Searching for a good read...
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I'm always amazed why there are so many bookstalls at the airshows. Clearly they are feeding the need of pprune readers !!. One I've not seen mentioned is "Mollison, The Flying Scotsman" by David Luff. Being fascinated by the pre-war record breakers it's a revealing insight into how the flights were financed and the adulation successful ones received.
BTW I've heard a version of Fredrick Forsyth's "The Shepherd" based around 3 P-47s returning to Duxford in WW2. Anybody else heard that?
BTW I've heard a version of Fredrick Forsyth's "The Shepherd" based around 3 P-47s returning to Duxford in WW2. Anybody else heard that?
Join Date: Jun 2002
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Red Ball in the Sky
I own a copy of that book, although I haven't read it for several years.
As I recall, towards the end of the book the author describes a transatlantic crossing by a flight of F100 'Super Sabres'. Partway across, one of the other pilots radioed the senior officer (Brig. Gen. Blair) to report that his bladder was full, and requested permission to relief himself in his flight suit (permission was duly granted). I thought to myself "this could only happen in the American military".
Probably they learn such juvenile behaviour in their service academies (remember Winston Churchill's observations of West Point in My Early Life?).
I don't want to take away from the book (which is not a bad read), or the author (who was an extremely accomplished pilot). More information is available here.
As I recall, towards the end of the book the author describes a transatlantic crossing by a flight of F100 'Super Sabres'. Partway across, one of the other pilots radioed the senior officer (Brig. Gen. Blair) to report that his bladder was full, and requested permission to relief himself in his flight suit (permission was duly granted). I thought to myself "this could only happen in the American military".
Probably they learn such juvenile behaviour in their service academies (remember Winston Churchill's observations of West Point in My Early Life?).I don't want to take away from the book (which is not a bad read), or the author (who was an extremely accomplished pilot). More information is available here.
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Incorrect Reference
I checked My Early Life, and the passage referred to above does not in fact appear in that book. Rather, it is in a letter from Churchill to his brother, reproduced as follows in Winston S. Churchill, Vol. I (Youth: 1874-1900), by Randolph S. Churchill:
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
I am sure you will be horrified by some of the Regulations of the Military Academy. The cadets enter from 19-22 and stay four years. This means that they are most of them 24 years of age. They are not allowed to smoke or have any money in their possession, nor are they given any leave except two months after the first two years. In fact, they have far less liberty than any private school boys in our country. I think such a state of things is positively disgraceful, and young men of 24 or 25 who would resign their personal liberty to such an extent can never make good citizens or fine soldiers. A child who rebels against that sort of control should be whipped – so should a man who does not rebel.
Not so N, but still FG
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Could you please be a little more specific, Gauntlet? Do you mean books by pilots about pilots? If so, the list is endless, but quite a few are referred to in the pages above.
Join Date: May 2004
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FNG
Sorry wasn't thinking when I posted, I have been told of books written by cabin crew on their adventures!
I read a book by Anthony Woodward the other day called Propellorhead, very amusing book and well reccomended
Gauntlet
Sorry wasn't thinking when I posted, I have been told of books written by cabin crew on their adventures!
I read a book by Anthony Woodward the other day called Propellorhead, very amusing book and well reccomended
Gauntlet
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Live to Look Again
I would rather provide positive references than negative, but felt that I should give you a warning about this absolute stinker of a book: Donald A. Fraser, Live to Look Again (1984), ISBN:0919303803. The sub-title should be: The Most Incredibly Boring Autobiography Ever, by The Dullest Man in the World. 
The author was a Canadian pilot who served with the RAF during the Second World War, in both Bomber and Coastal Commands. Unfortunately, he seems to have spent his service years doing very little flying, since he was afflicted by various medical complaints (all of which are meticulously recorded for the reader's benefit). There is no particular shame in this; but why he felt it necessary to publish a 242 page memoir cataloguing all the minute details of his many, many leaves, and the lack of activity on the New Brunswick training base to which he was eventually relegated, is a complete mystery.
