Book Review: Dave Dashaway and His Hydroplane by Roy Rockwood
Less than a year ago, Dave Dashaway’s dreams of flight seemed unobtainable, even the pleasure of crafting models of air machines forbidden him by his cruel guardian. But now he is a skilled aeroplane pilot, one of the rising stars of the aviation world. But there’s no time to rest on his laurels, as he masters the skills necessary to handle a hydroplane, and then an amphibious plane that lands on water!
This is the second in a series from the Stratemeyer Syndicate, an extruded book product company of the early Twentieth Century. Under “house names”, multiple authors would put out books about characters having adventures, such as Nancy Drew and Tom Swift, on the somewhat reasonable assumption that children couldn’t tell authors’ writing apart, especially if they wrote to a standard formula.
Dave and his slightly less awesome companion Hiram (a farmboy turned trainee pilot) are now under the tutelage of veteran pilot Robert King and one-armed former pilot John Grimshaw. They work demonstrating new machines for an aerocraft manufacturer, competing in aviation contests.
The hydroplane of the title is basically a speedboat with wings, and plays little part in the plot, except to establish Dave’s competence with any winged craft. The main action begins when criminal pilots take off with an amphibious plane that Dave was meant to demonstrate. They plan to use the plane for smuggling along the Canadian border–as the police do not have amphibious aircraft, nothing can stop the criminals!
Nothing, of course, but our heroes and their own amphibious aeroplane, with a little help from government agents.
Good stuff: Dave is a clean-cut, well-mannered go-getter who repeatedly steps up to the task, even when the person he’s helping isn’t the most grateful. The morality of the series can be summed up in this quote:
Because Dave was right, and Jerry wrong, these plots rebounded on the schemer and did Dave no harm.
There’s plenty of exciting aviation scenes, and a bit of crimefighting.
Less good: the book uses some old-fashioned ethnic terms, and non-white people are treated dismissively by the narrative. There’s some heavy use of coincidence to move the story along.
This volume is suitable for boys ages ten and up, and is in the public domain so can easily be found on the internet.
