Knights Without Parachutes — field kindley

Before becoming a World War 1 pilot, Field Kindley was a high school dropout and movie projectionist. Neither description had as negative career connotations then as now, but when he got into the 148th Aero Squadron, he was surrounded by fellow pilots from a very different class. According to War Bird Ace: The Great War Exploits of Capt. Field E. Kindley, Lt Springs was from Princeton, Lt Oliver was from Yale and the son of a senator, Lt Callahan was from Cornell, and the squadron commander was a Harvard quarterback. Not everyone was Ivy League, but there was almost a "college-type camaraderie." It would have been easy...

Working on adding some books by Jack Stokes Ballard.  As a former USAFA history professor, now in his late 80's, he has personally seen a lot of the aviation history of the last century. One book is about Field Kindley, an ace who would probably have been one of the major names in USAF history (doesn't hurt to start with a memorable name that could easily be reversed to name an airfield...) if it weren't for his death in an accident shortly after WWI. One of the fascinating things about Kindley is that before the war he was a movie projectionist. A what? This...