I've just finished "Flights into History" by Ian McLachlan. It gives an insight into the work of aviation archaeologists but by far the best bits are the descriptions of how young men behaved in conditions of extreme peril both in the air and on the ground.
Particularly good is a long section written by a 49 Squadron navigator who was captured after his Lancaster was shot down over Dusseldorf. He described his story as a line-shoot. Not so.