Charles Lindbergh was not the first to fly across the Atlantic, non-stop--two British officers, largely lost to history did it eight years before.

Robert Harder tells the story of Captain John Alcock and Lieutenant Arthur Whitten Brown, who made it from St. Johns, Newfoundland to Cliveden, Ireland on June 14-15, 1919. At a time when aviation was beginning to capture the public's imagination, and technological advances allowed for records to be broken in quick succession, Alcock and Brown undertook the dangerous passage. Flying a wood and fabric Vickers Vimy, with minimal instruments and difficult to control, Harder chronicles the adventure, and gives Alcock and Brown their place in history back with "First Crossing."

A freelance writer, Robert O. Harder served in the US Air Force Strategic Air Command during the Cold War years, a B-52D air crewman who flew 145 combat missions during the Vietnam War. Rated as a Navigator and Radar Bombardier, Harder flew nuclear training sorties and also stood Pad Alert. He later became a commercial pilot and flight instructor. His other books include "Flying from the Black Hole: The B-52 Navigator Bombardiers of Vietnam" and "The Three Musketeers of the Army Air Forces." He lives in Chicago.

Robert Harder, Author of "First Crossing" on the Sunbury Press Books Show!`

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