A review by komet2020
Fly in thin air: A novel of aviation before and during World War II. by William R. Dameron

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring tense medium-paced

• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.75

Fly in Thin Air is a novel that tells 2 stories that roughly run parallel to each other. One is centered on Lockheed Aircraft and some of the pivotal figures within it (such as Robert E. Gross, its President who had submitted a successful bid in June 1932 for ownership of the company; Clarence "Kelly" Johnson, a young and extremely talented aeronautical engineer who helped perfect some of the most revolutionary aircraft  in history - such as the P-38 Lightning fighter plane - that Lockheed would produce; Marshall Headle, a former WWI pilot and Lockheed test pilot; and Hall Hibbard, a chief engineer at Lockheed) during the 1930s and World War II. The other story is centered around a fictional character, Jimmy Foster, who, while attending high school in the mid-1930s not far from the Lockheed plant in Burbank, CA, is offered an opportunity to do odd jobs at Lockheed. This would lead on to other, greater opportunities for Jimmy, who gets accepted for pilot training in the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1940 and goes on to become a fighter pilot in World War II, flying the P-38 Lightning in combat.

The aviation and air fighting sequences are what gives life and drama to this novel. The other aspects of the novel are pedestrian fare at best. Nevertheless, reading Fly in Thin Air was a worthwhile experience.