North Star Over My Shoulder - by Bob Buck (Paperback)

About the Book

Buck, the embodiment of commercial aviation in America, recounts his thrilling life in flight in this exhilarating volume, hailed as "absolutely brilliant" by the former director of the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.

Book Synopsis

Captain Robert N. Buck retired from TWA after having flown well over two thousand Atlantic crossings and thirty-seven years of service as chief pilot and director of thunderstorm research. During World War II he was engaged in weather research for the U.S. Air Corps, for which he was awarded, as a civilian, the Air Medal by President Harry Truman. More recently, Buck has worked with the International Civil Aviation Organization -- the UN's body for aviation -- to develop a new plan of world airspace.
In North Star over My Shoulder, Bob Buck tells of a life spent up and over the clouds, and of the wonderful places and marvelous people who have been a part of that life. He captures the feel, taste, and smell of flying's great early era -- how the people lived, what they did and felt, and what it was really like to be a part of the world as it grew smaller and smaller. A terrific storyteller and a fascinating man, Bob Buck has turned his well-lived life into a delightful memoir for anyone who remembers when there really was something special in the air.

Review Quotes

Jonathan Yardley, The Washington Post [Buck] has written a strong, vivid, and wholly engaging memoir of his flying life...a lively, informative book that loses not a bit of its wonder and excitement now that aviation has been transformed from science fiction into everyday reality.

Reeve Lindbergh North Star over My Shoulder provides the connection between the very first pioneers, like my father, and the brave band of young aviators who followed him. [Bob Buck] writes so eloquently about his life and work....It's a wonderful story. A real delight to read.

Walter J. Boyne, former director, Smithsonian Air and Space Museum An absolutely brilliant book by an aviation pioneer! Bob Buck's beautiful writing style conveys his intimate and loving knowledge of aviation, evoking the best of the past...while keeping us solidly grounded in the present. Buck's memoirs put him in the first rank of aviation writers with Ernie Gann and Charles Lindbergh. Any airman will love this book, and any writer will envy it.