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The Cannibal Queen: A Flight Into The Heart Of America
Stephen Coonts has been hailed as the best contemporary author writing about flying. In The Cannibal Queen , he turns his storytelling genius to nonfiction with an exultant account of three glorious months in the summer of ‘91 spent in the cockpit of a 1942 Stearman vintage biplane. Joining the ranks of John Steinbeck and Charles Kuralt, Coonts takes us on an extraordinary adventure, touching down in all forty-eight of the continental United States.
On a clear, sunny Saturday in June, Coonts and his fourteen-year-old son David take off from Boulder, Colorado, in a 1942 Stearman open cockpit biplane, “a noisy forty-nine-year-old wood and canvas crate with a naked floozy painted on the side.”
The Queen started life as a World War II primary trainer then spent over thirty years as an agricultural spray plane before being lovingly restored. For Coonts, who’s logged thousands of hours in the Navy’s most sophisticated aircraft, the Queen is flying as he’s never known it before—flying close the earth, the wind teasing his helmet, equipped with little more than a map and a compass.
First stop is a Stearman fly-in in St. Francis, Kansas. there amid the barbecues and barber-shop quartets, the tree lined streets with their modest homes, Coonts feels nostalgia for small-town America, for a way of life he felt was dying. Yet, by the end of the journey, having met the friendly, richly individual people in towns large and small across the land, he knows our nation has weathered her first two hundred years remarkably well, and he is filled with hope for the future of this vast and varied land.
First published in 1992, The Cannibal Queen was Coonts’ first venture into nonfiction and is hailed today as a classic flying story. Coonts captures the joy and wonder of flight on every page. Over half the fan mail he has received through the years has been about this book. You owe it to yourself to go flying with Stephen Coonts.
On a clear, sunny Saturday in June, Coonts and his fourteen-year-old son David take off from Boulder, Colorado, in a 1942 Stearman open cockpit biplane, “a noisy forty-nine-year-old wood and canvas crate with a naked floozy painted on the side.”
The Queen started life as a World War II primary trainer then spent over thirty years as an agricultural spray plane before being lovingly restored. For Coonts, who’s logged thousands of hours in the Navy’s most sophisticated aircraft, the Queen is flying as he’s never known it before—flying close the earth, the wind teasing his helmet, equipped with little more than a map and a compass.
First stop is a Stearman fly-in in St. Francis, Kansas. there amid the barbecues and barber-shop quartets, the tree lined streets with their modest homes, Coonts feels nostalgia for small-town America, for a way of life he felt was dying. Yet, by the end of the journey, having met the friendly, richly individual people in towns large and small across the land, he knows our nation has weathered her first two hundred years remarkably well, and he is filled with hope for the future of this vast and varied land.
First published in 1992, The Cannibal Queen was Coonts’ first venture into nonfiction and is hailed today as a classic flying story. Coonts captures the joy and wonder of flight on every page. Over half the fan mail he has received through the years has been about this book. You owe it to yourself to go flying with Stephen Coonts.
352 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1992
About the author
Stephen Coonts
141 books732 followersStephen Coonts (born July 19, 1946) is an American thriller and suspense novelist.
Coonts grew up in Buckhannon, West Virginia, a small coal-mining town and earned an B.A. degree in political science at West Virginia University in 1968. He entered the Navy the following year and flew an A-6 Intruder medium attack plane during the Vietnam War, where he served on two combat cruises aboard the USS Enterprise (CVN-65). He accumulated 1600 hours in the A-6 Intruder and earned a number of Navy commendations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war he served as a flight instructor on A-6 aircraft for two years, then did a tour as an assistant catapult and arresting gear officer aboard USS Nimitz (CVN-68). His navigator-bombardier was LTjg Stanley W. Bryant who later became a Rear Admiral and deputy commander-in-chief of the US naval forces in Europe.
After being honorably discharged from duty as a lieutenant in 1977, Coonts pursued a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree at the University of Colorado, graduating in 1979. He then worked as an oil and gas lawyer for several companies, entertaining his writing interests in his free time.
He published short stories in a number of publications before writing Flight of the Intruder in 1986 (made into a movie in 1991). Intruder, based in part on his experiences as a bomber pilot, spent 28 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists in hardcover and launched his career as a novelist. From there he continued writing adventure-mysteries using the character from his first book, Jake Grafton. He has written several other series and stand-alone novels since then, but is most notable for the Grafton books.
Today Coonts continues to write, having had seventeen New York Times bestsellers (out of 20 books), and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with his wife and son.
Taken from Wikipedia
Learn more about Stephen Coonts on the Macmillan website.
