New Book Reveals Unknown Early Aviator’s Contributions to WWI
HUNTINGTON, N.Y. (PRWEB) October 23, 2015 -- Part biography, part history, part adventure, the new book “A World War 1 Adventure: The Life and Times of RNAS Bomber Pilot Donald E. Harkness” (published by AuthorHouse) reveals the complete, unembellished and never-before-published observations and photos of World War I from the private collection of a highly accomplished but almost unknown early aviator in England’s Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) who witnessed it firsthand.
Five living relatives of the late WWI pilot Capt. Donald E. Harkness Sr., who go by the pen name House of Harkness V, compiled Capt. Harkness Sr.’s memoir from his diaries, letters, sketches and photographs of the bloody First World War. The carefully constructed memoir also offers a background voice to add historical context to the dialogue, giving readers a more precise and complete insight into the subject’s feelings and knowledge.
Capt. Harkness Sr. was only 22 when he left New Zealand for England in search of a flying school. This complete and personal account of his coming-of-age experience through the dawn of aviation and the devastation of war depicts a man gifted by luck, an even temperament and an engineer’s sense of timing. He contributed mightily to the war effort on flying missions that took him to the far corners of the world as well as through underground activity during a 12-month internment in Holland.
This deeply personal and revealing eyewitness narrative captures the “behind the scenes” life of RNAS pilots, as well as the surprises, terrors, traumas, humor and sheer excitement of an aerial form of combat never before experienced by anyone, anywhere – and only 11 short years after the Wright brothers’ historic flight at Kitty Hawk.
“A World War 1 Adventure” also touches on social interactions with World War I high society, where Capt. Harkness Sr. met many famous personages ranging from British and Dutch Royalty to politicians and Allied military elite, as well as a man who would soon become one of the most evil players of the next World War.
This complete biography takes readers from the day Capt. Harkness Sr. left his family in New Zealand through his military training and mission, his internment and into his post-war aviation career and its impact on the promising but decidedly dangerous and untested commercial aviation industry in New Zealand.
“A World War 1 Adventure”
By House of Harkness V
Hardcover | 6 x 9 in | 582 pages | ISBN 9781496914101
Softcover | 6 x 9 in | 582 pages | ISBN 9781496914095
E-Book | 582 pages | ISBN 9781496914118
Available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Book Depository and Waterstones
About the Author
House of Harkness V is the pen name for the five living contributors to the compilation of Capt. Donald E. Harkness Sr.’s original WWI diaries. Capt. Harkness Sr. passed away in 1929. His youngest son, Capt. Donald E. Harkness Jr. is the custodian of his father’s personal affects used for the creation of “A World War 1 Adventure.” Capt. Harkness Jr.’s four children: Bruce Harkness, Jeffrey Harkness, Timothy Harkness and Christopher Harkness all aided the book’s development in equal and varying capacities. More information is available at http://www.aww1adventure.com.
AuthorHouse is an Author Solutions, LLC, supported self-publishing service providing book publishing, marketing, and bookselling services for authors around the globe. Committed to providing the highest level of customer service, AuthorHouse’s team provides guidance throughout the process. For more information or to publish a book, visit authorhouse.com or call 1-888-519-5121. For the latest, follow @authorhouse on Twitter.
Marketing Services, AuthorHouse, +1 888-519-5121, [email protected]
Share this article