The Big Hop

“Riveting… The Big Hop restores the 1919 achievement of those two young men, Alcock and Brown, to their rightful place in aviation history.” – Julia Flynn Siler - Wall Street Journal“Rendered in Rooney’s graceful prose, this makes for a breathtaking tale of bravery, perseverance, and fortune.” – Publishers Weekly, starred review“Anyone with an interest in the formative era of aviation will thrill to this account… An achievement to remember.” – Kirkus Reviews“Informative and entertaining… The Big Hop is a fascinating look at the people who risked everything to achieve immortality through flight.” – Booklist“One of the most astonishing moments in aviation history finally gets its due in The Big Hop, a vivid and utterly compelling account of the 1919 contest to cross the Atlantic by plane. David Rooney is an expert storyteller with a big heart, capturing not only the perils faced by the intrepid airmen who attempted the flight, but also their humanity.” – John Lancaster, author of The Great Air Race: Glory, Tragedy, and the Dawn of American Aviation

David Rooney is a historian and curator specializing in transport, technology, and engineering, and the author of About Time and The Big Hop. For almost twenty years he worked at the London Science Museum, which houses the 1919 airplane first flown across the Atlantic. He lives in London.