Gregory Crouch's Blog, page 36

Ceremony in China commemorating the 70th anniversary of the Hump

Likiang Mountain, just north of the normal flight path (Gifford Bull photo)

A ceremony was held yesterday in Kunming, China, to honor the 70th anniversary of the beginning of the Hump airlift. British, American, and Chinese dignitaries attended the event, and an article about the ceremony written by Patrick Scally appeared in Gokunming.com, a website devoted to promoting interest in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province, which was  the eastern terminus of the airlift.

The website also has a fine summary of CNAC in another posting written by Diego Kusak, son of Hump pilot Steve Kusak.

Rudy Maxa, The Savvy Traveler, and China's Wings

This morning, Rudy Maxa, aka "The Savvy Traveler," posted a nice review of China's Wings in the "Travel Minute" section of his website in which he calls China's Wings "a riveting book."

I did a short radio interview with him about China's Wings on March 3. Rudy has it posted as a podcast and our China's Wings conversation starts just after minute 24:00, and runs through minute 30:00.

Here's the full text of what Rudy said in his China's Wings Travel Minute:

If you're fascinated by aviation and history, I'd like to tell you about a new book I think you'll enjoy.  It's a compelling account of the early days of flight in China and the rise of Pan American Airways.

The book is called China's Wings, and its subtitle gives a hint to what's between the covers: "War, intrigue, romance, and adventure in the Middle Kingdom during the Golden Age of flight."

It's written by journalist Gregory Crouch whose previous book, Enduring Patagonia, described from a climber's point of view the rugged landscape of Patagonia in South America.

This time Crouch turns his attention to Asia before World War II, when the Nationalist Chinese, the Japanese, and American aviation interests were clawing for control of that part of the world.  His main character is William Langhorne Bond, an American who arrives in China to help organize China's national airline.  But war intrudes, and when the Japanese capture Burma and cut off China's only overland supply route, Bond and his colleagues must fly over the Hump–the Himalayas–to supply fighters.

It's a riveting book made richer by Bond's letters from which Crouch was allowed to draw.  China's Wings.  At Amazon.com and in stores.

China's Wings events in Sacramento and Davis, Sunday, March 25

CNAC pilot's wings on a map of the Hump

I'll be giving my China's Wings slide show, speaking, and signing books at The Avid Reader bookstores in Sacramento and Davis this coming Sunday, March 25.

At The Avid Reader at the Tower in Sacramento, at 1600 Broadway, at 2 p.m.

And at The Avid Reader in Davis, at 617 Second Street, at 5 p.m.

Everybody is welcome, so please bring your friends. My slide shows at all the events I've done this month have been very well-received.

Photos from Bookshop West Portal event

 

Moon Chin signs a book

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tom Moore, of cnac.org, and Moon's neice, Lili

 

 

 

 

 

 

The crowd!

Today, the 81st Anniversary of Bond's arrival in China

Today, Saint Patrick's Day, is the 81st anniversary of William Langhorne Bond's arrival in China, in 1931.

Shaking Moon Chin's hand at Bookshop West Portal, photo by Paul Hara

It has been a thrilling week for China's Wings. I did two incredibly successful events at two top-shelf bookstores: Bookshop West Portal in San Francisco, and Chaucer's Bookstore in Santa Barbara. Moon Chin attended the Bookshop event, which was tremendous good fun. The Chaucer's event was packed with hometown friends, and the after-party at Harry's Plaza Cafe was a mini high school reunion, but with many other strong personal connections added.

Bookshop West Portal, photo by Paul Hara

Yesterday, the Pioneers of the Sky: 3 Books That Take Flight episode of "Three Books" I'd recorded for NPR aired on "All Things Considered," and China's Wings debuted on the LA Times bestseller list at #9. In all, a pretty exciting day.

China's Wings and The Atlantic

Last night's China's Wings event at Bookshop West Portal in SF was a major success — we sold out the store. Thanks to all the friends and CNAC people who attended, and especially to Moon Chin. I am so honored that he came.