In addition to the complete lack of any interesting events in the narrative, the writing is rather poor and contains various errors. There doesn't seem to have been any attempt at editing, and I suspect that the book was self-published (why!!!); certainly, I have never heard of the "Mika Publishing Company".
Don't waste your time or money on this irksome chronicle.
The author was a Canadian pilot who served with the RAF during the Second World War, in both Bomber and Coastal Commands. Unfortunately, he seems to have spent his service years doing very little flying, since he was afflicted by various medical complaints (all of which are meticulously recorded for the reader's benefit). There is no particular shame in this; but why he felt it necessary to publish a 242 page memoir cataloguing all the minute details of his many, many leaves, and the lack of activity on the New Brunswick training base to which he was eventually relegated, is a complete mystery.
In addition to the complete lack of any interesting events in the narrative, the writing is rather poor and contains various errors. There doesn't seem to have been any attempt at editing, and I suspect that the book was self-published (why!!!); certainly, I have never heard of the "Mika Publishing Company".
Don't waste your time or money on this irksome chronicle.
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Outback Airman , by Hary Purvis and Joan Priest , an excellent read ,tells the story of Purvis' flying carreer including flying with Kingsford Smith , Hudsons during WWII and flying the "Frigate Bird II" to Chile . Haven't read it in years but I remember its was very good.
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No one has yet mentioned the eight wonderful books by that great pioneer of trans-oceanic air navigation, Capt. Sir P. G. Taylor. They are:
VH-UXX: The Story of an Aeroplane; Pacific Flight; Call to the Winds; Forgotten Island; Frigate Bird; The Sky Beyond; Bird of the Islands; & Sopwith Scout 7309.
In these books you will find some of the most gripping, enchanting and magnificent writing about flight and flying that you will read anywhere.
Sadly, most of them are quite rare now, although The Sky Beyond which is a compendium of stories from Taylor's long career, has fairly recently been in print. If you can find it, buy it: you won't be disappointed.
VH-UXX: The Story of an Aeroplane; Pacific Flight; Call to the Winds; Forgotten Island; Frigate Bird; The Sky Beyond; Bird of the Islands; & Sopwith Scout 7309.
In these books you will find some of the most gripping, enchanting and magnificent writing about flight and flying that you will read anywhere.
Sadly, most of them are quite rare now, although The Sky Beyond which is a compendium of stories from Taylor's long career, has fairly recently been in print. If you can find it, buy it: you won't be disappointed.
Can recommend England is My Village by John Llewelyn Rhys, a collection of short stories about civil and RAF flying in the 1930s and early war period. Some of them could have been written by St Exupery himself. His two novels, The Flying Shadow and The World Owes Me a Living are also well worth seeking out. Tragically, he was killed in a crash while instructing on Wellingtons at RAF Harwell in August 1940. His name lives on in the annual John Llewelyn Rhys Prize for aspiring young writers. A great pity that few aviation book enthusiasts seem to have heard of him, let alone read any of his books.
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I must be sadder than I realised - I've read most of the books this list has thrown up so far...
One more deserves a mention. For those who enjoy the WW1 period - Insall (Observer) or Lewis (Saggitarius Rising) for example.
Winged Victory by V. M. Yeates
I'll guess it will be very hard to get hold of a copy now but it would be well worth searching out.
Yeates died of TB shortly after finishing the book (early 1930's). During the early days of WW2 fighter pilots were reputedly forking out a fiver for a copy - it's descriptions of flying combat being especially well written.
JB
One more deserves a mention. For those who enjoy the WW1 period - Insall (Observer) or Lewis (Saggitarius Rising) for example.
Winged Victory by V. M. Yeates
I'll guess it will be very hard to get hold of a copy now but it would be well worth searching out.
Yeates died of TB shortly after finishing the book (early 1930's). During the early days of WW2 fighter pilots were reputedly forking out a fiver for a copy - it's descriptions of flying combat being especially well written.
