China’s Wings: War, Intrigue, Romance, and Adventure in the Middle Kingdom During the Golden Age of Flight is available as a hardcover and as an ebook in a variety of formats.
“exciting”; “inhabited by a host of interesting characters”; “displaying Mr. Crouch’s talents as a researcher, portraitist and chronicler” – China’s Wings reviewed in The Wall Street Journal
“In China’s Wings, Gregory Crouch recalls the remarkable encounter between an ancient civilization and the most modern technology in the world, as intrepid Americans and their Chinese partners struggled to establish a sophisticated air network over a vast land that barely knew electricity. This gripping book will transport you to a fascinating lost time.” – #1 New York Times Bestselling author James Bradley, author of Flags of Our Fathers, Flyboys, and Imperial Cruise
In World War II magazine, historian Richard R. Muller reviews China’s Wings as “a first-rate saga of aviation, wartime politics, and business that manages to be gripping without sacrificing scholarly rigor,” a “compelling narrative,” and “an exceedingly appealing combination of adventure story, aviation and military history, and earthy travelogue.”
“diligently researched, superbly told”; “a first-rate work of history”; “especially relevant”; “should do a lot to transport the appreciation of aviation’s impact on modern history out onto center stage” – The Pan Am Historical Foundation
“an engaging tale”; “belongs on the same shelf as [Laura Hillenbrand's Unbroken] and [Erik Larson's In The Garden of Beasts]” – The New Jersey Star-Ledger
“West Point grad Crouch brings us a story that’s part adventure, part unearthed history [and] not just for history buffs.” – Library Journal
“dramatically rendered and obsessively researched” – Kirkus Reviews
“vividly written”; “rousing story” – James D. Hornfischer, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors and Neptune’s Inferno. (Both of which are excellent books.)
“a riveting book” – Rudy Maxa, “The Savvy Traveler”
Signing China's Wings at Bookshop West Portal
A 30-page China’s Wings excerpt posted by Bantam
The China’s Wings related blog posts I’ve been making for more than a year. (I suggest working your way forward from the oldest post.)
The China’s Wings Facebook page, which has a photo album of 80+ pictures, to which I’m trying to add one per day. Come give it a “like.” And here’s the China’s Wings board on Pinterest.
What follows is the flap copy from China’s Wings book jacket:
“From the acclaimed author of Enduring Patagonia comes a dazzling tale of aerial adventure set against the roiling backdrop of war in Asia. The incredible real-life saga of the flying band of brothers who opened the skies over China in the years leading up to World War II—and boldly safeguarded them during that conflict—China’s Wings is one of the most exhilarating untold chapters in the annals of flight.
On the left, William Langhorne Bond
At the center of the maelstrom is the book’s courtly, laconic protagonist, American aviation executive William Langhorne Bond. In search of adventure, he arrives in Nationalist China in 1931, charged with turning around the turbulent nation’s flagging airline business, the China National Aviation Corporation (CNAC). The mission will take him to the wild and lawless frontiers of commercial aviation: into cockpits with daredevil pilots flying—sometimes literally—on a wing and a prayer; into the dangerous maze of Chinese politics, where scheming warlords and volatile military officers jockey for advantage; and into the boardrooms, backrooms, and corridors of power inhabited by such outsized figures as Generalissimo and Madame Chiang Kai-shek; President Franklin Delano Roosevelt; foreign minister T. V. Soong; Generals Arnold, Stilwell, and Marshall; and legendary Pan American Airways founder Juan Trippe.
CNAC pilots wings on a map of the Hump (Both used by CNAC pilot Joe Michiels)
With the outbreak of full-scale war in 1941, Bond and CNAC are transformed from uneasy spectators to active participants in the struggle against Axis imperialism. Drawing on meticulous research, primary sources, and extensive personal interviews with participants, Gregory Crouch offers harrowing accounts of brutal bombing runs and heroic evacuations, as the fight to keep one airline flying becomes part of the larger struggle for China’s survival. He plunges us into a world of perilous night flights, emergency water landings, and the constant threat of predatory Japanese warplanes. When Japanese forces capture Burma and blockade China’s only overland supply route, Bond and his pilots must battle shortages of airplanes, personnel, and spare parts to airlift supplies over an untried five-hundred-mile-long aerial gauntlet high above the Himalayas—the infamous “Hump”—pioneering one of the most celebrated endeavors in aviation history.
Moon Chin, one of China's Wings main supporting characters, at Bookshop West Portal (with Renee Robertson and his neice, Lili)
A hero’s-eye view of history in the grand tradition of Lynne Olson’s Citizens of London, China’s Wingstakes readers on a mesmerizing journey to a time and place that reshaped the modern world.
Shaking Moon Chin's hand
Moon Chin in 1941
Hey Gregory!
I am very enthusiastic about China’s Wings. When do you expect it to be available for general purchase? I will build a link to your website off of my Shanghai page. I enjoyed your website very much and wish you great success in your endeavors
Cheers!
