Jimmy Doolittle (Waldo taught him the 'theory of flight'), Howard Hughes (and Hell's Angels"), Amelia Earhart when she was a student pilot, Charles Lindbergh before (and after) his transatlantic flight, just to mention a few.

From his first tremulous flight in 1909 at 15 to his last solo at 77, Waldo's hands-on flying career tells what happened in American aviation during those 63 years as it was lived by no one else. Here's a story encompassing virtually the entire history of flight in America in narrative form, 502 pages with over 300 photographs and illustrations, based not only on Waldo's life as told in 40 hours of audio tapes, but researched in countless contemporary accounts and a bibliography of over 150 books.

Waldo was a pioneering aviator, manufacturer, designer, barnstormer, inventor, test pilot, teacher, and friend of most of that era: Glenn Curtiss, Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, Bill Stout, Lincoln Beachey, Billy Mitchell, Louise Thaden, Carl Spaatz, Frank Clarke, Howard Hughes, Gene Vidal, Jimmy Doolittle, Roscoe Turner, Frank Hawks, Claude Ryan, Cecil B. deMille...oh, there were so many!

You will read of his founding an airline...of his life as an early TWA pilot; of Hollywood flying with Clara Bow and Alice Faye, and of the epic "Hell's Angels" filming; of founding Van Nuys and Ontario airports; of his winning at the National Air Races; of setting a world altitude record; of being an "Entrant" at America's first Air Meet; of teaching Jimmy Doolittle the Theory of Flight; of his involvement in the wipe-out of one-third of the U.S. Navy's airforce; of his perfection of the only successful flying automobile...and of his life-long participation in The Early Birds, the premier flying organization...and so much more! Note: The rear cover shows Waldo and Amelia Earhart about a year before her disappearance.