To A Pilot

by Duane Cole

129 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1964

About the author

Rolla Duane Cole was born in 1915 in Peoria, Illinois, the oldest child in a family that included 9 boys and one girl. According to an article found in a 1969 edition of Sports Flying Magazine, Duane left his family home in 1931 while still a boy, hitchhiking across the country in search of work. During this time he became interested in flying and took his first lesson in 1937. He returned to Peoria in 1938 where he obtained his private license. By 1940 he had gained both his commercial license and instructors rating. With World War II looming, Duane began training new pilots; first in the Civilian Pilot Training Program, then with the Royal Air Force Cadets, and finally in the United States Army. He went on to form the Cole Brothers Airshow and was a founding member of the Experimental Aircraft Association. His plane, a red and white clipped wing Taylorcraft is now on permanent display in the EAA AirVenture Museum, located in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Cole visited over 1,500 airports, penned 9 books, and had logged over 30,000 flight hours prior to his death in 2004.

Reviews

[derrick white · Rating 3 out of 5]

My wife picked this book up for me off of Amazon. It was written by my great uncle. At roughly 135 pages, it was a short read. The book is a touching look back on a life spent in competitive aerobatics as well as the airshow circuit. More importantly, the book contains a narritive thread dealing with the accidental death of Duane's son Rolly, a promising pilot in his own right. Although the narrative structure is a little disjointed, and much of the content is geared towards people who are grounded in the aerobatic community - there are passages of prose that are alarmingly well composed, recalling Steinbeck in style.