The Great Airport Mystery is a tale of early flying, mail plane robberies, and races across the countryside in a roadster. It was a long ago time when kids had to pass exams to graduate from High School. No revisionism and mindless updating to make the stories "relevant" to the contemporary reader. This is not great literature, but updating is really little more than colorizing black&white movies.

This is just plain fun, and thanks to the publishers for giving us an opportunity to see what fun was for kids 75 years ago.


Another Good Hardy Boys Book   September 2, 2001
 4 out of 5 found this review helpful

This review concerns the original 1930 edition. Frank and Joe are arrested following the theft of valuable mail bags from the airport and must track down the real thieves in order to clear their names. While there is nothing spectacular about this book to make it stand out from the rest, it is by no means a bad book. The mystery is interesting and there is a decent amount of action. One thing that I did like about this book was that the criminals were featured prominently thoughout the book, unlike in some other volumes where Frank and Joe don't come across the criminals until the last few pages. Many readers will find it odd that the Hardys and their friends graduate from high school in this book (especially since in #10, they are back in high school), apparently, with the beginning of the Great Depression, the author must have been unsure as to whether or not the series would continue. This is an above average book any Hardy Boys fan would enjoy reading.


CLINT HILL MYSTERY   March 2, 2003
 4 out of 10 found this review helpful

The Hardy Boys The Great Plane Mystery
Franklin W. Dixon
Reviewed by S. Teran
Period 5

In the beginning of this book, the Hardy boys and their father were trying to get to their house in Bayport after they accidentally took a wrong turn. As they were going through a field, they heard a low pitched droning. They decided to ignore it. A few seconds later, out of no where, a plane came flying at them. They tried to dodge it but the wheel of the plane hit the roof of the car. The car flipped and everyone was knocked out cold. After about 10 minutes or so, they woke up unhurt but their car was almost totaled. Since the Hardys were used to the unexpected, they just went on. The next day, the Hardys flew a helicopter back to the area where they got hit by the plane. They found a shack that would normally be hidden to the naked eye in the forest. Just as they found it, a weird voice came over the radio speakers. It eerily said, "You can not escape the dead person, you know who this is, this is Clint Hill." The next day the Hardys got jobs at Stanwide, a computer/plane/helicopter industry, where Clint Hill last worked. Their jobs were to deliver notes and packages to other parts of the plant. After work and with permission, the Hardys took a helicopter out to the same location. Just as they were about to land, a tornado came towards the helicopter. The winds were too strong and forced them to crash land. No one was hurt but the helicopter was damaged beyond repair. The boys looked for clues until they saw a camouflage tarp covering a cave. Behind it, they found Clint Hill's plane. The Hardys flew to an island off the shores of a lake in Montana. There they found barrels of aviation fuel. They also found a shack like the one at Bayport. At the shack, they saw two people, Anchor and Barney. They were pilots for Stanwell. These two men were up to no good. Before they knew it, the Hardys were captured and thrown into a shack. Once the trap door opened, sleeping gas filed the room which knocked out the Hardy boys. Anchor called all the other pilots who were involved in the smuggling to come to this Island. The pilot, who flew the Hardy boys to this island, got worried and went looking for them. He found the shack and he also fell into the trap door. He was only stunned by the gas. He was able to get the boys out and call for help. He called Mr. Allen, the president of Stanwell, to come to the island. Upon arriving, Mr. Allen was shocked to see platinum and Clint Hill's crashed plane. This plane had crashed off the Cuban shores about 10 years ago. Meanwhile, the police were chasing Anchor, Peterson, and Rodax. The police eventually caught them and interrogated them for 3 days. They told the police of their hide out, the platinum and of the rest of the people who were involved in the smuggling. Mr. Allen had congratulated the Hardys on their findings and was told that someone wanted to talk to them back at Stanwell. They walked into the office and saw Clint Hill. He told the Hardys that 10 years ago, Peterson, who was the command pilot, left him stranded after the plane crashed. He was stranded in Cuba all this time. He explained that the eerie message over the radio wasn't him. It was just Peterson trying to scare people.
I liked this book so much is because it is a Mystery book. I really like Mystery books because the authors always keep you on the edge of your seat. For example, when the mysterious voice came over the radio, it said, "You can not escape the person you have killed." That part crept me out so much. I also liked this book because once I started to reading it, I couldn't stop. Before I knew about Mystery books, I never wanted to have anything to do with reading a book. The only time I would read a book is when one of my teachers would make us read or if they were instructional books on how to play Nintendo games. Franklin W. Dixon, the author of these Hardy boys mysteries, always seems to write amazing storylines.
There really was nothing that I didn't like about this book. If anything, it was just too short of a book.
My favorite part of this book is right in the beginning. It all started when the Hardys were taking a short cut through the plains when they heard a low pitch sound off in the distance. They decided to ignore it and continue as usual. The low pitched sound kept on getting louder as if it was getting closer, but of course, they still ignored it. Finally, Mr. Hardy got scared and turned off his headlights only to find another pair of lights going overhead. Something hit the top of the car to make it flip. Then the headlights mysteriously vanished.


This book is very good!   April 8, 2000
 3 out of 4 found this review helpful

This book is one of my favorite Hardy Boys mysteries. It is about when frank and joe Hardy are driving and they take a shortcut but its a dead end.But all of the sudden something wierd happens a plane flies over their car and it is soooo low that the wheels of it skidded on the top of there car.So they are left unconcious for about 1 hour then when they reach concious they are in there car with it turned over and they are in a way trapped. After a few seconds of mind problems they get out and go into a unknown area to them to look for poles. BUT a MAN shows up with a shotgun and after some negociating he gives them permission to look for a pole. But when they get home they find out he is an ex-convict named: Bush Barney while going through their famous detectives fathers files of his convicts and cases. So you'll have to read the book to find out the exciting conclusion.


Interesting, entertaining novel   April 20, 1999
 3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This tells the story of a group of thieves who steal platinum. The Hardy Boys track the thieves from Bayport to Ile de la Mer, an allegedly uninhabited island, to a mountain hideout in Montana. While solving the case they also find a hidden cave, the ghost of a dead pilot who haunts his guilty former partner and a plot that incorporates airport workers on every level. Thrilling and entertaining. Good for people of all ages.