Adams, Eustace L
Entry updated 12 September 2022. Tagged: Author.
(1891-1963) US editor and author who was in the American Ambulance Service and the U S Naval Service during World War One. In the 1930s he was a prolific contributor of aviation-linked tales to journals like Argosy. Most of his titles are tales for boys, the best-known of these being the Andy Lane series of Airplane Boys adventures, beginning with Fifteen Days in the Air (1928), in which his father's Invention of a new carburettor allows flights of unprecedented duration. In Over the Polar Ice (1928) and Racing Around the World (1928), the same invention makes further feats possible; The Runaway Airship (1929) – despite its title, heavier-than-air planes are involved (see also Airship Boys for distinction) – and Pirates of the Air (1929) feature mid-Atlantic floating landing platforms; On the Wings of Flame (1929) describes the successful development of a Rocket-driven plane, just as The Plane Without a Pilot (1930) describes an advanced autopilot; a flying wing takes Andy and his friends to South Africa in Wings of Adventure (1931); and Prisoner of the Clouds (1932), set in South America, features an all-metal dirigible. Through all these adventures, the characterization of Andy Lane as a charismatic hero reflects the influence of Charles A Lindbergh (1902-1974) on the genre (for background see again Airplane Boys); over and above his knightly aura, Andy also represents a late stage in the Edisonade model, operating as a good capitalist by advancing the fortunes of his corporation and publicizing the conquest of the air – as did Lindbergh – in terms specifically consistent with the American aspiration to establish a Pax Aeronautica through the power of commerce. [JC]
see also: Theodore Roscoe.
Eustace Lane Adams
born Saco, Maine: 12 July 1891
died Florida: 1 March 1963
works
series
Andy Lane
- Fifteen Days in the Air (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1928) [Andy Lane: hb/]
- Over the Polar Ice (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1928) [Andy Lane: hb/]
- Racing Round the World (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1928) [Andy Lane: hb/]
- The Runaway Airship (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1929) [Andy Lane: hb/]
- Pirates of the Air (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1929) [Andy Lane: hb/]
- On the Wings of Flame (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1929) [Andy Lane: hb/]
- The Mysterious Monoplane (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1930) [Andy Lane: hb/]
- The Flying Windmill (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1930) [Andy Lane: hb/]
- The Plane Without a Pilot (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1930) [Andy Lane: hb/]
- Wings of Adventure (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1931) [Andy Lane: hb/]
- Across the Top of the World (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1931) [Andy Lane: hb/]
- Prisoners of the Clouds (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1932) [Andy Lane: hb/]
individual titles
- Adventures of the Boy Gliders (New York: Brewer, 1931) [hb/]
- Doomed Demons (New York: Grosset and Dunlap, 1935) [hb/J Gretter Clemens]
about the author
- Fred Erisman. Boys' Books, Boys' Dreams, and the Mystique of Flight (Fort Worth, Texas: Texas Christian University Press, 2006) [nonfiction: pp 94-98, 133-138: hb/Bill Maize]
links
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