More Than a Pilot
Words on Wings Press is pleased to announce new editions of ALL NINE of Don McVicar’s exciting aviation memoirs as sleek and easy-to-read Kindle e-books.
This is the FIRST TIME these volumes are all available in the same format, known as the Streamlined Edition.
Fun fact about e-books; they are also searchable databases! Better than an index, simply type in the name of an airplane, person or place for the full value of the content to be revealed. This is a real boon to aviation historians and other aficionados of the numerous types of now-classic aircraft McVicar flew and wrote of so brilliantly.
More Than a Pilot was first published as a hardcover book in 1985, by Airlife in England, and follows Mosquito Racer, as former Royal Air Force Ferry Command Captain/Navigator Don McVicar continues to build his post-war career in commercial aviation in his native Canada. As Canadian distributor of the brand-new V-tail Beechcraft Bonanza, and a personal friend of founder Walter Beech, McVicar and his adventurous and sexy girlfriend Loretta fly many miles together promoting the sleek single-engine aircraft for Beechcraft and their fledgling company, World-Wide Aviation.
McVicar still hopes to find charter business for his two war-surplus Dakotas (also known as DC-3s or C-47s). He must contend with the Canadian Government and its ruling that made Trans-Canada Airlines its “Chosen Instrument” meaning entrepreneurs such as World-Wide are forbidden to compete for the best routes. He is learning to his dismay that without “friends in high places” he and his small company will have a hard time surviving in his home country. Yet he finds creative ways to persevere, including occasional charters, barnstorming and the sale of surplus aircraft parts. He begins to build his very own DC-3 from a stripped-out fuselage. His heart was set upon operating a “sked” airline and he was determined to pursue this dream.
Using his hours in a long cross-country flight, McVicar relates stories about aviation legends such as Wiley Post, Howard Hughes, Amelia Earhart and Charles and Anne Lindbergh from his own perspective, that of a highly experienced, long-distance pilot.
This is the first time since More Than a Pilot went out of print that its exciting stories have been made available!
Captain/Navigator Don McVicar after receiving his Order of the British Empire in Ottawa in 1948.
One of two Dakotas McVicar purchased as war surplus in Silloth, England, and ferried to Quebec to turn into a charter aircraft for his fledgling airline.
Don McVicar’s favorite copilot, his adventurous and sexy girlfriend Loretta, posing on the wing of a Beechcraft Bonanza during a photo shoot at Beechcraft headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, to promote the sleek executive aircraft.
