Curk Cave of Dayton has come up with an unusual book of adventures, "Air Intrigue, the Adventure Begins" (Mira Digital Publishing, no cover price, 244 pages plus an addendum).
As a freelance pilot flying missions around the Mideast, Cave fanned Africa for various companies, airlifting everything from a couple of tons of explosives to passengers en route to Saudi Arabia on their Hajj to worship at the black rock shrine in Mecca.
He skips over earlier flights in Laos to wind up flying out of Dubai, Malta, Yemen, Egypt, Africa and into Israel and Europe. Most of the time he was piloting Super Constellations or worn-out Boeing 707s or whatever aircraft his employers could dig up. It was obviously a vagabond's life, with women and adventure on all sides.
This is an oversize book, not only in size (8.5 by 11 inches) but in content, with chapters as short as a single page, color photos of aircraft and a weird collection of tourist scenes around the Mideast and the Mediterranean, and of the author.
Cave is not shy about his adventures or the women who accommodated him, naming the ladies. He portrays himself as a constant seeker of knowledge and enjoying life as it came at him (he doesn't drink alcohol).
He repeatedly bashes liberals, socialists and communists and attacks former President Bill Clinton for unexplained reasons. He promises a subsequent work, which apparently will clarify some of the dangling questions he leaves unanswered.
The Addendum includes two proposed measures to protect citizens from "the potential coming of police state tyranny." He titles them the People's Pardon and Nevada Freedom Act and has copyrighted them but offers them free to those who wish to use them.
Cave writes a lively book, though often not very well based on fact. A good copy editor could have improved the book, but obviously Cave is his own master.
Cave is living in Dayton and working on a follow-up. Let's hope it's as much fun as this one and maybe he'll find an editor to work with.