JB
Gnome de PPRuNe
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Having had the pleasure of publishing a few of his stories in a magazine in the past, I was delighted to see that The Fighter Collection's Ken FitzRoy has just committed his flying career to paper in "No Time on the Ground", as a member of the RAF flying Beverleys, Britannias and Shacks amongst others, and his subsequent civil career with BEA, Brritish Airtours (and on occasion Syrian Arab!). The lighter side of flying is not neglected either!
An excellent read, amusing, informative, gripping and just occasionally poignant.
ISBN is 1-903953-71-5, published by Woodfield Publishing of Bognor Regis.
An excellent read, amusing, informative, gripping and just occasionally poignant.
ISBN is 1-903953-71-5, published by Woodfield Publishing of Bognor Regis.
Last edited by treadigraph; 6th Dec 2004 at 07:13.
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I will happily endorse ´Speechless Two´s' post on 'Flying People' - I have know Graham for a wee while (he has even risked aviating with me in RAF days) and it is a great, amusing book, ideal for a Christmas present, and excellent reading for wannabee to ageing ATPL. Figment, it goes without saying, produces his normal outstanding illustrations to go with it.
"Trust Me"
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Can't be arsed to read thru the thread, so agolopies if these have been mentioned before, but, reading left to right on one bookshelf:
Fate is the Hunter -Ernest Gann
Sagitarius Rising -Cecil Lewis
A misfiled Flying on the Ground -Emerson Fittipaldi!!!
Wind Sand and Stars -Exupery
Readers Disgust -Birds of Britain -I must have a word with the librarian....
The Flight of the Mew Gull -Alex Henshaw
Sepik Pilot -James Sinclair
Wings over Westminster -Harold Balfour
Leonardo da Vinci's Machines -Marco Cianchi
Sigh for a Merlin
Airymouse -Harald Penrose
And if Saab Dastard hasn't contributed yet, he's lent me some good ones too!!
Rgds
DOC
Fate is the Hunter -Ernest Gann
Sagitarius Rising -Cecil Lewis
A misfiled Flying on the Ground -Emerson Fittipaldi!!!
Wind Sand and Stars -Exupery
Readers Disgust -Birds of Britain -I must have a word with the librarian....
The Flight of the Mew Gull -Alex Henshaw
Sepik Pilot -James Sinclair
Wings over Westminster -Harold Balfour
Leonardo da Vinci's Machines -Marco Cianchi
Sigh for a Merlin
Airymouse -Harald Penrose
And if Saab Dastard hasn't contributed yet, he's lent me some good ones too!!
Rgds
DOC
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The thread is now so huge I haven't read too much of it. If not mentioned already, I would highly recpmmend Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff" - much better than the film (which was still good).
I also enjoyed "Croydon to Concorde" by AE Gillman - memoirs of a pilot who's post war civil career started with Railway Air Services and DH89 Rapides and ended with BA as a Concorde captain.
I also enjoyed "Croydon to Concorde" by AE Gillman - memoirs of a pilot who's post war civil career started with Railway Air Services and DH89 Rapides and ended with BA as a Concorde captain.
About 15 years ago I read the very well written memoirs of a 15th Air Force B-17 pilot. It was a library copy but it disappeared from the shelves not long afterwards. I'd love to seek out a copy
but I can't remember the title or author. I think he was based on one of the Foggia airfields. He and his crew baled out over Bulgaria after their B-17 succumbed to battle damage and ended up in a Bulgarian PoW camp. Not much to go on but maybe it rings a bell with someone.
but I can't remember the title or author. I think he was based on one of the Foggia airfields. He and his crew baled out over Bulgaria after their B-17 succumbed to battle damage and ended up in a Bulgarian PoW camp. Not much to go on but maybe it rings a bell with someone.
The 15th Air Force book title I was trying to find is Those Who Fall - A Bomber Pilot's War by John Muirhead. Have found it by an oblique search on a certain amazing second hand book site! This site is guaranteed to find almost anything and not just aviation titles.
Now looking forward to re-reading it; definitely a classic.
Now looking forward to re-reading it; definitely a classic.