One of the staff members called it "the most successful event in the history of Bookshop West Portal."

The store's selection of books makes it obvious that the people there know a lot about books. When the dust of this month settles, I'm going to make a point of leisurely perusing their shelves.

By way of other news, my story about climbing in Iran last summer is in the April issue of The Atlantic. I just saw it in the grocery store for the first time this morning.

China's Wings live radio interview with Rudy Maxa, "The Savvy Traveler"

I did a live radio interview with Rudy Maxa's radio show early on the morning of March 3. He was a lively, well-informed interviewer, and although I was sweating blood to be on live with only a single cup of coffee in my veins, I think it came off okay.

The China's Wings segment starts a few seconds after 24:00 of the podcast.

Thanks, Rudy! I hope you've enjoyed the rest of the book.

 

China's Wings live radio interview with Rudy Maxa, "The Saavy Traveler"

I did a live radio interview with Rudy Maxa's radio show early on the morning of March 3. He was a lively, well-informed interviewer, and although I was sweating blood to be on live with only a single cup of coffee in my veins, I think it came off okay.

The China's Wings segment starts a few seconds after 24:00 of the podcast.

Thanks, Rudy! I hope you've enjoyed the rest of the book.

 

CNAC luggage labels and an airline poster

One of the best aspects of the last couple of weeks is the number of CNAC-related people and aviation-o-philes who've been contacting me to share their enthusiasm for China's Wings. One of them is Daniel Kusrow, who has a collection of CNAC luggage labels, timetables, and posters. He sent scans of some of his better items this morning, and I'm delighted to post four of them here. (Don't miss the gorgeous poster at the bottom of the page.)

Two other runs of CNAC brochures and timetables and luggage labels can be found on the Airline Timetable Images website, created by two Swedes, Björn Larsson and David Zekria, that is devoted to showcasing various collections of airline material. It's a pretty spectacular website.

In the interest of commercial fairness, here are links to items related to Eurasia, CNAC's chief commercial rival through the 1930s and '40s — one here and another set here. Eurasia reorganized at Central Air Transport Company in 1943, and Moon Chin became it's operations manager in 1945. (pp. 371-375 of China's Wings.)

I'll feed these images into the photo album I'm building on the China's Wings Facebook page. It's getting to be a nice collection, with more than 60 images and photos. Click on over, "like" it, and surf through the album.

Kiwi climbing hero Athol Whimp

Athol Whimp and me in Venice, February 1999

Athol's great partner Andrew Lindblade emailed this picture to me this morning. Andy took it in February 1999, in Venice, California, when he and Ath had an LAX layover on their way back to Australia from France, where they'd been awarded the Piolet D'Or for their spectacular ascent of Thalay Sagar's North Face. I'd driven down from Santa Barbara to spend a couple afternoon hours with them. We ended up on the Venice Beach boardwalk, an anecdote that constitutes "The Alpine Tribe" Horizontal Interlude in Enduring Patagonia (pp. 168-171).

I'd met Athol in Patagonia after his February 1994 solo of Cerro Torre's Compressor Route. I'd bumped into him and Andy the following fall in Yosemite, and we shared a campsite for two or three hilarious weeks. Andy moved to the United States in the late 1990s, and I've seen him many times through the years. Athol and I kept in loose touch, but I hadn't seen him again until 18 months ago, when he and Andy drove down from Portland for a week of action in Yosemite. Quiet and a little withdrawn until you'd earned his respect, clever and hilarious once you had, and hard, disciplined, driven, keenly intelligent, and positively brimming with life, Athol was one of the people in the world I most admired. I think the partnership profile I wrote about him and Andy is the best piece of climbing writing I've ever done. And one of the easiest, because it's duck soup to channel such a great story. ("Right mate, Let's Get On With It," Climbing No. 231, June 2004).

Athol and Andy's son Aki in the Grampions this past January.

Athol was killed in a climbing accident in New Zealand a few weeks ago. It's hard to fathom; it hardly seems possible. The world is a lesser place without him in it.