{"product_id":"balloon-ace-the-life-of-an-early-airpower-visionary-paperback","title":"Balloon Ace: The Life of an Early Airpower Visionary - Paperback","description":"\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp style=\"text-align: right;\"\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/reportcopyrightinfringement.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"\u003e\u003cb\u003eReport copyright infringement\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eCharles D. Jr. Dusch\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn 1927, when aviator Charles A. Lindbergh flew his famous monoplane in a triumphant tour of the United States, the Spirit of St. Louis touched down in Wheeling, West Virginia, for his visit to the Linsly School. There, Lindbergh laid a wreath at the foot of the Aviator--a statue erected by Sallie Maxwell Bennett bearing the likeness of her son, Louis Bennett Jr., West Virginia's only First World War flying ace. Though largely unknown today, Bennett was an airpower innovator whose tragically short combat career would have an enduring impact on American flight and on war memorials both at home and abroad. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eBalloon Ace: The Life of an Early Airpower Visionary\u003c\/i\u003e, historian Charles Dusch reconstructs Louis Bennett Jr.'s lost legacy. Advocating for a national aviation reserve years before the writings of \"Billy\" Mitchell, Bennett created a state aerial militia in 1917, complete with supporting airbases and an airplane factory. When the US Army refused to accept his unit, a frustrated Bennett joined the Royal Air Force to fight on the Western Front, destroying nine German balloons and three aircraft in a matter of days before he himself was shot down. In the second act of Bennett's story, Dusch traces Sallie Bennett's quest to clandestinely recover her son's body. Posing as a journalist, Sallie traveled to Europe searching the cemeteries on the Western Front and later commissioned twelve memorials to Bennett, including a chapel in France, the RAF window in Westminster Abbey, and the Aviator at Linsly. Moved by the vast destruction of the continent, she would eventually cross political boundaries to bring much-needed publicity to other mothers' demands for the US government to repatriate their own fallen loved ones.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom West Virginia to the Western Front and back again, \u003ci\u003eBalloon Ace \u003c\/i\u003eis more than a multifaceted and insightful account of the pioneer aviators who prepared the United States for combat in the first air war--it is also a remarkable look at the commemoration culture that spanned the American Civil War to war-torn Europe in the early twentieth century.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003cb\u003eCharles D. Dusch Jr. \u003c\/b\u003eis a founding member of the United States Space Force History Program and a former Air Force Academy Command Historian. His work has been published by Air University Press, Naval Institute Press, Sorbonne Université Presses, and the \u003ci\u003eJournal of Military History\u003c\/i\u003e, among others. He is a retired Air Force aviator with over two thousand fighter hours and earned a PhD in history from West Virginia University.\u003c\/p\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 304\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.83 x 6.06 x 9 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\n            \u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e February 04, 2025\u003c\/div\u003e\n            ","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53480050065715,"sku":"9781985901605","price":48.53,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/s3xxpj-vy.myshopify.com\/products\/balloon-ace-the-life-of-an-early-airpower-visionary-paperback","provider":"The Celestial Starlit Phoenix ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}