Coonts grew up in Buckhannon, West Virginia, a small coal-mining town and earned an B.A. degree in political science at West Virginia University in 1968. He entered the Navy the following year and flew an A-6 Intruder medium attack plane during the Vietnam War, where he served on two combat cruises aboard the USS Enterprise (CVN-65). He accumulated 1600 hours in the A-6 Intruder and earned a number of Navy commendations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross. After the war he served as a flight instructor on A-6 aircraft for two years, then did a tour as an assistant catapult and arresting gear officer aboard USS Nimitz (CVN-68). His navigator-bombardier was LTjg Stanley W. Bryant who later became a Rear Admiral and deputy commander-in-chief of the US naval forces in Europe.
After being honorably discharged from duty as a lieutenant in 1977, Coonts pursued a Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree at the University of Colorado, graduating in 1979. He then worked as an oil and gas lawyer for several companies, entertaining his writing interests in his free time.
He published short stories in a number of publications before writing Flight of the Intruder in 1986 (made into a movie in 1991). Intruder, based in part on his experiences as a bomber pilot, spent 28 weeks on the New York Times bestseller lists in hardcover and launched his career as a novelist. From there he continued writing adventure-mysteries using the character from his first book, Jake Grafton. He has written several other series and stand-alone novels since then, but is most notable for the Grafton books.
Today Coonts continues to write, having had seventeen New York Times bestsellers (out of 20 books), and lives in Las Vegas, Nevada with his wife and son.
Taken from Wikipedia
Learn more about Stephen Coonts on the Macmillan website.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews
January 26, 2021
What to expect? Author flies his small plane around the USA (literally) as a quest. Primary focus is on the aviation aspects; however, as a hardcore geography geek I found the many stops at small cities and towns of interest. If you're not into aviation or geography, you'll likely find it rough going. There's a bit about his background and personal life as well, which neither added nor detracted for me. Trip was in 1991, so it's dated, but could be seen as a snapshot of an earlier era.
May 27, 2024
“I like everything about flying.”
This thought expressed by author Stephen Coonts succinctly describes the theme of The Cannibal Queen: An Aerial Odyssey Across America.
In the summer of 1991, Coonts flew the Cannibal Queen—his bright yellow 1940s-vintage open cockpit biplane—into all 48 contiguous US states. He writes about the people he meets, the airports and aircraft he encounters, the towns and attractions he visits—much like an aviation version of Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley: In Search of America.
Coonts also delves into the aviation-specific aspects of his journey. He talks about the maintenance issues with the Queen, the good and bad interactions with air traffic control, and even the mistakes he makes and the close calls he has during the flights.
More than anything, this is a love story about the joys of flight. Coonts made this journey in the time before we navigated with GPS and iPads. Instead, he used paper maps and relied on relatively primitive navigation methods with expressive names like pilotage and dead reckoning. His descriptions of the sights he sees and the feelings he has are also—in a good and effective way—primitive. His thoughts about flying are not saccharine or even all that sentimental. Instead, they are expressed in a way in which many of us might relate.
As Coonts recounts, “…in biplanes and sailing vessels, the journey is more important than the destination.”
If you’re a pilot, this book will remind you over and over why you fly.
This thought expressed by author Stephen Coonts succinctly describes the theme of The Cannibal Queen: An Aerial Odyssey Across America.
In the summer of 1991, Coonts flew the Cannibal Queen—his bright yellow 1940s-vintage open cockpit biplane—into all 48 contiguous US states. He writes about the people he meets, the airports and aircraft he encounters, the towns and attractions he visits—much like an aviation version of Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley: In Search of America.
Coonts also delves into the aviation-specific aspects of his journey. He talks about the maintenance issues with the Queen, the good and bad interactions with air traffic control, and even the mistakes he makes and the close calls he has during the flights.
More than anything, this is a love story about the joys of flight. Coonts made this journey in the time before we navigated with GPS and iPads. Instead, he used paper maps and relied on relatively primitive navigation methods with expressive names like pilotage and dead reckoning. His descriptions of the sights he sees and the feelings he has are also—in a good and effective way—primitive. His thoughts about flying are not saccharine or even all that sentimental. Instead, they are expressed in a way in which many of us might relate.
As Coonts recounts, “…in biplanes and sailing vessels, the journey is more important than the destination.”
If you’re a pilot, this book will remind you over and over why you fly.
January 10, 2015
Excellent travelogue written by the man who wrote Flight of the Intruders (BTW, book is MUCH better than the movie!) As a licensed pilot, it made me ACHE to fly across the country in an open cockpit plane!
