Take a touch of Charles Lindbergh, mix in a dash of Evel Knievel, throw in one man-killing cat-and you have got a recipe for a rip-roaring adventure featuring the high-flying, hard-living Smoke Burnham. There is not a dare Smoke won't take, and there's not a wager he won't make. Now he's betting his life that he can fly his plane, Super Comet-with his pet cheetah Patty coming along for the ride-across the mountains and jungles of South America to a prize-winning payday. All he has to do is out-race the competition, out-manoeuvre a saboteur, and make out with his girl-who's determined to bring him down to earth. One thing you can count on-in the air, in a fight, or in his girlfriend's arms-he's a man who likes to turn up the heat. Because where there's Smoke, there's fire. In 1931, as a student at George Washington University, Hubbard founded the college Glider Club and within a few months a respected columnist said "he is recognised as one of the outstanding glider pilots in the country." Later he wrote as the aviation correspondent for the prestigious flying magazine Sportsman Pilot. His combined writing and flying expertise comprised the perfect recipe to give stories like Man-Killers of the Air their authentic flavour.