Jamie Dodson,
Author of the award winning Nick Grant Adventures series,
Flying Boat & Spies, China Clipper, and coming soon – Mission: Shanghai
Thanks for checking in, Jamie, and I’m glad you’re excited… I think the book will be available in late January of 2012, with its “official” release date scheduled for late February. I’d be delighted for you to build a link. Thanks! I’ll be checking your site out soon, too. Cheers, Greg
Greg,
I just came across this today, sounds very interesting! Will have to get a copy for my grandsons to help them remember their great grandfather by.
Donny Griffin
Glad to have you back, Donny! I hope it’ll prove an excellent read for ‘em.
Cheers, Greg
You go Greg!!!
Thanks, Tom! I should get my advance copies before the end of the month. One of which I’m taking straight across the Bay to give to Moon.
Congratulations, Gregory! I will be at Chaucer’s, March 14 for your book signing along with other Marymount friends of your mother’s and her indomitable spirit…. and will get a copy as soon as it’s available! Can’t wait to read it!
Helena! That’s fabulous news. Can you email me your mailing address so I can send you my publication announcement? Looking forward to seeing you and the rest of the gang. Best, Greg
Look forward to reading it. Sand, Wind, and Stars, by St Exupery, first clued me in to ideals of adventure in early aviation that are similar to those in alpine climbing. I wonder if this will inspire a similar feeling.
I can only hope! Wind, Sand and Stars is one of my all-time favorite books.
Hi Greg,
Thanks again for such a motivating presentation at the Rock, Ice and Mountain Club last month. In fact I was so moved, that I have all but bought my flight ticket to Bariloche to catch up with my daughter to head down south from there. Also, I got started last night reading Enduring Patagonia and am really taken by your writing style – I can’t wait to get back home tonight to resume. Any chance I can contact you with any questions I might have. Thanks again Alex (I’m the guy who helped set up the AV gear in Santa Rosa) alex.sebastian@sonoma-county.org
Any ch
Great news, Alex! I’m so glad to have helped provide a little bit of that inspiration. I really enjoyed doing the RIM show, and I totally appreciated the great job you did getting me set up. I’m also happy to hear that you’re enjoying Enduring Patagonia. Feel free to call anytime.
Cheers, Greg
Greg,
I am interested in communicating with you via email about Moon Chin’s airline, variously spelled Fuhsing, Fooshing, etc. This is in relationship to a separate research project I’m involved in.
With appreciation,
Stef.
sabailis@mindspring.com
Gregg, I am so happy to see you complete this project. I am ordering a few copies for friends and myself. Good luck on the opening and congrats on a job well done.
Thanks, Travis! I’m thrilled for it to go out in the world and be read.
Congratulations Greg!! Only a few more days to go. We convinced Moon to attend your book signing at Bookshop West Portal on March 13th.
Craig
That’s fantastic news, Craig! Thanks for helping make that happen. I’m going to make a huge fuss over him. :-)
Congratulations Greg!!! I informed “CHINA’S WING” to T-26 members. See you at Chaucer’s.
Sam
Fantastic, Sam! Thanks for spreading the word. I’m really looking forward to seeing you.
Just got my copy in the mail from Amazon. Thrilled to start reading it. I spent three years in the Far East in the Marines flying all over. I then flew with The Flying Tiger Line with such greats as Duke Hedman and Dick Rossi. Looking forward to reading about all the adventures and seeing how my adventures measure up. Thanks for a great book. Any chance you will be on the East Coast for a signing?
Great news, Lee! As an FTL person you’ll certainly bump into quite a few old friends… most notably Joe Rosbert, whose epic survival story features prominently in the last part.
As of yet I don’t have East Coast plans, but I’m certainly hoping either that Bantam will send me or that someone will invite me.
Cheers, Greg
I also got my copy from Amazon today. What a monumental work and yet it is fascinating and easy to read. But it will take awhile to get through the 478 pages!
Good news, Bill… but it’s 392 pages of story… the rest is endnotes, and they’re not mandatory
But very interesting. A must read for us addicts.
Greg, After seeing and hearing your RIM presentation about your Patagonia adventures I could not resist China’s Wings. I have a vested interest since my mother lived in Shanghai during the time of your book. I have read the first 3 chapters and cannot put it down. The characters your portray and the landscape pictures are vivid and real. Can’t wait to finish dinner and get back to China’s Wings!!
Great news, James! I hope you lost lots of sleep over it. Cheers, GC
Hi Gregory,
I just ordered your new book on CNAC from Amazon and looking forward very much to reading it. I see on the Title Page (Amazon Look Closer at Book feature) that some of my CNAC baggage labels were incorporated into the page’s graphic design, very cool.
If you are interested I have some other CNAC labels that did not make it onto the airline’s website, as well as a very rare spectacular poster.