May 2, 2013
A fun book about a man's love of flying.
October 15, 2021
This book goes beyond the title. Yes, it is a great narrative of the Author’s experiences as he pilots his vintage Boeing Stearman across the contiguous 48 US States. While the book provides a simple journal-style outline of his day-to-day journeys, the author skillfully incorporates deep insight to his lifelong love/passion for flight, and masterfully links his daily risks, challenges, and struggles of flying with those experienced throughout his personal/professional/family life. For those who call themselves ‘a pilot’, the book is written with a level of detail and technical-speak to engage/relate. That said, however, the author avoids alienating laymen, novices, and the true ‘land lovers’. Perhaps one of the greatest aspects of the book (at least in my humble opinion) is the interaction between the author and his preteen son. Tagging along as a part time copilot, passenger (deadweight), lackey/luggage tender, entertainment coordinator, etc., the author’s son adds an entertaining and, at times, a heartfelt example of the relationship experienced between all fathers and sons.
March 7, 2024
Add the The Cannibal Queen: A Flight Into The Heart Of America to my list of favorite travel tales: Blue Highways and Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values—this time in a fifty-year-old World War II Stearman bi-plane. It’s a leisurely romp across America as former Naval Aviator and novelist Stephen Coonts spends a summer landing in every state in the continental U.S. The book is not really a piloting primer, but there’s a fair share of reflection on weather, winds, and landing a tail dragger properly, with a little bit of news (the fall of the U.S.S.R.), opinions about book publishing before eBooks, and the colorful characters who own and operate General Aviation Airports. Coonts belonged to my flying club while I lived in Colorado during the Eighties. Sorry I never got a chance to meet him.
September 21, 2023
In 1991 the author went on an adventure, flying his Boeing Stearman over the US. The first part of the journey his son took part in this trip. Later on it was a solo flight, but he met quite a number of interesting people along the way and visited many interesting places. Fun, for me at least, was that I visited the US twice in the 80’s and visited some of the places and museums mentioned by the author. So for me it was a trip down memory lane at times. And being an aviation nut myself I loved the flying parts of the book.
The way he describes his experiences, encounters and trials, takes you inside the cockpit. You see him looking around for a gap in the clouds, feel for him when he tries to make a flawless landing, but doesn’t pull it off, and his fooling around with his son. I also loved his humor and dry wit.
A really enjoyable read, written in an easy and engaging way.
The way he describes his experiences, encounters and trials, takes you inside the cockpit. You see him looking around for a gap in the clouds, feel for him when he tries to make a flawless landing, but doesn’t pull it off, and his fooling around with his son. I also loved his humor and dry wit.
A really enjoyable read, written in an easy and engaging way.
July 27, 2021
Excellent book.
Aviation version of Steinbeck’s “Travels with Charlie.”
Retired airline pilot with many hours of WW2 Warbird time. (BT13, PT26 and PT23.)
I like the way Steve described his landings with a tailwheel airplane. I agree with most everything he said about his technique. I subscribe to the other school of thought about crosswind landings though.
I prefer wheel landings because with lots of rudder jammed in,the tailwheel is turned on touchdown. (3 point.) Wheel landings allow me to center the rudder for a moment just as the tailwheel comes down.
Aviation version of Steinbeck’s “Travels with Charlie.”
Retired airline pilot with many hours of WW2 Warbird time. (BT13, PT26 and PT23.)
I like the way Steve described his landings with a tailwheel airplane. I agree with most everything he said about his technique. I subscribe to the other school of thought about crosswind landings though.
I prefer wheel landings because with lots of rudder jammed in,the tailwheel is turned on touchdown. (3 point.) Wheel landings allow me to center the rudder for a moment just as the tailwheel comes down.
February 7, 2023
This is a classic read for me. Read this years ago after Flight of the Intruder and recommended it then. I’m an aviation nut and read many books relating to aviation and this was one of my favorites along with Ernest Gann (Fate is the Hunter a must read). When I got my Kindle I got it again and really enjoyed re-reading it. Highly recommended.
November 14, 2016
A good book. Not great but certainly entertaining. You really have to have a background in aviation to understand some of the author's references. Not a very philosophically deep book but I did enjoy it.
October 26, 2020
Any aviation enthusiast would appreciate this adventure of the author flying all over the US in a summer. While a little too detailed when Coonts goes off in tangents, overall it is a solid representation of true, general aviation flying.
March 9, 2022
I enjoyed the parts of this airplane travelogue when the author/pilot described the towns and people he met along the way, but this book is obviously written for other pilots, as it contains much aviation jargon. Those paragraphs are easy to skip.
