The Emergence of Soaring in America : Warren E. Eaton and Aviation in the Interwar Era

The Emergence of Soaring in America: Warren E. Eaton and Aviation in the Interwar Era explores Warren E. Eaton’s legacy and his contribution to the growth of aviation in America during the Interwar era. Edward J. Erickson and Elise B. Eaton construct the book around three seminal events in Warren E. Eaton’s life: marrying Genevieve “Vieve” Jacoby, being a First World War fighter pilot, and becoming enamored with motorless flight or soaring. The authors highlight how the U.S. Army trained its fighter pilots in its advanced flight training program in France during the First World War, provide a local perspective on the rise of small-scale commercial aviation and airports during the Interwar era, explore previously unpublished eye-witness testimony and newly discovered forensics to explain the circumstances surrounding Warren Eaton’s fatal flight over Biscayne Bay in Miami, Florida, and present the story behind why, how, and when Warren Eaton’s Falcon came to be on permanent display in the National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia. Through Eaton’s family history and secondary sources, Erickson and Eaton fill in missing and episodic gaps in Warren E. Eaton’s extant literature and his contributions to sports, military, and commercial aviation history.