Roscoe Turner: Aviation's Master Showman Paperback - 1999

Of all the barnstorming pilots of the 1920s, Turner (1895-1970) was the most successful in whipping up enthusiasm for the new phenomenon of manned flight. Early on he adopted as his trademark attire a sky-blue tunic, fawn-colored jodhpurs and riding boots; in addition he wore an outsize waxed mustache and traveled about with his pet lion, Gilmore, whom he had raised from a cub. But he was flamboyant for a purpose: he was a supersalesman who peddled flying not only by barnstorming, mostly through the South in the 1920s, but also by winning national and international races in the 1930s, helping to train pilots during WWII, writing a book, editing a magazine, appearing on radio programs and playing a minor role in a movie. A bad money manager, he perpetually sought corporate sponsorship, and the combination of his piloting skills and his outgoing personality got him that support. This scrupulously researched work by retired Air Force colonel Glines resurrects an aerial showman who takes his rightful place in the pantheon of 20th-century daredevils. Photos not seen by PW. (from Publishers Weekly; Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.)

Roscoe Turner could only have happened in America. His career was a classic rags-to-riches epic, and one can only wonder how many youngsters were influenced by his example during the dark days of the Depression. With this book, Carroll Glines makes that sort of influence possible all over again. (Air And Space)

An incisive look at one of the most colorful figures in aviation history. . . . Roscoe Turner: Aviation's Master Showman is a great book, as multidimensional as Turner was himself. (Aviation History)

As one of America's premier aviation historians, Carroll Glines has given us a delightful and thoroughly researched biography of one of our audacious aerial risk takers. (Jacksonville Times-Union)

The 1920s and '30s were the Golden Age of aviation in this country. . . . No one personified that era better than Roscoe Turner. With his waxed mustache, polished boots, riding breeches, powder blue military jacket, diamond-studded aviator wings, and pet lion Gilmore, Turner (1895-1970) was just the kind of larger-than-life character aviation needed to capture the public's imagination. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)

A retired Air Force colonel, Carroll V. Glines is curator of the Doolittle Military Aviation Library at the University of Texas at Dallas. He is the author of thirty-one books, including Bernt Balchen: Polar Aviator (Smithsonian Institution Press, 1999).