Against All Odds

This work contains the private correspondence between Topliff Olin Paine (the aviator in whose honor Paine Field in Everett, Washington, is named), his parents, and other family members. Also included are correspondence from others who knew him, his diary, and contemporary newspaper articles covering Top's various undertakings. In addition to introductory biographical information, the text's documentation covers Top's time with the U. S. Forest Service, his activities during World War I in the U. S. Army Air Service as a stunt instructor in aerial gunnery, his adventures as an "aerial entrepreneur," and his experiences as a pilot with the Western Division of the then-fledgling U. S. Air Mail Service. Overall, this work constitutes a first-person account of a life of adventure in the early years of the last century. It is also a collection of primary-source documents that may be of value to the historian as well as entertaining to the casual reader. The text is illustrated with numerous never-before-published photographs, many of them taken by Top.