Hi RiskyRossco
Many thanks for the offer. I'm still hopeful of mine's turning up but yeah, want to send me an email? Should be in my profile. Did you by chance ever own a piece (large chunk) of Russian Antarctic LI-2 that now resides somewhere on the UK south coast....?
To stay on the books path, how about 'Operation Overlord', the absolutely fascinating story of and by Francis Gary Powers, his U-2 operations, shooting down, incarceration, interrogation and release in exchange for Rudolph Abel. Also the involvement of Lee Harvey Oswald......
The book was written in 1970, shortly after his return, and subsequent grilling by his friends. 33 years later, TR-1s are still to be seen - satellites are obviously not enough!
And a gem of a book is 'The Last Enemy' by Richard Hillary, the WWII pilot, his pre-war time at Oxford (he rowed for the darkblues and for England in the 1936 Olympics, where they won gold), his successes in the air, his lost friends, and in 1940 his terrible disfigurement in a shootdown and treatment by the renowned Dr McIndoe. My copy was published in 1943 in German (but in Switzerland), and an actual photo has been stuck onto the flysheet, whether by the publishers, or the original owner I don't know. There are some interesting comments written in pencil (and German) supporting Richard's description of the German rowing elite.
Just returned from my first real Christmas in England in over 30 years, thanks in part to Ryanair, who 'gave' me the flight for an astounding six Euros!
HNY all!