March 8, 2018
Same old same old chapter after chapter
February 15, 2019
Worth reading!
Stephen Coonts flies, discovers America, and it's still a place worth loving.
I would love to follow in his footsteps, but until I can, I have the Cannibal Queen.
Stephen Coonts flies, discovers America, and it's still a place worth loving.
I would love to follow in his footsteps, but until I can, I have the Cannibal Queen.
Read
July 9, 2019Summer 1991 about a trip to all 48 States in a biplane by the author
July 11, 2020
I’ve always wanted a Stearman.
June 30, 2024
I did learn about planes, But I get so lost sometimes! and then there was stuff that does not belong in the book in my opinion?
August 16, 2024
This as a fun book to read. I had it for a while. It is a bit dated since it takes place in the 1990s. But if you like airplanes you will love this book.
June 22, 2016
Did you ever have a passion in life that you wished your children shared, but they just weren't into it? Imagine planning an adventure-of-a-lifetime with your son and having him react with a yawn. Well then, meet Stephen Coonts. How he eventually wins him over is an underlying theme of this book.
This is one part Travels with Charlie and one part Stranger to the Ground. It is an endearing diary of a father and son bonding on a three month, cross country flight in an open cockpit Stearman. Along the way we get a wonderful view of rural America and the characters that inhabit small airports. The author's pure love of flying shines through. The flying details are spot on, but not so technically involved that they would turn off non-aviators.
This is one of the few books that fall in my re-readable category. It is a nice feel good story that holds up well on the re-telling.
This is one part Travels with Charlie and one part Stranger to the Ground. It is an endearing diary of a father and son bonding on a three month, cross country flight in an open cockpit Stearman. Along the way we get a wonderful view of rural America and the characters that inhabit small airports. The author's pure love of flying shines through. The flying details are spot on, but not so technically involved that they would turn off non-aviators.
This is one of the few books that fall in my re-readable category. It is a nice feel good story that holds up well on the re-telling.
March 4, 2012
In retrospect, this is one of the most boring books I've read. There is no plot. The story doesn't have much flow. Many things are repeated to the point where the author might have been using cut and paste heavily.
But I never found myself bored. I never questioned whether I was going to keep reading. I enjoyed the descriptions of America and flight and would read another book like this.
I borrowed this e-book from Nevada Public Library.
But I never found myself bored. I never questioned whether I was going to keep reading. I enjoyed the descriptions of America and flight and would read another book like this.
I borrowed this e-book from Nevada Public Library.
September 8, 2018
This book is a true story of a flight through 48 states in a Stearman biplane over a particular summer. As an ex-pilot, I really enjoyed the story and felt like I was in the Stearman with the author. This book is not an edge-of-your-seat kind of story but a leisurely one that can be read over a long period. I usually have three or four books going at the same time and I read this one over a three year period (very leisurely). An enjoyable read indeed.
November 7, 2010
An oldie but goodie - I've read this several times over the years, partly for the flying, partly for the depiction of America. What was interesing this time was the passage of time. A LOT has changed in the aviation world since 1991 when this trip took place, and the comparisons to modern-day are intriguing, given it's been less than 20 years.
May 10, 2012
A neighbor of mine gave this to me because he knew I enjoysed "Travels" by Michael Crichton. I had no idea who Stephen Coonts was but really enjoyed this simple but touching father/son relationship narrative. It turns out Stephen Coonts writes aviation-focused, Tom Clancy-esque techno-thrillers. Tried a couple but they didn't hold my interest like this book.
May 7, 2013
I recently re-read this book and enjoyed it the second time as much as the first. I very much enjoyed the adventure in familiar mountain passes of Washington State where I live. I also enjoyed the story of this father spending time with his son. Those are two snippets that don't dominate this book but they hooked me and brought the story home for me.
March 12, 2019
Phenomenal. I would add this story to the likes of Fate is the Hunter (which I must re-read now) in the halls of aviation rites of passage. To think of flying a Stearman to all the lower 48 is a dream. Well written and a story truly lived. This will be one I read and re-read for years. Very well done.
October 30, 2010
Thanks for the adventure Steve. I'd love to fly across the country in a Stearman!
September 3, 2011
Read shortly after 9/11 when could not read my normal stuff since real world trumped fiction. A true story written by a good manly man adventure writer.
July 15, 2012
"What I did on my summer vacation" and about as exciting.
April 16, 2017
Wonderful accounts of flying, and interesting glimpses into the life of a popular writer.
January 7, 2015
This gets a 4* from me because I am into this stuff, both the travel in small town USA, and flying books.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 31 reviews