Although Charles Lindbergh's 1927 solo flight across the Atlantic Ocean is considered by many to be the first step to today's space program, 91 men had crossed the Atlantic by air before him. Walter Hinton was a pilot on the first plane, a four-engine, Navy-Curtiss flying boat with a crew of six, in May 1919. Based on more than 40 hours of personal interviews with Hinton, this volume chronicles that first flight and Hinton's other remarkable adventures in aviation--which include being lost in the Canadian Arctic and believed dead, the first flight to Rio de Janeiro from New York, the first aerial exploration of the Amazon, and a nationwide promotion of aviation and airports for the Exchange Clubs in the United States. The story of Hinton uncovers a lost chapter in the history of flight in America.