AERIAL RUM RUNNER
(BOOK IN PROGRESS)
The true story of a southern farm boy turned 1920’s aviator and his dedication to family, flying, and quenching the thirst of ordinary US citizens during Prohibition.
SUMMARY
This is the true story of a Louisiana farm boy Charley Haynes who joined the Naval Air Service in Pensacola during WWI. He was trained as a “mechanician” which gave him the knowhow to join a small barnstorming and rumrunning charter service in Baltimore – Easter Airways. He became a skilled pilot and, with his new bride, Helen Lorber, moved to St. Augustine, then Cleveland, New York and Miami to fly for the first true American airline – Aeromarine Airways. His dream, though, was to create a successful airline of his own.
Settling in Miami after the demise of Aeromarine and partnering with his brother-in-law Charles Lorber, they made a success of both charter and rumrunning flying boat trips. Chartering gave him passenger experience; rumrunning made him a living. Police and Revenuer pressure forced the purchase of Bimini property as their new base.
They survived through the 1926 hurricane and major police corruption, only to have their own Miami home broken into by hijackers, causing a midnight shootout while thwarting the raid.
One hour later a car returned and a man with a pistol got out – to be immediately shot and killed by Charley. Unfortunately, it was a plainclothes Miami policeman, not a hijacker. Charley endured a life-threatening beating from the police and a murder indictment. The Grand Jury was also made aware of multiple Police crimes, resulting in three murder and two assault indictments of the Chief of Police and six of his detectives. Everyone was in jail together. Fear of retribution caused a lack of witnesses and the dismissal of all but two cases against the police. Haynes’s trial ended in a reduced conviction of manslaughter with a sentence of “time served, free to go.” To start fresh, he took the family to Muskoka, Canada to fly for a Canadian air service. A faulty engine in the new Loening flying boat caused a crash which ended his life and his aviation quest.
The book will include interesting family lore and general history of that era of American aviation. It will be enhanced with numerous photos, newspaper articles and original letters and documentation of the events and of the era.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Author John Haynes attended the U.S. Naval Academy and Cornell University with degrees in Industrial Engineering and Business Administration. His career was spent with Mohasco Industries, Mellon Bank and Volkswagen of America. He is currently retired in Knoxville, TN with his wife Linda. He had previously written a series of five Avionics Magazine articles about his Great Uncle and early Pan Am “Master of the Oceans” Pilot Charles Lorber. He is currently working on his first literary non-fiction book about his “Quiet Birdman” Grandfather Charles Haynes.
CONTACT: AERIALRUMRUNNER@GMAIL.COM
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