THADDEUS LOVE: America's One-Man Air Corps

A relatively minor figure in the overall picture of America's air-borne progress, Thaddeus Love believed in the successful future of the aerostat and successfully navigated aloft to the bewilderment of a sceptical public. This is the record of his theories put to the test, with the building of the City of New York. Love's efforts were interrupted by the Civil War and enriched by the marriage to a French girl, Leontine. Many leading scientists of the time concurred in his opinion that balloon flights across the Atlantic were possible in three days, though Love did not succeed.