In 1942, 15-year-old Jay Smith's quiet life in the Alaska wilderness is shattered when his uncle, Midnight, arrives in his yellow Norseman airplane with news of war. Together Canada and the United States build a 1,500-mile highway through the wilderness in only eight months. Suddenly Jay's life is filled with adventure.

Flying Ghosts

Shirlee Smith Matheson

Children's Books

Demco Media

Fifteen-year-old Jay Smith's quite life in the Alaska wilderness is shattered when his uncle, Midnight, arrives in his yellow Norseman airplane with news of war. It is 1942, and Canada and the United States have joined forces in a desperate bid to defend North America against Japanese attack. Together the two countries will build a 1,500-mile highway through the wilderness in only eight months. Suddenly Jay's life is filled with adventure and the colourful charachers he meets working along the Alaska Highway. As the highway nears completion, Midnight disappears in the Valley of Lost Planes, and Jay sets off to find him. But will a strange old prospector named Goldbug, who guards lost planes, let him into the valley?

Teen & Young Adult

Perfection Learning

FastBack Beach (Orca Soundings (Pb))

Accompany Shirlee Smith Matheson on more flying adventures with the daring frontiersmen of aviation. From bush pilots who flew for the love of it to military and corporate career flyers, from inventors to engineers, their stories tell Canada's story and show the impact aviation has had on our county and on the North in particular. Readers will meet an Oblate priest who flew throughout Canada's North; a woman in her eighties who thought nothing of flying solo from Alberta to Kansas and Vermont; a tail-gunner whose poignant story lends special insight into what Canada is all about; and an Alberta family whose flying machine matched discoveries made by the Wright brothers; a man who pioneered the use of helicopters in the North; and a pilot who guided his aircraft down the Mackenzie River with dynamite caps held between his knees.

Flying the Frontiers, Vol.II: More Hours of Aviation Adventure

Arts & Photography

History & Criticism

Brush Education

Fastback Beach (Orca Soundings)

Fastback Beach

Orca Book Publishers

Aviation adventures are Shirlee Smith Matheson's specialty. In Maverick in the Sky the author paints a fascinating portrait of flying ace Freddie McCall, one of the most successful fighter pilots of World War I. McCall's bold spirit might well have been inherited from his clan motto Dulce Periculum Danger is Sweet. His amazing wartime accomplishments, his extraordinary flying skills, his fiercely independent barnstorming character and his self-reliant entrepreneurial spirit make him one of Canada s most spectacular mavericks. The exciting story of this true Canadian hero comes to life on every page of this book.

Maverick in the Sky: The Aerial Adventures of World War I Flying Ace Freddie McCall

Frontenac House

Audacity and the Occasional Bad Luck and Hijinks Some accomplishments seem to be beyond human endurance, such as the two mid-winter medical evacuation flights pioneered by the intrepid crew of Kenn Borek Air; the continuing efforts by volunteers from CASARA to search for lost people and planes; the determination of aviation pioneers who fight to fly the volatile conditions experienced in our Maritime provinces; the amazing lifestyles of those who choose to live in the Far North and never want to leave. On the other side of the flying field are those who used flight as an opportunity for personal escapes or hijacking capers, or whose fates were suddenly decided by bad luck engine failure, sudden weather changes, or chances taken with unfamiliar machines and terrain. A high-risk wartime story chronicles the attempt of enemy forces to dock their U-boat on Canadian soil to install a weather reporting station. All are remarkable stories, and most are littleknown. Flight can be a combination of thrills beyond compare and sudden full stops. The stories in Amazing Flights and Flyers encapsulate nearly every human emotion and scenario, and range from the early days of the 20th century to the present. From the introduction to Amazing Flights and Flyers

Amazing Flights and Flyers

Frontenac House Ltd.

Lost: Unsolved Mysteries of Canadian Aviation by Shirlee Smith Matheson is even more compelling than the original book Lost: True Stories of Canadian Aviation Tragedies published in 2005 and now out of print. New information has brought many of the stories up to date. In some cases there has been a degree of closure; while in others the mystery seems fated to forever remain unsolved. One of the themes that runs through Lost: Unsolved Mysteries of Canadian Aviation is the enigma of aircraft that disappear, sometimes within miles of busy airports and crowded cities, and cannot be found despite desperate and prolonged searches. Sometimes wreckage is discovered decades later; on other occasions the aircraft simply vanishes, seemingly forever. In 1937 a four-engine bomber leaves the Soviet Union on a highly publicized flight to Anchorage, Alaska to demonstrate the feasibility of a direct air link with North America. The bomber disappears without a trace and has never been found, despite exhaustive efforts that continue to the present day. A Cessna 150 goes missing on a flght from Fort McMurray to Red Deer, Alberta; one of the most intensive searches in Canadian aviation history, that lasted three months, took 1200 hours of air time, and covered 54,000 square miles, fails to locate the slightest indication of a crash site or a downed plane. A Hudson bomber disappears in a lake in Nova Scotia during the Second World War; despite decades of repeated effort by determined searchers using high-tech equipment, all recovery efforts have encountered nothing but frustration. A famous hockey star is lost while flying home from a fishing expedition; even with tremendous publicity, extensive searches and generous reward offers, the aircraft was not found for over 50 years. A Trans Canada Airlines (now Air Canada) passenger liner is in radio contact with the Vancouver airport, only two and one-half miles from Richmond, and is observed beginning its approach to land, when all contact terminates. The wreckage of the aircraft is not found until 47 years later. How can such disappearances be possible? How can determined, skillful, trained search personnel, using sophisticated equipment, be thwarted in their effort to locate crashed aircraft? The answer is that a downed aircraft, especially in rugged countryside, can be incredibly difficult to spot from the air.

Lost:

This Was Our Valley

Science & Math

Earl K. Pollon

Earth Sciences

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Shirlee Smith Matheson. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Shirlee Smith Matheson