From Jennys to Jets

About the Book

From Jennys to Jets takes you on an All-American adventure. Fly along with daredevil young pilots in the early days of aviation barnstorming, wingwalking, flying through massive snowstorms, landing on jungle airstrips with crocodiles and snakes.
The action follows Bill Randall over a 40-year period, from 1918 to 1958. It begins as he barnstorms all over northern California with friends and his bride, Helen. The barnstorming slows in 1926 when Prohibition is in full force. To pay his bills, Bill teaches at a flight school in Oregon that turns out to have a hidden agenda.
Later, Bill joins some of his friends flying planes in Howard Hughes epic World War I flying movie, Hells Angels. After the motion-picture adventure, Bill heads to Kansas City to fly the mail between Kansas City and St. Louis. Narrowly missing death in a Christmas Eve snowstorm, Bill and Helen decide to head back to California. When their marriage falls apart, Bill takes a job in Guatemala where he encounters snakes, crocodiles, and other curious creatures in the jungle.
After a year, Bill is back in Los Angeles. Now he has to deal with women from an all-girls flying school, mobsters smuggling in Chinese from Mexico, and hookers in the desert. He even makes a special flight to get the famous stripper, Sally Rand, to a court appearance and back to her nightclub act on time.
Although Bill was 46 years old at the beginning of World War II, he was still able to join the U.S. Army Air Corps and serve in the South Pacific. His letters home from the Pacific provide new insights into World War II.
From Jennys to Jets is a fictionalized account of real-life aviator Bill Randall. Some of the action and many of the characters are purely fictional.

About the Author

David Towell began his writing career at the University of the Pacific, writing for the university newspaper as a reporter, columnist and Fine Arts editor. While serving as a United States congressman for the state of Nevada, he wrote hundreds of articles and "Conversations with the Captain"; his first novel was published in 2001. From Jennys to Jets is Mr. Towell's second novel. Mr.Towell is native of Bronxville, New York, and makes his home in Nevada.