The Aviation Pioneers of McCook Field

Unpublished, candid interviews with crucial figures in early American aviation, including Jimmy Doolittle, Alexander Seversky, George Kenney, Reuben Fleet, and many more.



McCook Field was a small air base in Dayton, Ohio, that was active only from 1917 to 1927. McCook was exceptional because it was designated by the US Signal Corps / Army Air Corps as an aeronautical research facility. As the center of prototype testing of new aircraft, McCook was a magnet for the leading aviators and engineers of the time.




This work contains unpublished interviews with 20 of those aviation pioneers.
WWII hero Jimmy Doolittle
Test pilot Harold R. Harris (the first man to fly in a pressurized cockpit, first to bail out with a free fall parachute)
WWII Tenth Air Force commander Howard Davidson
Major General Franklin O. Carroll, who oversaw the development of the first American military jet aircraft
Oakley Kelley, who made the first nonstop flight across the United States in 1923
The first SAC (Strategic Air Command) commander, George C. Kenney
Consolidated Aircraft Company founder Rueben Fleet
Alexander Seversky, who created the Norden bombsight and founded the Republic Aviation Corporation.


The majority of the interviews were conducted by the author in-person, with the remainder being drawn from audio-recorded interviews by a personal friend, General George W. Goddard.