The Astonishing Adventure of America's Forgotten Flier

So what convinced you that Lester Maitland's story, largely a forgotten outside aviation story, deserved a full-length biography?

Well, this seemed to me to be one of those stories that just needed to be told.

It was by the Wisconsin native, Lester Maitland, who was almost as famous as Lindbergh when he flew from the continental United States to Hawaii just a few weeks after Lindbergh went to France.

And of course, Hawaii is a much smaller target than France, so I thought at the time a lot of people thought it was a much bigger navigational feat.

And so I looked into it, and the more I discovered about the story, the more I was intrigued.

Not only was he the first person to fly to Hawaii, he was the oldest bomber pilot in World War II, or one of the oldest bomber pilots in World War II.

And then later in life in his 50s, his things took a dramatic turn and he became an Episcopal priest and decided to spend the rest of, rest of his life serving that way.

So it was a life of service in many respects, service to country and then to people and to God, and I thought it was really interesting that the story hadn't been more told.

Why did he sort of disappear from public memory, um, and does that sort of reflect on how we pick and choose our heroes?

I wonder if it does.

I'm not sure.

I think part of it was because at the time he was, he was not into f- he was not interested in fame.

When he did that Hawaii flight, he of course wanted to be the first to fly from Hawaii, from the United States to Hawaii, but it wasn't like Lindbergh's flight, which was expressly to win a big prize, and it was all about publicity.

The flight from California to Hawaii, the Army was really just testing navigational instruments, and there was no prize money at stake.

Uh, he did write about it later, but he was never interested in fame.

And I think that, uh, I'm not sure whether we pick and choose our heroes if we look past the front page all that deeply.

And so when people with quieter stories sometimes fall by the wayside.

So what convinced you that Lester Maitland's story, largely a forgotten outside aviation story, deserved a full-length biography?

Well, this seemed to me to be one of those stories that just needed to be told.

It was by the Wisconsin native, Lester Maitland, who was almost as famous as Lindbergh when he flew from the continental United States to Hawaii just a few weeks after Lindbergh went to France.

And of course, Hawaii is a much smaller target than France, so I thought at the time a lot of people thought it was a much bigger navigational feat.

And so I looked into it, and the more I discovered about the story, the more I was intrigued.

Not only was he the first person to fly to Hawaii, he was the oldest bomber pilot in World War II, or one of the oldest bomber pilots in World War II.

And then later in life in his 50s, his things took a dramatic turn and he became an Episcopal priest and decided to spend the rest of, rest of his life serving that way.

So it was a life of service in many respects, service to country and then to people and to God, and I thought it was really interesting that the story hadn't been more told.

Why did he sort of disappear from public memory, um, and does that sort of reflect on how we pick and choose our heroes?

I wonder if it does.

I'm not sure.

I think part of it was because at the time he was, he was not into f- he was not interested in fame.

When he did that Hawaii flight, he of course wanted to be the first to fly from Hawaii, from the United States to Hawaii, but it wasn't like Lindbergh's flight, which was expressly to win a big prize, and it was all about publicity.

The flight from California to Hawaii, the Army was really just testing navigational instruments, and there was no prize money at stake.

Uh, he did write about it later, but he was never interested in fame.

And I think that, uh, I'm not sure whether we pick and choose our heroes if we look past the front page all that deeply.

And so when people with quieter stories sometimes fall by the wayside.