The Last Pilot Reading Guide & Discussion Questions

Book Club Discussion Questions

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For supplemental discussion material see our Beyond the Book article, The Space Race and our BookBrowse Review of The Last Pilot.

Please be aware that this discussion guide will contain spoilers!

1. Much of The Last Pilot takes place in the desert, and Benjamin Johncock provides readers with wonderful, atmospheric descriptions of the landscape. Why do you think he dedicates so much space to describing the land? And why was the Mojave Desert chosen as the site of the Air Corps flight tests?
2. Near the beginning of the novel, Johncock gives us a scene of Pancho, Grace, and Glennis drinking at the Happy Bottom Club, listening to the broadcast of a dangerous flight test Glennis's husband, Chuck, is manning. Why does Johncock chose to gives us this scene from the women's perspective at the bar rather than the perspective of the men at the airfield?
3. Pancho is one of The Last Pilot's most colorful characters and is based on real - life figure, Florence Lowe "Pancho" Barnes. In what ways is Pancho a woman ahead of her time? And what is it about the Mojave Desert that seems to draw characters like her?

Unless otherwise stated, this discussion guide is reprinted with the permission of Picador. Any page references refer to a USA edition of the book, usually the trade paperback version, and may vary in other editions.