Pilot of Fortune - by Ted Beaudoin

About the Book

NEW EDITION! REVISED AND EXPANDED! Sheldon Luck's remarkable adventures as barnstormer, bush flyer, airline pilot, wartime ferry pilot and airborne firefighter, chronicled by an acclaimed Canadian author. Poignant, exciting, often hilarious. A must-read for anyone with an interest in aviation history and a fondness for its larger-than-life heroes.

Book Synopsis

NEW EDITION! REVISED AND EXPANDED! From barnstormer to bush flyer to airline pilot, wartime ferry pilot and airborne firefighter, no job was too big, too small or too hazardous for William Floyd Sheldon Luck. He ferried Gold Rush miners to distant claims in the Yukon, then carried hookers to visit the miners. He delivered unarmed aircraft across the Atlantic in World War II and carried top secret messages across occupied France for Winston Churchill. He blazed a trail of routes over Northwest Canada and later helped establish a chain of early warning radar stations across the Arctic Circle. His amazing aviation career spanned more than fifty years, yet few today are familiar with his name.

Pilot of Fortune is a glorious collage of anecdotes about Sheldon's many adventures. All the accidents and incidents, and the many characters he met along the way, beautifully chronicled by acclaimed Canadian author Ted Beaudoin.

Meticulously researched and compiled from hundreds of interviews and recollections of those who knew Sheldon Luck best - those who lived with him, worked with him and flew alongside him - Pilot of Fortune is poignant, exciting and often hilarious - a must-read for anyone with an interest in aviation history and a fondness for its larger-than-life heroes.

Review Quotes

"...an amazing book... I strongly recommend Pilot of Fortune to all Canadian schools and to anyone interested in Canadian Aviation." - Stan Taylor Member, Editorial Committee Science Teachers Association of Ontario "...a must read for anyone interested in flying... Mr. Beaudoin successfully weaves the biography of a man who is truly a pilot of fortune into the fabric of Canadian history and the prominent role that aviation has played in it." - James Griffith Retired 747 captain, Air Canada