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The Passion that Left the Ground
By Stephen H. King
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This extremely well-researched book is about the airplanes that one of France's genuine 20th century geniuses - Leon Levavasseur - designed and built during the Golden Age of aviation, roughly from 1903 through 1914. Few people today, other than those intimately familiar with this period of aviation, have heard of Levavasseur, but many have seen photographs of one of his creations that even to this day is hailed by many as the most beautiful airplane ever built - the incomparable Antoinette monoplane.
Woven throughout the text are interesting side discussions of contemporary issues that bring this era to life, such as the flying of the French pioneer Hubert Latham at the competitions in Europe and the United States and his tragic death in Africa in 1912, and the French military's attitude towards aviation from 1910 leading up to the outbreak of World War One. There are fifty pages of photographs in this book, many of which that have never been published before, and they richly enhance this book.
Steve King's interest in aviation began in his youth as an Air Force brat. His French-born wife is a distant cousin of Hubert Latham, one of France's premier early aviation pioneers, and therein was born his desire to write about Latham and the airplane he flew. His first book, Windkiller, also published by Word Association Publishers, is a biographic novel, with Latham as the main character. This book, however, is a non-fiction account of Levavasseur and his fabulous aeronautical creations.
Mr. King, a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer, resides in northern Virginia.
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