- Hardcover: 245 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books Inc. (30 April 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0345436172
- ISBN-13: 978-0345436177
- Product Dimensions: 16.4 x 2.4 x 24.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 763,608 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
“Winged treasure” they call them–the lost remains of the great American fighter planes and bombers that won World War II. Hellcats and Superfortresses, Corsairs and Dauntlesses. Produced by the thousands at the height of the war, and then cast off as scrap in the decades that followed, these warbirds are now worth literally anything–fortunes, families, even lives–to the people who search for them. Like many men, writer Carl Hoffman was bitten by the warbird bug as a child. But he never imagined that he would one day witness and participate in a heroic adventure himself–the most audacious warbird rescue attempt of all time.
The crash of the Kee Bird B-29 Superfortress made banner headlines in 1947 when a team of Air Force pilots pulled off the near-miraculous feat of locating the wreck in Greenland and snatching its stranded crew from the teeth of the arctic winter. For nearly half a century, the almost perfectly intact warbird lay abandoned on a lake of ice–but not forgotten. Fifty years later, with collectors paying upward of a million dollars for salvageable World War II planes, two intense fanatics, legendary test pilot Darryl Greenaymer and starry-eyed salvage wizard Gary Larkins, hatched the insane idea of launching an expedition to Greenland to find the Kee Bird, bring it back to life, and fly it out.
In this riveting adventure of man, machine, and history, the quest for winged treasure ultimately extends far beyond the search for the Kee Bird. Hoffman literally crisscrosses the country to track down the key players in the
high-stakes warbird game. He meets a retired Midwestern carpenter who crammed every inch of his yard with now-precious warbirds during the lean years when they were considered junk; attends an air show where crowds go wild at the sight of four of the twelve air-worthy B-17s flying in formation; speaks to pilots and mechanics, millionaire businessmen and penniless kids–all of them ready to drop everything in pursuit of these fabled planes.
“These planes are a sickness, that’s all there is to it,” one warbird fan tells Hoffman as he lovingly polishes his vintage B-17. In this superbly crafted narrative, Hoffman turns the warbird craze into the stuff of high drama and awesome adventure. Hunting Warbirds takes us to the heart of one of the most fascinating obsessions of our time.
The crash of the Kee Bird B-29 Superfortress made banner headlines in 1947 when a team of Air Force pilots pulled off the near-miraculous feat of locating the wreck in Greenland and snatching its stranded crew from the teeth of the arctic winter. For nearly half a century, the almost perfectly intact warbird lay abandoned on a lake of ice–but not forgotten. Fifty years later, with collectors paying upward of a million dollars for salvageable World War II planes, two intense fanatics, legendary test pilot Darryl Greenaymer and starry-eyed salvage wizard Gary Larkins, hatched the insane idea of launching an expedition to Greenland to find the Kee Bird, bring it back to life, and fly it out.
In this riveting adventure of man, machine, and history, the quest for winged treasure ultimately extends far beyond the search for the Kee Bird. Hoffman literally crisscrosses the country to track down the key players in the
high-stakes warbird game. He meets a retired Midwestern carpenter who crammed every inch of his yard with now-precious warbirds during the lean years when they were considered junk; attends an air show where crowds go wild at the sight of four of the twelve air-worthy B-17s flying in formation; speaks to pilots and mechanics, millionaire businessmen and penniless kids–all of them ready to drop everything in pursuit of these fabled planes.
“These planes are a sickness, that’s all there is to it,” one warbird fan tells Hoffman as he lovingly polishes his vintage B-17. In this superbly crafted narrative, Hoffman turns the warbird craze into the stuff of high drama and awesome adventure. Hunting Warbirds takes us to the heart of one of the most fascinating obsessions of our time.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
This book is probably the best written about warbirds. It tells the story of 2 salvagers, Darryl Greenamyer and Gary Larkins,and the rare aircraft they have sucessfully and unsucessfully returned from the far corners of the globe. This tells the storys fom first hand and is tragic and stunning, but always gripping.
Format:Hardcover
This book is probably the best written about warbirds. It tells the story of 2 salvagers, Darryl Greenamyer and Gary Larkins,and the rare aircraft they have sucessfully and unsucessfully retrived from the far corners of the globe. This tells the stories from first hand and is tragic and stunning, but always gripping.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
18 reviews
10 of 12 people found the following review helpful
HUNTING FOR A CONCLUSION TO HUNTING WARBIRDS
15 April 2001
Format:Hardcover
Author Hoffman did well in bringing the Kee Bird (B-29) renovate-to-fly story to the reader. His vivid character descriptions made one feel he was in a smoke filled, "expat" barroom alive with dreams and deals. However much like the Kee Bird herself, Mr. Hoffman's book failed to clear the runway and fly the reader to a satisfying landing. After the Kee Bird tale the author lapsed into a meandering style as he wrote of hohum tell-me-about-yourself visits with vintage aircraft collectors and relatively mundane (cf. the Kee Bird) aircraft recovery ops. Additionally, as noted by another reviewer, if you are a student of vintage aircraft you already know of the Hoffman tales via PBS, Discovey, and aeronautical periodicals.
