History—you couldn't make up this stuff if you tried. The U.S. Navy's colossal aerial failures in 1925 that turned, overnight, into an epic story of men against the sea are a case in point.

While the Navy dirigible Shenandoah was flying into dire thunderstorms over Ohio, Cmdr. John Rodgers and a trio of aircraft attempted to fly to Hawaii with no margin for error factored into their fuel consumption.

The dirigible broke up and many died. Two aircraft were downed early. The third, the one with Rodgers, simply vanished. A massive sea hunt ensued, with no joy. Army Gen. Billy Mitchell hit the roof so hard he was court-martialed.

And then, a miracle. Rodgers and his tattered crew showed up off Kauai. They had pulled the fabric off the wings of their flying boat and sailed it to the island. The world went nuts.

Author Bill Riddle has shoehorned this astounding adventure into a novel format, which allows him to invent dialogue and motivations for characters who, over the years, have become more like icons than human beings. Reducing them to human size increases their heroism. The story of the flight, once it gets under way, is gripping.

The flaws in Riddle's book are typical of a first-time novelist. Dialogue is often expository, and there's a preposterous romance plunked into the middle. There are occasional fact errors, one popping up on the first page when Pearl Harbor naval officers in 1924 look out upon Battleship Row, which wasn't created until the late '30s. The book's reproduction of many period photos also suffers from memory pixilation.

But when Riddle writes about what he knows firsthand, such as the heady rush of a sailboat race, the book is elegant and detailed. You might quibble with the presentation, but the amazing story at the heart of “;Dead Downwind”; makes the book take flight.