NAVY AIR TRANSPORT SERVICE

What was it like as a pilot, navigator, and air crewman flying the world as part of the U.S. Navy Transport Squadrons during the period after WWII and the beginning of the jet age?

You’ll find out in great detail if you get and read a copy of the 2003 book “Before the Jets” by Joseph Reeves, a collection of fiction short stories bound to capture your interest and attention, particularly if you flew the four engine transports during the period. The book is pure adventure.

“This is an excellent book written by someone who obviously was there and lived the life,” said Michael Morgan of Daytona Beach, Florida. “The characters may be fictional but the details and experiences seem very real. I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in knowing what aviation was like ‘before the jets’.”

A lot of the action takes place at and out of Moffett Field, so much of what is seen on base and the surrounding cities and towns will be more than familiar.

How did the pilots find their way across the continent on stormy winter nights “flying the beam?”

What were the qualifications needed to pilot and navigate planes with limited power and fuel on ocean-spanning routes and in the Arctic before the era of accurate weather forecasting and satellite aids to navigation?

Experience the embassy flight out to Guam, Clark, Saigon, and on to the Middle East. Or follow the difficulties escorting a 55 plane flight of B-26s to Europe via Goose Bay, southern Greenland, Keflavik, Ayr Scotland, and into Germany. Be with the crews hauling tons of coal into Berlin during the airlift.

More than anything, experience the excitement aboard an R5D or Super Constellation when there is engine or other mechanical trouble, an all too frequest situation, or when the navigator makes an error and the aircraft drifts far off course.

See the outcomes when pilots try innovations which sometimes worked and sometimes didn’t, including trying to cross the Pacific using “pressure pattern” techniques or trying a “single heading” flight across the Atlantic.

The last part of the book which revisits the central characters a decade later for one final glimpse at how their lives had been shaped by the most memorable of their experiences is particularly revealing.

The book is often available through the local city or county library system.

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