What’s your favorite Aviation/Airplane book?

[Another Ahab]

Almost forgot, if you're going to read about flying, you owe it to yourself to read at least one book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. He was a pilot back in the early stages of aviation, when the world was still largely unexplored by air.

I read the book he wrote about flying the mail in South America (which he had done). It was a good read. He died during flight somewhere. Not sure of the story.

 

[joshuak]

Greetings folks,

I'd like to add Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years at Lockheed to the list.

Not my favorite, but a good read indeed. It's just to hard to compete against Yossarian's logic in Catch-22:

"He had decided to live forever or die in the attempt..." .

 

[combatmech]

"Everything but the flak" by Martin Caidin. A must read for all those warbird fans. Its about taking three B-17's across the Atlantic to England in the 1960's for the movie "The War Lover"
Another fav....
"Behind the cockpit door" by Arthur Whitlock. Well written book about a career in commercial aviation.
Those are just two of too many to list......

 

[Another Ahab]

Another title to consider is the story of Lidiya Litvyak, the Russian WWII Ace.

She was a tough cookie, and dead I think it was (flying combat) at 23 years of age. Requiescat in Pace.


View attachment 1 Book Cover.pdf

 

[USMC4302]

Almost forgot, if you're going to read about flying, you owe it to yourself to read at least one book by Antoine de Saint-Exupery. He was a pilot back in the early stages of aviation, when the world was still largely unexplored by air.

I read the book he wrote about flying the mail in South America (which he had done). It was a good read. He died during flight somewhere. Not sure of the story.

You have that right on, Ahab -- You can not be a literary fan of aviation without reading St. Ex. The book you read is "Night Flight." The others I would highly recommend are "Wind, Sand and Stars" about flying the desert (where he crashed once) and "Flight to Arras." Bach comes close, but St Ex is in a league all by himself. IMHO, no author writes aviation better (or even as good).

Read his bio on Wikipedia -- he was truly a remarkable man. Anyone tempted to make fun of French military officers had better read up on St Ex first

 

[frank8003]

Catch-22 is an absolute classic. I am long overdue for a re-read of Yossarian's adventures.

chocolate covered cotton and
"GI gimmie a dollar"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlb85AIzj0Y

 

[frank8003]

.............Antoine de Saint-Exupery..........He died during flight somewhere. Not sure of the story.

P38 tail #2734L 07311944 bracelet found
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/little-prince-mystery-solved/

 

[Another Ahab]

chocolate covered cotton and
"GI gimmie a dollar"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlb85AIzj0Y

If you read only ten books in your lifetime:

- You wouldn't go wrong making Heller's Catch-22 one of those ten.

 

[Another Ahab]

P38 tail #2734L 07311944 bracelet found
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/little-prince-mystery-solved/

He walked the talk.

There's rarely a better author to read than the one who's "been there".

 

[M813rc]

Some of the best have been mentioned already.

Personally, I prefer first hand accounts rather than novels, I'm more interested in the history than entertainment.
Sticking to aviation only, since that is the thread topic-

Phantom over Vietnam by John Trotti
Going Downtown by Jack Broughton (F-105 in Vietnam)
Once a fighter pilot... by Jerry Cook (Flew from 1956 to the 80s, F-4s in Vietnam)
God is my Co-Pilot by Robert Scott (WWII)
Eighty knots to Mach 2 by Richard Linnekin
Linnekin was a Navy pilot trained on Stearmans in WWII, and eventually ended up in the F-4 Phantom. He flew a bunch of planes in between, and describes their characteristics.
Night Stalkers by Michael Durant and Steven Hartov (special Ops helo driver. You'll recognize the author's name from Blackhawk Down)
Blackhawk Down, while we're at it.

Any of Matthew Brennan's books about the 1/9 Air Cav in Vietnam. One is Headhunters, another is Brennan's War. He covers both air and ground ops.
I'll have to look at my books to get more titles, but most are packed up for a house move. Being a just-post-Vietnam helo jock, I have read a lot of the Vietnam-era helicopter books.

If you think of jet pilots as just button pushers, read ...And Kill Migs by Lou Drendel. Gives good first hand accounts of fighter-fighter combat from Vietnam to the first Gulf War. Has nice pictures too, if you are a model builder. Or just like pictures. There are several editions (3 or 4?), get the latest one. (Or all of them, since the latest one leaves out some stuff from the earlier ones, to keep the book the same size).

Glide Path by Arthur C Clarke. It is written as a novel, but Clarke was part of the team that developed ground controlled approach in Britain during WWII, so it is a thinly disguised first hand account.

There are dozens more, but that's all I'll add for now.

