Race to Hawaii

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A century ago, a flight to Hawaii was a twenty-six-hour journey across 2,400 miles of the open Pacific. The US Navy tried first; then Army Air Corps aviators and a civilian pilot informally raced each other to Hawaii in the weeks after Charles Lindbergh crossed the Atlantic. Finally came the Dole Derby, an unprecedented 1927 air race in which eight planes set off at once across the Pacific, all eager to claim a cash prize offered by Pineapple King, James Dole. The pilots encountered every type of hazard during their perilous flights, from fuel shortages to failed engines, forced sea landings and severe fatigue to navigational errors. Ryan chronicles these early attempts to open Hawaii to flights from the West Coast. -- adapted from Amazon.com info