Flying: The Aviation Trilogy

by Richard Bach

Here for the first time in a single volume are three of Richard Bach's most compelling works about flight.
From his edgy days as a USAF Alert pilot above Europe in an armed F84-F Thunderstreak during the Cold War to a meander across America in a 1929 biplane, Bach explores the extreme edges of the air, his airplane, and himself in glorious writing about how it feels to climb into a machine, leave the earth, and fly.
Only a handful of writers have translated their experiences in the cockpit into books that have mesmerized generations.

Genres: Aviation

464 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1963

About the author

Since Jonathan Livingston Seagull - which dominated the #1 spot on the New York Times Bestseller List for two consecutive years - Richard Bach has touched millions of people through his humor, wisdom and insight.

With over 60 million copies of his books sold, Richard Bach remains one of the world's most beloved authors. A former USAF fighter pilot, Air Force captain and latter-day barnstorming pilot, Bach continues to be an avid aviator-author, exploring and chronicling the joys and freedom of flying, reporting his findings to readers.

His most recent works include Travels with Puff, which recounts Bach's journey from Florida to Washington state in his small seaplane, Puff, and Illusions II: The Adventures of a Reluctant Student, which incorporates Bach's real-life plane crash.

In October 2014, the never-before-published Part Four to Jonathan Livingston Seagull was published.

Readers can find more about Richard and his work at www.richardbach.com

Reviews

[Esteban Stipnieks · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richard Bach occupied a slot on the staff of Flying Magazine previously occupied by Ernest K Gann in these three titles he reveals himself a worthy heir to the throne. I had read these books adolsecent and teen years. My father 1st handing me Stranger to the Ground. You can see the makings of JOhnathon Livingston Seagull within these books or the starts of it. Stranger to the Ground is a depiction of AIr National Gaurd life from a certain era ..... that is why my father liked it. It captures he glory of flight and there is some poetic wisdom about the River of Time and man's dream of flight. Biplane is also interesting ..... finally Nothing by Chance. You do not have to love flying to enjoy these books but it helps. My orginal reads of BIplane and Nothing by CHance where Laundry day and day off camp staff reading.

[Byron Edgington · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here we have a three-some of aviation tales from Jonathan Livingston Seagull author and flyer Richard Bach. Bach’s trilogy begins with a mission across peacetime Europe in an Air Force F-84, to deliver documents to a certain high-ranking officer. In standard Bach fashion, the flight is explained, expounded, extrapolated and explored through the eyes of a man infatuated with his craft, both Air Craft and writing craft. Bach doesn’t board the airplane; he steps inside the machine, wraps himself in it, becomes one with the guts and grit and metallic gadgetry that appears to anyone not in love with flying to be a simple airplane.
Bach writes with the deft pen of someone who knows the value of panache, and the peril of overcompensation. In other words, he writes much like a skilled pilot flies his craft. He prepares his flight plan as an outline; he takes off with descriptions of that segment of flying that places readers in his cockpit; he cruises across the night sky with ease, enters storm clouds like a pro and exits them into safety, bringing readers along. Reading Bach is like taking a fearful plane ride, assured of a safe and gentle outcome.
Most of the book traces Bach’s Great American Flying Circus, his barnstorming tour in 1966 accomplished in his Detroit-Parks biplane. Despite two significant accidents that summer, close calls in several places and finally wrecking the airplane on Interstate 80 of all places, Bach closes the book with yet more description of the convergence of aviation and good fortune. He claims there are no accidents in the universe. When assistance arrives not once but twice, in places, at times, under circumstances and by the only people who could possibly help, Bach says, “I rest my case.”
The book drags only when the narrator gets involved in his own needs, his nutrition, poor cash flow, sleeping arrangements and the de rigeur advertising for paying passengers. In other words, the low points of the book equate to the ground episodes. Once Bach is airborne, the writing soars as well. This is a satisfying addition to the Richard Bach aviation opus, and a welcome title on any aviation reader’s shelf.
Byron Edgington, author of The Sky Behind Me: A Memoir of Flying & Life

[Sheila Embry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book from Bach.