On Mon, 23 May 2016 17:09:54 -0700 (PDT), Bill Higgins-- Beam Jockey
<
higg...@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Saturday, May 21, 2016 at 12:02:52 PM UTC-5,
ba...@dontspam.silent.com wrote:
>> On 20 May 2016 18:48:04 -0400,
wds...@panix.com (William December
>> Starr) wrote:
>> >In article <
m7ipjbth5igerbcrg...@4ax.com>,
>> >
ba...@dontspam.silent.com said:
>> >> It turns out that the project is all about building a flying boat
>> >> bigger than the Howard Hughes Spruce Goose or the old Imperial
>> >> Flying Boats which can then fly into orbit gently. The craft are
>> >> equipped like cruise ships.
>> >
>> >I don't remember which book it was, but I'm certain that it was
>> >Arthur C. Clarke.
>
>I don't think so...
>
>> Thanks for the suggestion. Are you thinking of Prelude To Space? That
>> isn't it BUT this is:
>>
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Operation-Springboard-John-Ball/dp/1503158306
>>
>> love that cover
>
>It's similar to, but not exactly like, the original cover, which I can't find an image of.
>
>*Operation Springboard* by John Ball, was published in 1958.
>
>I don't remember a lot about this book, but it was notable that the spaceship took the form of a "flying boat," that is, a seaplane. This was unusual in SF but very handy for landing on the oceans of 1950s Venus. The narrator is a young disabled court reporter-stenographer who is invited to accompany the Venus expedition. I seem to recall that it was a pretty decent adventure, but I haven't read it since I was twelve or so.
>
>This story doesn't exactly fit the description in the original YASID posting, but there's a flying-boat-cum-spaceship and a medical subplot, so it might match.