Through Cuba to Oblivion

Words on Wings Press is thrilled 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.

 Through Cuba to Oblivion was Don McVicar’s third original book to be entirely self-published and printed upon demand. From the Arctic Circle to the Tropic of Cancer, then across the North Atlantic to more than a dozen European countries, this is the engrossing story of Canada’s World-Wide Airways, Inc.

McVicar was deeply disappointed when his publisher, Airlife in England, declined to accept his book A Railroad from the Sky, saying it was “too Canadian.” They had also refused to run a second edition of his 1981 book, Ferry Command, after the first edition sold out. Showing the same determination and perseverance that had kept him and his aircrews alive during his many thousands of miles aloft during his service as a Captain/Navigator in the Royal Air Force Ferry Command, he figured out a way to self-publish his books on demand. This was quite a feat considering this was 1990 and self-publishing was simply not an option for authors. He began by dividing Ferry Command into its two logical halves, adding new material to both, and having a Montreal printing company comb-bind the photocopies of the master pages he’d printed out on his dot-matrix printer into Ferry Command Pilot or South Atlantic Safari as soon as an order came in. Onto the master pages he’d tape into place photos, telegrams, clippings, maps, charts and whatever paper items that he thought helped to tell the story; unfortunately, most of these items were not retrieved after his passing in 1997. But what matters are his words!

How does one hardworking Canadian trying to make an honest living manage to get four countries mad at him at the same time? And find himself written up in Time magazine as a result? What is it like to carry 30,000 yeeping baby chickens in an airplane all the way from Toronto to Havana, Cuba?  How many times can a Lockheed Super Constellation lose an engine? As McVicar put it, “like the poor soul who had a tiger by the tail, there was no way I could let go.”

Through Cuba to Oblivion went out of print with the passing of Don McVicar in 1997; now it’s finally back for all to enjoy!