title: The Last Airmen: Exploring My Father's World
author:  Roger Rawlings 
description: An airline pilot's son who thought that he had put his boyhood fascination with flight behind him when he became an adolescent, Rawlings discovered at age 40 that he was still intrigued by flying. This book, his first, which should interest anyone who has ever flown, even as a passenger, is a result of the author's attempt to familiarize himself with the world of pilots. There are stories of the early days of flight, of people flying "by the seat of their pants," of the advances made during World War II, of the advent of jet planes and of the revolution brought about by computers, which all but ended an airman's control of his own craft. Rawlings talked with retired pilots, with young men now flying and, above all, with his father, getting to know a side of the man he had never known before. <br />Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
zlib_text: To my parents, Commander and Mrs Conrad Franklin Rawnsley, and to Rear-Admiral
  Sir John Franklin RN, my four-times great-uncle, for giving us a lead in the
  right direction
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/00063.jpg)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  CONTENTS
  
  
  > [ Maps](index_split_003.html#filepos6832)
  
  > [ Preface](index_split_004.html#filepos7449)
  
  > [Part One: Departure](index_split_005.html#filepos8244)
  
  > [ 1 The Christmas Card](index_split_006.html#filepos8647)
  
  > [ 2 My Reunion with David](index_split_007.html#filepos16464)
  
  > [ 3 House Rules](index_split_008.html#filepos43896)
  
  > [Part Two: The Northwest Passage](index_split_009.html#filepos64755)
  
  > [ 4 From Portrush, Northern Ireland to
  > Greenland](index_split_010.html#filepos65170)
  
  > [ 5 Cape Farewell, Greenland](index_split_011.html#filepos89622)
  
  > [ 6 Greenland to Holsteinborg across the Arctic
  > Circle](index_split_012.html#filepos111888)
  
  > [ 7 Disko Island to Lancaster Sound](index_split_013.html#filepos131286)
  
  > [ 8 Barrow Strait and Viscount Melv