...and then what happened?

About the Book

And Then What Happened? reviews the career of Harold R. Harris that for a remarkable near-eighty years involved every aspect of aviation. An engineer, he was notable for his fearless innovations, from night flying and airport lighting to test piloting to techniques for overseeing the redesign of aircraft for cotton dusting or the transport of large heavy machinery. Harris was unique in his ability to transition between the worlds of the military (in both World Wars) and commercial aviation. A practical man, he excelled at hands-on operations. A good deal has been written about his early exploits, including the famous emergency parachute jump. Until now, however, little has been written about his administrative ability, his concern for the safety of both passengers and crew or his talent – through hard work and dogged persistence – at achieving the realization of a dream. Regarding Harris’ personal exploits, Justin H. Libby, known for publishing a series of articles covering the exploits of early aviators, observed “. . .how many [people [besides Harold Harris] have ever had 26 flying records. . .as well as being inducted into probably the two most prestigious air societies: the American Institute of Astronautics and Aeronautics and the Society of Experimental Test Pilots?” In the larger picture, this book is a tribute to the contribution made by one man, Harold Ross Harris, to the amazing history of powered flight in the U.S, and throughout the world.

About the Author

Alta Mae Harris Stevens was born in 1928 in Lima, Peru, along with her father’s first commercial airline, the world’s first regularly scheduled airline south of the equator. A graduate of Bryn Mawr College with an M.A. in English from Dalhousie University and a B.Ed. from Mt. St. Vincent University, she was for a decade a high school teacher in Halifax County, Nova Scotia. While there, she represented the province in a national creation of feminist curricula at the high school level sponsored by the Canada Studies Foundation. She earned a Ph.D. in Anthropology from Brown University when she was 70. Publications include The Fountain Image in English Poetry from 1550 to 1667, her Dalhousie M.A. thesis (1971); a review of women’s roles in early Manitoba, co-authored with Linda McDowell(1975); Hallelujah and Amen! Immigrant Haitian Mothers, their Teenage Children, and a Protestant Fundamentalist Church, M.A. thesis (1990); “Manje in Haitian Culture”, Journal of Caribbean Studies, (Spring 1996); and Haitian Women’s Food Networks, United States of America (1998), her Brown dissertation. She has four children and five grandchildren. She lives with her brother, Harold R. Harris Jr., on Cape Cod.