Rick Searle

Interesting book, giving some long overdue attention to neglected pioneer of Australian aviation. Ulm has for the best part of a century languished in the shadow of his flying partner Charles Kingsford-Smith. Smith was far more dashing, photogenic and popular than the serious and driven Ulm, who was less interested in flying per se ( he didn't even obtain a pilot's licence until after the epic trans-Pacific flight) than in the potential of aviation as a business. Possessing a sharp business brain, appropriate ruthlessness and burning ambition, all things Smith lacked, he and Smith formed a potent partnership with the foundation of Australian National Airways, until it became clear that Smith was only interested in flying and not running an airline, and the two parted ways. All of Ulm's flying thereafter was directed towards establishing air routes rather than breaking records. However his ventures were largely doomed to failure. ANA folded after the loss of the Southern Cloud in 1931, and Ulm's last years were spent desperately seeking out new potential routes. This was eventually to cost him his life, as he disappeared in the Pacific in 1934 seeking to pioneer a regular San Francisco-Hawaii route. The Ulm exposed in this book is hardly a likeable character, its a warts and all depiction of a driven, unsympathetic man who thought nothing of abandoning friends he no longer considered necessary, of treating fellow crew as employees to be given the absolute minimum in financial reward, and he left a trail of shattered friendships and lawsuits in his wake. For all that though, the book reveals a man who did an enormous amount to get commercial aviation going in Australia against many obstacles, and whose unquestioned bravery and determination deserve recognition. A great book for fans of pioneer aviation and lovers of adventure alike.… (more)