Tom Swift and His Aerial Firetruck: A Tom Swift Sr. Novella (Tom Swift Invention Series)

This is the companion story to the Tom Swift Invention Series novel #11: "Tom Swift and the AntiInferno Suppressor." Details from this pre-story are heavily referenced in the full novel, although this story can be fully enjoyed as a stand-alone tale starring the very first Tom Swift. And, vice versa. Tom is distraught when the historical Shopton Hotel burns to the ground—possibly an act of a pyromaniac or as an act of mischief that got out of hand—while the town's fire fighters stand by helpless. None of their old pumping equipment can shoot water high enough. Tom believes the solution may lie in flying the water over the fire, but his own flying ship cannot lift very much weight. So, he sets about building a new, special airship that will use a revolutionary method of dousing the flames. Test after test show he is getting closer to success, but it takes another fire to prove that his system works! The tie in to the later novel is that the Tom Swift of the future (this Tom's great-grandson) finds the diary detailing the trials and errors just at a time when he, himself, is attempting to come up with a modern flying fire fighting machine.