Cheers

 

[dependable]

Chickenhawk is amazing. One of the best books I've ever read. Strongly recommended.

That's my choice too, out of a lot of good ones.

 

[Another Ahab]

Glide Path by Arthur C Clarke. It is written as a novel, but Clarke was part of the team that developed ground controlled approach in Britain during WWII, so it is a thinly disguised first hand account.

Cheers

I know, I know, I COULD Google all this, but I like to hear from the source (and yeah, maybe I'm lazy )

Isn't Arthur C. Clarke, a science-fiction writer; is this the same guy!?

And what exactly is "ground-controlled approach"; is that meaning a spotter on the ground guiding the aircrews in to a target?

 

[Tinwoodsman]

Flight of the Old Dog by Dale Brown.

 

[Another Ahab]

Al of this talk is reminding me of something I read about Charles Lindbergh once:

- His world-altering fight started of course in New York City and ended in Paris.

- And apparently shortly after the flight (like the following day or something), he was asked to make a speech.

- The audience was the aviation community of France, or the science community of France or some large group like that.

- So ALL the warm-up speakers had spoken and completed all their honorifics, and finally the big moment; Lindbergh was introduced and took the podium.

- And, in French, Lindbergh said something like "The world is full of men who like to talk, but as for me, I like to fly". And with that he stepped away from the podium and took his seat.

- There was a stunned silence from the huge, energized crowd.

- And then, all at once, the place exploded; everyone jumped to their feet and the applause and the cheering went on, and on, and on!

I'll try and find exactly what it was he said (it was only a very few words), and I'll post it back here after I find it. Or if anybody else finds it first please have at it!

 

[Another Ahab]

Al of this talk is reminding me of something I read about Charles Lindbergh once:

- His world-altering fight started of course in New York City and ended in Paris.

- And apparently shortly after the flight (like the following day or something), he was asked to make a speech.

- The audience was the aviation community of France, or the science community of France or some large group like that.

- So ALL the warm-up speakers had spoken and completed all their honorifics, and finally the big moment; Lindbergh was introduced and took the podium.

- And, in French, Lindbergh said something like "The world is full of men who like to talk, but as for me, I like to fly". And with that he stepped away from the podium and then sat right down..

- There was a stunned silence from the huge, energized crowd.

- And then, all at once, the place exploded; everyone jumped to their feet and the applause and the cheering went on, and on, and on!

I'll try and find exactly what it was he said (it was only a very few words), and I'll post it back here after I find it. Or if anybody else finds it first please have at it!

I can't seem to find those few short words.

Apparently Lindbergh was a bit of a shill for Adolph Hitler and the Nazi ideology. All my searches only come up with those speeches of his.

 

[TB58]

Ground controlled approaches have a radar operator giving the pilot corrections as he flies down the glide path to a landing point. Very good approaches, less work load on the pilot, worke even if the aircraft isnt equiped for instrument flight or had a failure, and they can guide the aircraft down lower than most any other approach.

One I just started is "Within my Grasp" about a fighter pilot who also was attempting to set a land speed record and crashed. In the crash he lost both arms. He went on to not only fly again but to fly a Pitts in airshows. True story, I am only a few chapters in but very good so far.

 

[Another Ahab]

One I just started is "Within my Grasp" about a fighter pilot who also was attempting to set a land speed record and crashed. In the crash he lost both arms. He went on to not only fly again but to fly a Pitts in airshows. True story, I am only a few chapters in but very good so far.

That story sounds pretty amazing, and it just reminded me about Hannah Reitsch; and I can't believe I forgot to mention her here (she also crashed, while test flying the ME-163 "Komet"; sheared the nose right off of her face).

Check her out; she was a cool cookie.


View attachment Title Page and Summary.pdf

 

[M813rc]

Isn't Arthur C. Clarke, a science-fiction writer; is this the same guy!?

It is indeed!

TB58 gave a good description of GCA.
I'll just add that the radar operator knows all the terrain and other obstacles near a field. They will guide the pilot to a point to safely begin the descent onto the approach path. This is a a bearing that lines up with the runway heading, and at any given point along this line, there is a prescribed altitude (called glide slope).
The controller will almost continually update the pilot, advising if he deviates left or right of the bearing, and above or below the glide slope; and also when he is on bearing/slope. They will guide you right down to the runway, the pilot takes over and lands visually once he sights the field (which may not be until he is just above the runway).

Many modern aircraft can actually land by themselves now, taking it right onto the runway, but that's another story.

Cheers

 

[Another Ahab]

While trying to find that super short speech by Lindbergh (which I CAN'T find ):

- I ran across the notable detail that Charles A. Lindbergh is the only American ever awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for something other than valor in combat. That was news to me.