Hugh Robinson, pioneer aviator

the long version

Hugh Robinson (1881-1963) was a dare-devil, a compulsive inventor, an important figure in the early history of American aeronautics, and one tough customer. He survived test flights, fifteen serious crashes, the "Circle of Death" circus act (his own invention), and spectacularly dangerous international air shows. Based on the Robinson family's trove of early aviation memorabilia and 82 rare photographs, this biography describes his passage from childhood - when he attempted to fly his homemade bicycle off a 100-foot-high hill - to his final years as a consulting engineer for National Scientific Laboratories in Washington, D.C.