The boy who couldn't fly by Charles Spain Verral
QR code
The boy who couldn't fly by Charles Spain Verral is a juvenile aviation adventure short story written in the late 1930s. It follows a determined high-school boy with a leg brace whose passion for flying collides with bullying and parental fear, leading to a test of skill and courage in the air. Dan Sutherland, secretly obsessed with aviation and mocked for “flying” a homemade cockpit in his barn, clashes with swaggering classmate
Jerry Blackwell, who flaunts a new Ross Comet and humiliates Dan at school. When Jerry coaxes Dan into a flight and recklessly stunts to scare him, a botched loop puts the plane in a deadly spin; Jerry panics and bails out. Alone, Dan slides into the pilot’s seat, recalls the spin-recovery drills he practiced in his mock plane, and coolly brings the Comet out of the spin and lands it. The onlookers condemn Jerry’s cowardice, while Dan’s father—who had opposed flying since the crash that killed Dan’s mother and injured Dan—admits the truth of his fear, expresses pride in his son’s composure, and promises proper aviation training and a real airplane. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Download for free
For your e-reader or reading app — Kindle, Kobo, Apple Books, Calibre etc.
Kindle → Use Send-to-Kindle
- Download the EPUB3 file above
- Upload it on the Amazon site your Kindle is registered with: amazon.com/sendtokindle for the US, amazon.co.uk/sendtokindle for the UK etc.
- It appears on your Kindle and in the Kindle app
Kobo, Nook etc. → Transfer via USB
- Download the EPUB3 file on your computer
- Connect your e-reader by USB and tap "Connect" on its screen
- Drag the file onto the e-reader drive
Phone, Tablet or Computer → Online or Reading App
Easiest: read online in your browser. Nothing to install.
Or use a reading app:
- Find and install one you like, for example Apple Books, ReadEra or Thorium Reader
- Download the EPUB3 file above
- Open it in the app
More help: iPhone / iPad · Android · Computer
Other formats & older devices
There may be more files related to this item.
About this eBook
| Author | Verral, Charles Spain, 1904-1990 |
|---|---|
| Title | The boy who couldn't fly |
| Original Publication | Chicago, IL: Ziff-Davis Publishing Company, 1938. |
| Series Title | Produced from the December 1939 issue of Air Adventures magazine. |
| Credits | Prepared by volunteers at BookCove (bookcove.net) |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Short stories |
| Subject | People with disabilities -- Fiction |
| Subject | Teenage boys -- Fiction |
| Subject | Aeronautics -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| eBook-No. | 78136 |
| ISBN (HTML) | 979-8-238-78136-5 |
| Release Date | Mar 8, 2026 |
| Copyright | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 311 downloads in the last 30 days. |
Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free!