To book a ride on the "World's Shortest Airline" or learn aerial stunts from the redheaded widow of Lawrence Avenue, you've got to go through the airports buried beneath the housing developments and shopping malls of Chicagoland. Many of these airports sprang up after World War I, when training killed more pilots than combat, and the aviation pioneers who developed Chicago's flying fields played a critical role in getting the nation ready to dare the skies in World War II. Author Nick Seli...

Nick Selig excavates the highways to the sky that have been covered up by urban sprawl or dissolved by neglect. More than a guide to landing strips that have had startling second lives as shopping malls or retirement homes, he uncovers the excitement of the early days of air travel, when a man might cling to his job as a lavatory truck driver for a closer peek at aviation. In this follow-up to "Lost Airports of Chicago," discover how a tractor swap gave birth to Clow International Airport ...