1930s or 1940s adventure books (of short stories) for boys featuring airplanes. I remember a story that featured a crew of men attempting a record breaking non-stop (transcontinental? Transatlantic?) flight, in a 3 engine plane that could be refueled midair. I remember a scene where one engine was shut down for in flight maintenance.
One story featured two pilots flying an old biplane in a barnstorming content that was won because the co-pilot dumped itching powder down his partner's back. Another featured WWII aircrew captured by Germans and they manage to escape and steal a German plane equipped with skis for the snow. These books had belonged to my father, and were probably given to him by his uncle, who was a pilot.
One of the stories is “The Itch to Win” by Charles Spain Verral, and can be found in ‘Speed, speed, speed : stories of races and chases in hot rods and jets, trains and planes, submarines and speedboats’ by Fenner, Phyllis R. (Phyllis Reid). Publication date 1954
Verral also wrote ‘pulp’ style aviation stories under the name George L Eaton, notably the ‘Bill Barnes’ stories.
There is a reference to ‘Itch to Win’ being in a volume called ‘Teen-age Aviation Stories’ edited by Samson, D (Don), part of the ‘Teen-Age series’ which comprise adventure stories. Ebay has reasonably priced copies.