thousands of pilots paid the ultimate toll to flatten this road
Well put DB. What you say is echoed time and again, as a major theme, in FATE IS THE HUNTER. The book is in fact dedicated to a long list of airline pilots, not just Americans, who were part of the process you describe. We who have had a slight taste of these affairs, at a remove, should stand in silent homage to those forerunners. They were cast in many distinctive and differing molds, mostly highly idiosyncratic, with little relevance or connection with operations on the air routes of the world today. (Only the the terrain remains the same and ever ready for the impact of those less fortunate, or less skilled.)