A forgotten aviation pioneer is being celebrated in a new biography.
STACK: From Moth to Viceroy tells the story of Captain Neville Stack, once one of Britain’s favourite aviators and the first man to fly a light plane to India.
His story has now been brought back to life by author David Hewitt in a book published 100 years after Stack’s landmark flight.
A talk will be held at Adlington Library on November 27 at 11.45am, and is free to attend.
Mr Hewitt said: "I love finding lost stories and bringing them back into the light.
"I have been fascinated with the history of flying ever since I went to my first air show as a child.
"And when I came across the story of Captain Stack, I couldn’t believe it hadn’t been told before.
"Stack was known on airfields around the country and across the world, and I found traces of him everywhere from Kent to Karachi.
"I wrote the book within sight of Blackpool Tower, in a house he will have flown over many times.
"There’s something I find very appealing in his personality: given the chance, he did what he did for the sheer joy of doing it."
Captain Stack’s career spanned both World Wars and all three branches of the armed forces.
He broke aviation records, ran a flying circus, and piloted a prime minister, the Shoe King, and the odd sultan.
His adventures took him around the Mediterranean and across Arabia.
But his life was also marked by controversy and risk.
He crashed more often than he admitted and played a contentious role in the Spanish Civil War.
Mr Hewitt’s biography draws on Captain Stack’s own writings, including newspaper articles, flight commentaries dictated in mid-air, and a memoir written in song.
It also uses British government files and other historical sources.
The book explores his friendships with aviation legends such as Amy Johnson and Sir Alan Cobham.
It also revisits the places he saw first-hand and examines his ultimate fall from grace.
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Mr Hewitt, who has worked as a cook, postman, and judge, is known for uncovering unusual true stories.
His previous books include accounts of a miscarriage of justice in the First World War and a silent film that was banned in half, but only half, of the country.
STACK: From Moth to Viceroy is his third published book.
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