Wings Across the Water: Victoria’s Flying Heritage 1871-1971

Wings Across Water is a thoroughly enjoyable read from start to finish, an absolute must for aviation buffs…
–Eleanor Eastwick, The Patrician

Wings Across the Water: Victoria’s Flying Heritage 1871-1971 is illustrated with a vengeance: it contains over 600 mesmerizing aviation photographs, most never before published. Beginning with a procession of hot-air professors performing the Island’s first manned balloon ascents in the 1800s, the book documents everything from the coming of the first spindly flying machines and early barn-storming hijinks to the frantic preparations for two wars, bush-flying follies and the arrival of the jet age.

Wings Across the Water is one of those rare books that results when an exceptional authority joins forces with an able writer. Victoria-born and raised Elwood White, 87, himself a pioneer aviator who earned his pilot’s licence in 1938, is recognized as the pre-eminent authority on Island aviation. Over the decades, few planes landed in the Victoria area without coming to Elwood’s attention, and an astonishing number were recorded by his own camera. Written with an emphasis on accuracy and precision, Wings Across the Water is a must-have for aviation buffs everywhere.