Jack Knight's Brave Flight

By Jill Esbaum, Stacy Innerst (Illustrator)

A pilot braves a blizzard to save the US Air Mail Service. Can he succeed against the odds?

3.9/5 Goodreads · 134 ratings

40 pages· 1,220 words· Est. 10 min read-aloud

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Bookroo's summary

In 1921, daring pilot Jack Knight faces a perilous challenge: fly his biplane through a blizzard to save the US Air Mail Service. With three planes grounded, Jack is the last hope in a coast-to-coast race. As he navigates treacherous skies with an empty fuel tank, the stakes couldn't be higher. Will Jack's courage and determination be enough to conquer the storm and prove the value of night flights? Discover the thrilling journey of a man against nature, where every decision could mean the difference between triumph and disaster.

From the publisher

High-flying history is brought to life in this suspenseful story of an unknown and daring pilot named Jack Knight, who in 1921 flew his biplane straight into a blizzard over America’s heartland and saved the US Air Mail Service in the process. When Jack Knight takes off in his biplane from North Platte, Nebraska, in 1921, hundreds of people crowd the airstrip. Is Jack transporting a famous passenger? Is he ferrying medicine for a sick child? Nope–Jack has six sacks of mail. For the past few years, biplanes like Jack’s have been flying the mail only during daylight hours. Flying after dark is risky and crashes are too common, so lawmakers decide to cut funding for the US Air Mail Service. Outraged officials and pilots want to prove that flying the mail is best, so they concoct a plan–a coast-to-coast race. But when a crash, exhaustion, and a snowstorm ground three of the planes, Jack Knight becomes the race’s only hope. All he has to do is fly all night long, leaning out of the plane to see, and navigate a blizzard over land he’s never covered with an empty fuel tank. Will Jack pull it off and save the Air Mail Service?

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