At the beginning of the twentieth century the skies presented a new frontier, one that attracted daredevils, businessmen, politicians, and engineers enticed by a new form of transportation. Louisiana entrepreneurs and pilots proved instrumental in ushering in the Golden Age of Aviation. They advanced aircraft design, revolutionized aerial crop dusting, pioneered airmail routes, pushed the limits of stunt flying, and entertained spectators with air races. A pilot and freelance writer with more than twenty years of experience in the aviation industry, Vincent P. Caire chronicles the state’s history of flight in 196 vintage and contemporary photographs, many never-before published. 

Vincent P. Caire is a licensed pilot who has written for Air and Space Smithsonian Magazine and Aviation International News, among other publications. He wrote and produced the public television documentary film Sky Riders: Louisiana’s Aviation Pioneers.

Praise for Louisiana Aviation

As an aviator who learned to fly at Baton Rouge Downtown Airport, now transformed into Independence Park and State Police Headquarters, it was great to be able to read and see some of the aviation history of Louisiana.  Vincent Caire has given pilots a chance to look back on a different time when we were able to go out to the airport, walk on the ramp and watch airplanes arrive and depart.  On my twelfth birthday, I was given a trip from Baton Rouge to New Orleans on Eastern Airlines.  The flight down was on a DC-3 and the return was on a Lockheed Constellation.  We had dinner on the return flight, served on actual china, on a tray that was balanced on a pillow on your lap.  After learning to fly, I remember flying into Moisant Airport when general aviation actually had a place at the terminal where you could park your aircraft.  I look forward to the launch event for this book, 12 May, at the Wedell-Williams Memorial Aviation Museum so I can thank the author for this great “look-back” at an important part of our state.

Alfred T. Spain
Co-founder, JetBlue Airlines

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