Also, it was my great pleasure to know the late Bill Leary, who wrote the scholarly history on CNAC in 1976. I used to visit him at his home in Athens, GA, where I received an autographed copy of this volume (one of the prized items in my aviation library). He was really working on a trilogy of CNAC, CAT of Taiwan, and Air America. He got the first two done, but never completed Volume III. There is a possibility for your next book. All his archive is now at the University of Texas at Dallas, which has a lot of Air America material besides his stuff.
Are you going to do any author lectures and signings in NYC?
Best Regards.
Dear Daniel,
Thanks for checking in. I’m so pleased that you’ll read China’s Wings. I didn’t know you were the source for those labels. I fished them from Tom Moore at cnac.org and forwarded them to Bantam. I’ll make a webpage linking to your site — it’s wonderful. I would be VERY interested in any CNAC-related material I haven’t seen… can I make a big Daniel Kusrow post? That poster sounds fabulous. I’m especially dying to see that one. gregorycrouch@sbcglobal.net
I met Bill in Hong Kong in 2005. We had a fascinating lunch together. Very engaging and interesting man. I would have loved for him to read China’s Wings.
As of now, I don’t have NYC plans, although I’m certainly hoping some develop. One of the NYC booksellers would have to request me, I think… and they could perhaps be encouraged, too. :-)
You (and others) might enjoy the “China’s Wings” page I’ve been building on Facebook.
I’ve posted 60+ photos into an album there, and I’m trying to add a pic to it every day or so. I think it you “like” it you’ll have access.
Best, Greg
You better save a few parts in the movie for these 4 Tennessee gals I know!
From your fingertips to God’s ear, Betty!
Thank you for such a detailed and well researched book; all your footnotes are very impressive. You have done an excellent job in writing about an important part of history with great accuracy!..it was indeed the “Golden Age of Flight.” from an author of military aviation history…
Dear Jan, Thank you so much for checking in! I just followed your link and you’ve got one hell of a flying resume. I’m impressed. Very neat to see that you’ve done so much flying in DC-3 types. As a writer and aviation historian, you might enjoy this 3 Books piece I did for NPR: http://www.npr.org/2012/03/16/148509053/pioneers-of-the-sky-3-books-that-take-flight It’s mercifully short.
As a retired Navy pilot, I enjoyed CHINA WINGS. I spent a good deal of time in Asia. But Perhaps the besttribute is:
Remember June
Dragon wings
Across the bay,
Hints of burning creosote
New east to northeast Territories,
Where sea eagles nest;
A spring breeze soothes roiling seas.
There too, explicable lavender voices
Drone round engine songs
Of old Kai Tak’s treachery—
Before and after a colony reign.
©Richard Hargis, 2012
That’s fabulous, Richard! I’ve never had a poem for a comment before. Very glad to hear you enjoyed China’s Wings. Thanks for making contact. Best, GC
Hi Greg,
Thought you’d like to know that I’m ordering a copy of China Wings for my bro’in-law who flew the HUMP in C-46′s. He owns a crop-dusting business in San Joaquin, CA and still flies and runs the business along with his two sons and grandson. He finds time to get out 1x wk & fly a Stearman. Cheers! Rich
That’s really great, Richard. I love that he’s still flying after all these years. Cheers, GC
My daughter (who knows you) gave me your book to read, knowing I am interested in military history. As I started reading, I was thinking that the detail you were delivering was going to make it a slow read, but then I found myself at the end of the book! I loved the way you would give a short backtrack to explain the significance of a person or event. I have been exposed to much WW II history from the European and Pacific Theatres but never heard much about the Asian war. Now I know why, for the allies it turned out to be a sort of holding action, which you so ably explained. It is disconcerting to think of so much human suffering as a “holding action”,… war is just so inexplicable. Congratulations on a great book.
Great news, Gary! So glad you enjoyed it. Are you Krista’s father?
Yes, I think you two first met in Patagonia? Didn’t you also write a book about Patagonia? I’ll have to give it a read also.
We did meet in Patagonia. Here’s a link to my book, Enduring Patagonia: http://www.amazon.com/Enduring-Patagonia-Gregory-Crouch/dp/0375761284/ref=lp_B001H6N3BO_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1335819160&sr=1-2
Thanks, I’ll try it. But then if I show too much interest in climbing, Krista might try to force me up a mountain! Well, at least a cruise to Patagonia. You can save me some money and/or trouble if we just kept it between us. Good luck with both books, although it doesn’t seem you need any luck.
Loved the book!! My dad, Joe Hardin, flew the hump with Bill Maher, Christy Hanks, Dick Rossi et al and I heard many stories of his time with CNAC. It was really great to learn the history of the airline and the context into which it fit. Sent copies to my sons and will inevitably continue to provide other family members with their own copy. Thank you for letting everyone know about this great venture and the people involved.
Dear Leslie, that’s great news! Always a pleasure to hear from another CNAC scion. Thank you so much for passing the China’s Wings love on to other members of your family. Best, Greg