Icarus in America: The pilot in American culture

The image of Icarus as an emblem in American popular representations of pilots suggests the tensions inherent in the image of the pilot as a heroic figure. Early images of pilots are seen as expressions of the tension between traditional ideals of chivalry and the modern emphasis on individual autonomy. With the technological change and mass mobilization of World War II, the pilot represents the conflicting impulses towards both individual technological mastery and cooperative action. The postwar image of the pilot reflects the tensions of heroic masculinity "domesticated" by dominant middle-class culture. Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff is examined as an important popular re-evaluation of the pilot as a modern American hero. Female pilots, and African-American pilots are also considered as heroic images representing ideals particularly important to those subcultures. Examples are taken from popular fiction and nonfiction, magazine articles and feature films produced between 1927 and 1997.