mighty airline he ruled ruthlessly for two decades are combined in this unique corporate history that reads like a thrilling work of aviation fiction. Movie stars and moguls; airline chieftains and staff, from pilots to skycaps - these are the colourful characters that grace the pages of this anecdote-filled book that pulls no punches. In the course of researching the TWA story, author Robert J Serling interviewed more than one hundred individuals, many of whom knew Hughes personally. The result - a portrayal of the eccentric billionaire that has never been seen before. This is the first full account of the great air carrier that the moody, mysterious Hughes first saved from extinction and then nearly destroyed in the process... Praise for Robert J Serling 'Aviation buffs will revel in this thoroughgoing chronicle' - Kirkus Robert J Serling (1918-2010) wrote aviation fiction, as well as some non-fiction, his whole adult life and received the 1988 Lauren D. Lyman Award for distinguished achievement in the field of aviation and aerospace journalism. Formerly residents of Washington, D.C., he and his wife moved to Tucson, Arizona. He passed away in 2010 at the age of 92.

The story of a great airline is the story of people, and nowhere is this more evident than at American Airlines.Thus we meet giants of the industry such as C. R. Smith, the bookkeeper from an impoverished family who, more than any man, made American the colossus it is today, and Robert Lloyd Crandall, who in 1980 took over the presidency of the airline during one of its most troubled times and brought it through flying higher than ever. But we also meet pilots, mechanics, marketing experts, and scores of middle-management executives — all of whom Robert Serling brings alive with vivacity.Eagle is the definitive, action-filled history of the airline that became one of the world’s recognized leaders in air transport—a company of both courage and controversy. It tells the story of the growth of American Airlines, from a hodgepodge of carriers operating biplanes over routes that went virtually nowhere, into a giant admired by even its fiercest competitors.Praise for Robert ‘Aviation buffs will revel in this thoroughgoing chronicle’ – Kirkus‘High level of suspense and excitement’ - De Moines Sunday Register‘Serling has spun another winner’ – Publisher’s Weekly‘…keeps you guessing til the end’ - Arizona Daily StarRobert J. Serling (1918-2010) was aviation editor of United Press International and won the annual TWA Best Aviation News Reporting Award for four years running.

Hardbound; 8.5 x 11; 144 pages; printed endpapers wiith color map; color dustjacket with painting by Grif Teller; many illustrations and period advertisements; color ephemera section. "This is the history of the brief collaboration between the Pennsylvania, the Santa Fe, and even the Norfolk and Western Railroads on transcontinental air transport. "Harken back to the period of the development of the Ford Trimotor airplane. In this earlier and less sophisticated era of airliner technology existed an unlikely partnership among competititve modes of transportation. "Rediscover Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart in their roles as public relations icons. This is a rail and air journey across America in the early part of the twenthieth century."