Prairie Flyers of Central Illinois:

A Century of Aviation in America’s Heartland.

When Mother Nature made American prairies, she created one vast airfield. It’s not mere chance that so many aviation pioneers are from the Midwest―farm kids, small-town kids―who grew up accustomed to vast expanses of earth and sky. Barnstormers, flight attendants, NASA engineers, crop dusters, World War II bombers and Vietnam helicopter pilots were dispatched from areas of the heartland, places like Central Illinois. Their stories, big and small, bear testimony to America’s enduring fascination with flying machines, a fascination that has taken prairie flyers to every corner of the world. Edith Brady-Lunny, Denis Hambucken and John Warner offer a ground-level view of aviation history in the nation’s heartland, including personal stories of the flyers and the global legacy of the Flying Farmer organization.

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Reviews

Great stories of flying in the Heartland, from the very first days of aviation into the modern age. Tremendously interesting how many of us from the central plains have been captured by the dream of flight. It was very heartening to read all the stories of so many folks who came from circumstances like mine to do incredible things in the air. I was born in Lincoln, IL and feel a special connection to these stories. — Scott Altman, NASA Astronaut and veteran of four Space Shuttle missions.