billy mitchell was really impressed with this incredibly innovative, take charge kind of guy eddie rickenbacker. finally, with a little pressure and conniving, he was appointed chief engineer that the field -- of the field that mitchell identified which was going to be america's biggest airfield in france. eddie through in the quid pro quo. he said he wants to be the chief engineer but he wanted to learn how to fly. he rubbed noses with a lot of the ivy league young flyers who came over. he got a lot of -- they got a lot of stateside practice, and then they came over here. he had been clearing rocks out of the airfield next the german prisoners. they didn't like that. eddie, this tough guy. but eddie would sneak out. he would listen to a little bit of the lectures the other fly boys were getting. you listen to that. and then he would get a plane out and he would take it up by low -- solo. there were no manuals. there was nothing about what the tolerance of the airplanes were. he would practice on his own. i guess he didn't think twice about it in terms of how dangerous it was to really learn on

eddie rickenbacker and what he had done. anyway, terrific story. >> i wonder if you could talk about and the scan and what he went through trying to find he was looking for. a lot of my book deals with a guy who has no connection or had no official connection to the pacific of world war ii or to any particular bomber. yet somehow found himself on a vacation of sorts in the pacific islands scuba diving and came upon the wing of the b. 24. he described the sensation he felt to not moment as coldness that crept from his aunt holds to his scalp and he knew would not moment that he needed to find out where the rest of the american aircraft was and just as importantly where the remains of the men who had been aboard antidote. so that was in 1993, about three weeks ago he returned from his most recent trip to the palau islands in the middle of the central pacific. he goes every year. he spends four to six weeks. they often end up deep in the jungles for your sort of creeping through man grows, swamps, the roots of which were so thi

ore ae i start -- bef friend dragged you here tonight, be honest, who has heard of eddie rickenbacker? raise your hand. two generations ago, everybody would've known this guy's name. not only his name but they would've told you stories about him. ass facial recognition, he w more familiar than the president. he was a hero. so researching your book, i spend a lot of time sitting down behind a machine. occasionally, some of my research trips takes interesting turns. 20-year-oldng my

"enduring"enduring courage: acet eddie rickenbacker and the dawn of the age of speed," winner john rossr ms. toth childhood in columbus, ohio. going on to become a trailblazing racecar driver. raw shows how rickenbacker had to overcome class prejudice to even be allowed to fly in how went to get it simplifies magnificent courage and leadership. in banished, the 63 year for the missing man of world war ii from "the new york times" magazine tells a sister of the scientists, archaeologists, divers and survivors, families should solve the mystery. helton tells the story of the crew and their families in the determination or refuse to let go of the ministry to bring. it's a pleasure to introduce john ross and will hylton. we begin i talking about what i do think both of these books share and that is people finding more time. i wonder if you could tell about what it like to find world war i airplane. >> good morning everybody. one of the things it was interesting about this book was trying to re-create what it was like to get into a world war i biplane in the middle for the here downhill just