QUEEN OF THE CLOUDS

Phillips offers a dual biography of two young American pilots who each aimed to be the first woman to fly solo around the world.

Ohioan Geraldine “Jerrie” Mock was 16 in 1941 when Pearl Harbor was attacked, and the following year, she signed up for a course in preflight aviation. In college, she majored in aeronautical engineering; after she got married, she bought her first plane, nicknamed Tweetie Bird, for $1,200. In 1962, she entered the All Woman’s International Air Race, flying from Houston to Nassau in the Bahamas. Another pilot in the race was Floridian Joan Merriam Smith, who got her own plane when she was still a teenager. Although the two flyers didn’t meet then, just two years later, in 1964, they discovered that they’d both decided to fly around the world, just as Amelia Earhart had attempted. Although the routes the two women prepared to fly were entirely different—Smith would mimic Earhart’s equatorial route and Mock would stay in the Northern Hemisphere—the media branded the flights as a speed competition. The women took off just two days apart, and each encountered rugged weather and other challenges during their journeys. Both were celebrated for their globe-circling flights, but each woman suffered from financial difficulties in the years that followed. Phillips, who’s also from Florida, interviewed Mock numerous times for this, his debut book; another key interviewee was the granddaughter of Smith’s flying partner, Trixie Schubert, who possessed Smith’s tape-recorded journal of her historic flight. Overall, the book is clearly heavily researched. However, some readers may find the footnotes distracting; the additional information might have fit in better at the end of the book. In addition, an included litany of how things have changed for women since the 1960s seems unnecessary. That said, the author skillfully weaves together Mock’s and Smith’s stories, and he offers a riveting portrayal of the drama of flying through treacherous weather and dealing with equipment difficulties.

A well-documented work that takes off smoothly and glides to a satisfying ending.