cover image Day I Owned the Sky

Day I Owned the Sky

Robert Lee Scott. Bantam Books, $17.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-553-05248-0

Scott will perhaps be familiar to readers of a certain age as the author of the World War II bestseller God Is My Co-Pilot. In this autobiography, he recaps his career as the right-hand man of Gen. Clare Chennault of Flying Tigers fame and adds information about his adventures since the end of that war. Most absorbing are his tales of the near-realization of two dreams of his youth: retracing the route of Marco Polo from Venice to Beijing and walking the Great Wall of China. He did not accomplish the first adventure in its entirety because of political considerations; he did achieve the second at the age of 76, disguised as a Chinese for part of the journey. Also entertaining are Scott's stories of his years in the peacetime Air Force, for, like his mentor Chennault, he is given to speaking his mind. Photos not seen by PW. (March)