When a severe thunderstorm pounces on a 26-year-old auto mechanic Willard Custer, corners him in a barn, and then pops the barn's roof in a shocking display of atmospheric power, Willard's life is permanently altered. The banjo-picking son of a West Virginia blacksmith with an unfinished high school education, Willard conceives of a device that will employ the "speed of air" to shorten an aircraft's takeoff and landing and, he believes, revolutionize the aircraft industry.
Charging into a world for which he has no preparation, he secures the necessary patents and funding to build four unique aircraft. Then he publicly demonstrates their astonishing STOL and slow-flight capabilities, gaining converts among engineers, pilots, and business leaders. Over four decades, he guides two companies and spawns four others. He engages scientists, manufacturers and pilots in seven American states and Canada. He fights the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the Securities and Exchange Commission in court. And he relentlessly solicits and the Federal Aviation Administration and Department of Defense, while overcoming corporate double-crossing in Detroit and New York.
Described as on of aviation's great what-if stories and a contribution to American folklore, the story of the "father of powered lift" and his Channel Wing Aircraft will inspire readers to trust themselves, to act on their dreams, and to define success in their own terms.
