''Skyroads'', a serialized

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' includes fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air craft such as hot air ...

-based

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

, was published from May 20, 1929, to 1942. After

Charles Lindbergh Charles Augustus Lindbergh (February 4, 1902 – August 26, 1974) was an American aviator, military officer, author, inventor, and activist. On May 20–21, 1927, Lindbergh made the first nonstop flight from New York City to Paris, a distance o ...

's crossing of the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

, aviation became the focus of several comic strips. ''

Tailspin Tommy ''Tailspin Tommy'' was an air adventure comic strip about a youthful pilot, "Tailspin" Tommy Tomkins (sometimes spelled Tompkins). Originally illustrated by Hal Forrest and initially distributed by John Neville Wheeler's Bell Syndicate and the ...

'' (debuting in 1928) was the first, but it was soon followed by others, including ''Skyroads''.''Skyroads''
at

Don Markstein's Toonopedia Don Markstein's Toonopedia (subtitled A Vast Repository of Toonological Knowledge) is an online encyclopedia of print cartoons, comic strips and animation, initiated February 13, 2001. Donald D. Markstein, the sole writer and editor of Toonopedi ...

br>Archived
from the original on June 4, 2017.18 months of ''Sky Roads'' strips
/ref> ''Skyroads'' was created by aviation pioneer

Lester J. Maitland Lester James Maitland (February 8, 1899 – March 27, 1990) was an aviation pioneer and career officer in the United States Army Air Forces and its predecessors. Maitland began his career as a United States Army Reserve, Reserve pilot in the U.S ...

and Lt. Dick Calkins, an ex-

Army Air Service The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial war ...

pilot who was already drawing the ''

Buck Rogers Buck Rogers is a science fiction adventure hero and feature comic strip created by Philip Francis Nowlan first appearing in daily US newspapers on January 7, 1929, and subsequently appearing in Sunday newspapers, international newspapers, books ...

'' comic strip. Like ''Buck Rogers'', it was syndicated by the John F. Dille Co. (later known as the

National Newspaper Syndicate The National Newspaper Syndicate, originally known as the John F. Dille Co., was a syndication service that operated from 1917 to c. 1984. It was founded by Chicago businessman John F. Dille and specialized in comic strips and gag cartoons. It al ...

). Maitland and Calkins continued to collaborate on ''Skyroads'' until 1933, when Calkins' assistant, Russell Keaton, took over the writing and artwork. Keaton remained until 1939, when it was taken over by Leonard Dworkins (using the pseudonym "Leon Gordon").

Characters and story

Unlike other serialized comic strips, ''Skyroads'' did not have a single focal character over the course of its printing run. Instead, it focused on aviation as a whole, telling different stories with a different set of characters every few years. Three distinctive periods appeared over the publication history of ''Skyroads'', each with its own defined set of characters. The first featured were Ace Ames and Buster Evans who owned and operated the Skyroads Unlimited transport company. This duo was followed by Hurricane Hawk and then Speed McCloud. Clipper Williams, a member of the Flying Legion, soared into air adventures with his kid sidekick, Tommy. Eventually, the Flying Legion became the focus instead of Clipper Williams, a plot situation that remained until the series concluded in 1942.

Radio and books

On February 13, 1939, the

Mutual Broadcasting System The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Old-time radio, golden ...

began a radio adaptation of ''Skyroads'' that ran four months and came to a conclusion on May 19. Two Better Little Books were published (1936, 1939) with the ''Skyroads'' characters. A brief return occurred in the 1960s with reprints in a saddle-stitched magazine format by publisher Edwin Aprill. However, only one volume was published by April.

References

1930s American radio programs American comic strips 1929 comics debuts 1942 comics endings Aviation comics Adventure comics Aviation radio series American radio dramas 1939 radio programme debuts Comics adapted into radio series Radio programs based on comic strips Mutual Broadcasting System programs {{comic-strip-stub