THEIR HONOR

There are some 160 active Air Force bases in the United States today; this book is not about them, but rather about the men after whom twenty of them were named. It remains to be seen whether Mr. Feeny has seven more volumes in preparation. Beginning as this one does with such pre-Wright Brothers aeronautic pioneers as Octave Chanute and Samuel Pierpont Langley, then proceeding through the short, thrilling careers of World Wars I and II aces like Frank Luke, Thomas McGuire, and the McConnell brothers, and ending with the men such as David Schilling and Iven Kincheloe who risked their lives to make supersonic aviation a commonplace reality, this is a fine, if fragmentary, history of American aviation. Wisely, Mr. Feeny has devoted most of his attention to lesser-known heroes; indeed, aside from Claire Chennault's, the average reader will he hard put to it to recognize the names of any of these honored dead. Each story is brief, quietly but interestedly told, and free from both cloying adulation and any deep concern with personalities or private motives. The subjects appear outstanding in their respective virtues, but never superhuman.