9 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Who's the Audience?
30 May 2001
Format:Hardcover
"Hunting Warbirds" primarily relates the story of the location and extraction of an RB-29 lost in Greenland in 1947. As a story about modern archaeology it's fairly interesting, as a story about warbirds and collectors, it's superficial. Other reviewers have clearly outlined the rambling nature of the prose: we go from Greenland, to the States for an interview with a "unique" collector (that doesn't really shed insight into Warbird Enthusiasts, except to say that some are obsessed. Anyone's who's been to a gaming or Star Trek convention can observe the same behaviors in the minority of attendees), back to Greenland. But as I said above, "Who's the audience here?" One of the concepts I was taught in my undergrad days was to write to the knowledge base of the target audience. Mr Hoffman, seems to have ignored this advice in this work. His NUMEROUS inaccuracies regarding WW2 aircraft, and aviation are enough to put off aviation enthusiasts, (the logical target audience) while the narrow scope of the book would discourage general readers. The inaccuracies themselves always leave that "what else is missing, misquoted or just plain wrong here?" notion in the back of your mind. This is frankly surprising since his resume includes "Air & Space" and "Smithsonian" magazines. Finally, a better book would have at least summarized the efforts in Finland, Germany, and Russia to recover some of their warbirds from WW2. Operations that in ethnocentric America, don't get their deserved attention. If you are an aviation or WW2 aircraft enthusiast, you already know this story-the book offers no addtional insight-certainly none into WW2 salvage as a whole. If you have a slight interest in the subject matter, the documentaries about the salvage operation are a better medium.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Disintegrated, formless
19 April 2003
Format:Hardcover
Piston-engined aircraft of WWII are among the most fascinating and important artifacts of the 20th century, part of some of the most intriguing history of war and humanity that affected millions directly and indirectly. It is not surprising that they evoke passion and obsession.
This book attempts to describe the passion and obsession, but its disjointed, episodic and disintegrated form works against it and the technical errors are annoying. Reviewer Collins (see his review) correctly identifies the core problem: the author does not seem to have considered his audience(s). If he's writing for knowledgeable aviation enthusiasts, his lack of depth, poor research and many errors are a turnoff. If he's writing for non-flyers, he doesn't provide enough background information on the many wonderful flight museums and collectors around the world to frame the subject adequately (his superficiality about, say, Kermit Weeks, is a huge disappointment, as just one glaring example). If he's writing for readers who enjoy literature, his lack of polish is a disappointment--much of the book reads like a first draft. It seems that Hoffman's approach to flying is skewed to the gee-whiz and away from the magnificent, mysterious realities of aviation.
Offering credentials like AIR & SPACE and SMITHSONIAN doesn't induce confidence in the reader. Both these publications often use materials from staff or stringers that are deeply disappointing and too often read like the work of somewhat talented amateurs, matched by editorial positions that seem to be issued--without justification--ex cathedra. If Hoffman had written for AVIATION WEEK or FLIGHT JOURNAL one could be sure of its quality.
If some genuinely competent pilot-writer could approach this subject--someone like, say, Walter Boyne or Richard Bach--it would result in an important historical document with breadth, depth and authenticity. Such a work is urgently needed. Sadly, HUNTING WARBIRDSA is not that book.
This book attempts to describe the passion and obsession, but its disjointed, episodic and disintegrated form works against it and the technical errors are annoying. Reviewer Collins (see his review) correctly identifies the core problem: the author does not seem to have considered his audience(s). If he's writing for knowledgeable aviation enthusiasts, his lack of depth, poor research and many errors are a turnoff. If he's writing for non-flyers, he doesn't provide enough background information on the many wonderful flight museums and collectors around the world to frame the subject adequately (his superficiality about, say, Kermit Weeks, is a huge disappointment, as just one glaring example). If he's writing for readers who enjoy literature, his lack of polish is a disappointment--much of the book reads like a first draft. It seems that Hoffman's approach to flying is skewed to the gee-whiz and away from the magnificent, mysterious realities of aviation.
Offering credentials like AIR & SPACE and SMITHSONIAN doesn't induce confidence in the reader. Both these publications often use materials from staff or stringers that are deeply disappointing and too often read like the work of somewhat talented amateurs, matched by editorial positions that seem to be issued--without justification--ex cathedra. If Hoffman had written for AVIATION WEEK or FLIGHT JOURNAL one could be sure of its quality.
If some genuinely competent pilot-writer could approach this subject--someone like, say, Walter Boyne or Richard Bach--it would result in an important historical document with breadth, depth and authenticity. Such a work is urgently needed. Sadly, HUNTING WARBIRDSA is not that book.
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