The Four Winds

New York: William Morrow and Company, 1954. Book Club Edition. Hardcover. Good/good. 320 pages. DJ has some wear and soiling. Some endpaper discoloration. Slightly cocked. This beautifully written novel combines an unforgettable love story with the dramatic operations of a great overseas airline. The relationships between the people are absorbingly realistic, highlighting the tender, appealing love story. But the descriptions of flight are thrilling. Arthur David Beaty (28 March 1919 - 4 December 1999) was a British writer, pilot and psychologist notable as a pioneer in the field of human factors, now an integral branch of aviation medicine, which he argued played a central role in aviation accidents attributed to pilot error. Beaty was born in Hatton, Ceylon on 28 March 1919 and was educated at the prestigious Kingswood School followed by Merton College, Oxford where he read History and edited Cherwell, a student newspaper. Whilst at Oxford the Second World War broke out prompting him to volunteer for pilot training with Oxford University Air Squadron. Beaty was initially rejected by the RAF pilot selection panel. Thanks largely to the support of his university tutors, he eventually passed selection and completed flying training, receiving a pilot grading of 'exceptional'. Following flying training, Beaty joined RAF Coastal Command flying the Consolidated Liberator. He completed four tours with 206 Squadron and won a Distinguished Flying Cross and bar. During an attack on a U-boat in the Baltic his aircraft was badly damaged, with a number of the control surfaces, including the rudder, being shot away. Beaty brought the aircraft back to base for a successful landing. Upon inspection, over 600 holes were counted in the aircraft. After the war, Beaty was offered a regular commission with the RAF. However, he turned down the opportunity and joined BOAC where he was posted to the carrier's flagship route across the North Atlantic. His flying career with BOAC was short-lived. Soon, he took up writing on a full-time basis. Beaty wrote 20 novels starting at the end of his commercial flying career and continuing almost until his death. Flying has an important place in many of them.