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In 1927, when aviator Charles A. Lindbergh flew his famous monoplane in a triumphant tour of the United States, the Spirit of St. Louis touched down in Wheeling, West Virginia, for his visit to the Linsly School. There, Lindbergh laid a wreath at the foot of the Aviator—a statue erected by Sallie Maxwell Bennett bearing the likeness of her son, Louis Bennett Jr., West Virginia's only First World War flying ace. Though largely unknown today, Bennett was an airpower innovator whose tragically short combat career would have an enduring impact on American flight and on war memorials both at home and abroad.In "Balloon Ace: The Life of an Early Airpower Visionary," historian Charles Dusch reconstructs Louis Bennett Jr.'s lost legacy. Advocating for a national aviation reserve years before the writings of "Billy" Mitchell, Bennett created a state aerial militia in 1917, complete with supporting airbases and an airplane factory. When the US Army refused to accept his unit, a frustrated Bennett joined the Royal Air Force to fight on the Western Front, destroying nine German balloons and three aircraft in a matter of days before he himself was shot down. In the second act of Bennett's story, Dusch traces Sallie Bennett's quest to clandestinely recover her son's body. Posing as a journalist, Sallie traveled to Europe searching the cemeteries on the Western Front and later commissioned twelve memorials to Bennett, including a chapel in France, the RAF window in Westminster Abbey, and the Aviator at Linsly. Moved by the vast destruction of the continent, she would eventually cross political boundaries to bring much-needed publicity to other mothers' demands for the US government to repatriate their own fallen loved ones.
From West Virginia to the Western Front and back again, Balloon Ace is more than a multifaceted and insightful account of the pioneer aviators who prepared the United States for combat in the first air war—it is also a remarkable look at the commemoration culture that spanned the American Civil War to war-torn Europe in the early twentieth century.
Dr. Charles D. Dusch is an author and historian who currently serves on the Eberly College of Arts & Sciences Visiting Committee at West Virginia University.
He is a founding member of the U.S. Space Force History & Heritage Program and he is the former Command Historian of the United States Air Force Academy.
A recipient of three Department of the Air Force Excellence in History Awards in 2020, 2021, and& 2022, Dr. Dusch has published for the Institute of National Security Studies (INSS), Sorbonne Université Presses, Air University Press, Naval Institute Press, the Journal of Military History, and the International Encyclopedia of the First World War, among others.
His teaching assignments include the United .States. Air Force Academy, Regis University, the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs Campus, and West Virginia University. He is a retired Air Force weapon systems officer, with over two thousand2,000 flight hours in RF-4C Phantom II and F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft, including twenty-eight (28) combat missions over Iraq and Bosnia.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Lunch With Books at the Ohio County Public Library, 52-16th Street,Wheeling, West Virginia, United States
