By the Seat of My Pants

By the Seat of My Pants is Dean Smith's story of his life as a flying cadet in WWI an airmail pilot in the 1920's and lastly as the lead aviator in Admiral Byrd's 1928 Antarctic expedition. Told in a self-deprecating style with a matter of fact sense of humor it is an engaging read from start to finish. Passages describe airmail runs heading West with no maps or runways available and Smith's interesting take on the Byrd Expedition is a version of events not in the official records. Indeed Smith claims his log-diary which mysteriously went missing once the party returned stateside was most likely stolen by Byrd himself lest it conflict with his narrative of the expedition.