Revisit the Past and Experience the Thrills of Flying High -- New Book Chronicles the Author's Exciting Experiences as a Fighter Pilot

WESTON, Mass., June 2, 2009 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- As a young boy growing up during the Great Depression, S. Melvin Rines dreams of flying, of becoming a fighter pilot. When Pearl Harbor explodes and war is declared, he seizes the chance to serve -- and to realize his dream. Come fly with him in open-cockpit biplanes, low-wing trainers, dive bombers and the navy's fastest fighters as he wins the coveted "wings of gold," an officer's stripes and qualifies as a carrier-based fighter pilot. Poised to join the invasion of Japan, atom bombs are dropped, the war ends and he returns to civilian life.

Less than five years later, another war erupts, a cryptic telegram is received and Rines is recalled to fly the new jet powered fighters. Soar with him on his first flight, white knuckled and alone, and the subsequent whirlwind of "top-gun" training. Then board a massive aircraft carrier and experience the heart-stopping life of a jet fighter pilot at war as he racks up 55 combat missions over Korea-catapult launches, shooting and being shot at, landings on a bobbing flight deck, and the inevitable crashes and casualties.

The fury subsides, the author returns to create a state-of-the-art jet instrument flight school, train new instructors, and teach student pilots, while cavorting with stars in Hollywood and Palm Springs. Then he returns to civilian life again, marries, and embarks on another kind of combat -- as an international investment banker!

Flying High will be featured in the Frankfurt Book Fair at Frankfurt, Germany on October 14-18, 2009.

About the Author

S. Melvin Rines, a navy fighter pilot in World War II and Korea, and a graduate of the University of New Hampshire, retired from Kidder, Peabody, as a managing director and senior international banker after a distinguished career advising and financing major institutions and sovereign governments. He has served as chairman of the board of the University of New Hampshire Foundation and is currently codirector of the International Private Enterprise Center, adjunct professor, and a member of the Executive Board of the university's Whittemore School of Business and Economics. Rines is also the author of "Al Gordon of Kidder Peabody and the Supranationals." He and his artist wife Mary Jo live in Weston, Massachusetts and Southport, Maine.

                     FLYING HIGH * by S. Melvin Rines
                      The Story of a Fighter Pilot
                   Publication Date: November 29, 2005
           Trade Paperback; $18.69; 208 pages; 978-1-4134-9612-3
            Cloth Hardback; $28.79; 208 pages; 978-1-4134-9613-0

Members of the media who wish to review this book may request a complimentary paperback copy by contacting the publisher at (888) 795-4274 x. 7479. To purchase copies of the book for resale, please fax Xlibris at (610) 915-0294 or call (888) 795-4274 x. 7876.

For more information, contact Xlibris at (888) 795-4274 or on the web at www.Xlibris.com.

Xlibris
Marketing Services
(888) 795-4274 x. 7876
MarketingServices@Xlibris.com