Al Capone dove for the floor when he saw the flash of the camera, while his startled body guards drew their guns. The actress Miriam Hopkins ran screaming from the camera while Lyndon Johnson ran towards it. General Jimmy Doolittle called him a Son of a Bitch, while the Pope called him his friend. Bob Hope asked if he would escort Hope's wife to church, and John Barrymore asked if he would hide him from his mistress. Cary Grant demanded a shoe shine, Eleanor Roosevelt demanded an apology, and Harry Truman demanded a bourbon. Who was this guy? He was Mike Rotunno, and he was a photographer for one of Chicago's newspapers. Yet, he also photographed airplanes for the airlines, starting in the 1920's, the beginning of his 50 year career at Chicago's Midway airport. In that span he got to know everyone, great or small, and his story is like a cross between the movie The Terminal" and "Forrest Gump." He introduced movie stars to baseball players, Marilyn Monroe to a room full o."

Training ground of heroes and daredevils. Transportation hu

“Delves into O’Hare’s past and present, based on Branigan’s extensive research and his interviews with aviation professionals and enthusiasts” (Chicago Tribune). In 1942, a stretch of Illinois prairie that had served as a battleground and a railroad depot became the site of a major manufacturing plant, producing Douglas C-54 Skymasters for World War II. Less than twenty years later, that plot of land boasted the biggest and busiest airport in the world. Many of the millions who have since passed through it have likely only regarded it as a place between cities. But for people like Michael Branigan, who has spent years on its tarmac, they know that O’Hare is a city unto itself, with a fascinating history of gangsters, heroes, mayors, presidents, and pilots. Includes photos! “This book reads like no other in the aviation industry from the historical context. Mike is a prolific writer with a knack for telling a story in a way that people can easily relate and understand.” —TribLocal

The study investigates implications of a projected growth of commercial air transport demand in the Chicago area for operations at the region's airports. About 95% of commercial air passenger and flight movements in Chicago currently take place at O'Hare International Airport. Serious airport runway and ground access congestion problems are likely to result if this degree of concentration of commercial traffic continues into the mid-1980's. This study considers the increased airport system capacity which could result if a significant portion of the growth of commercial air transport activity were to take place at Chicago Midway Airport in the late 1970's and mid-1980's.