So how do you test drive a Jumbo? And why did a future civil aviation director once taxi a plane down Perth's main street to attend a ball?

From the ridiculous to the downright dangerous, the story of Australian aviation is full of tales of adventure and nation building. It is also a story about tragedy and eccentric characters with wild larrikin spirits.

In this surprising, fascinating and sometimes very funny collection, Jim Eames brings together the great forgotten and untold tales of Australian aviation. There are the stories of the Catalina flying boats that were Australia's only aviation link to the UK during World War II and that of Qantas' record-breaking non-stop flight across the world. And what of the long- forgotten hijacks and the dramas of the Darwin airlifts after Cyclone Tracy?

Entertaining, nostalgic and very readable, the stories Jim tells will certainly make you want to take to the skies.