First Flight Shanghai-Canton
A beautiful and colorful first flight cover commemorating the first airmail service from Shanghai to Canton, signed by CNAC pilot Robert Gast.
Author: Gregory
What was, at the time, the world’s most exciting undertaking – flying
The romance of those beautiful airplanes flying against the backdrop of 1930s China set a hook in my heart. Shirley’s stories and her father’s photos cracked op...
The first hints of something much more substantial…
I had one of my life’s best 24-hour pushes in New York: at Bantam, I lunched with John Flicker, my acquiring editor (thanks, John!), and Nita Taublib , who mig...
I staggered upstairs, collapsed on my bed, pulled a blanket over my head, and sobbed tears of relief.
For the next year and a half, I failed to land another book project, and it wasn’t for lack of trying. Amidst the magazine writing and the part-time gig, three ...
The lowest I’d ever been
I came home from the reunion, thrilled to have bumbled into such an incredible story, invested three months researching and writing a book proposal about the ma...
“Where were you ten years ago, Mr. Writer, when I had twice as many members?”
On the last morning of the reunion, the hospitality room again filled with CNAC people and their wives. I sat to the side and watched them socialize, the conser...
“I have no doubt I could start it up and fly her out of here.”
CNAC veterans Fletcher “Christy” Hanks and Gifford Bull scrambled up the ladder into the plane and made a bee-line for the cockpit. I clambered up a...
“Back then, I was younger than you are now.”
The reunion room thundered with band of brothers camaraderie, packed with overjoyed old dudes slapping backs and bellowing into each other’s hearing aids, faces...
You’d better hope you fall in love with it
Us narrative non-fiction guys and gals are pretty dependent on the quality of the stories we discover. A story swallows a massive chunk of your life if you deci...