Aviation fiction books needed.
 

Hello guys,

Would like to read some fiction or documentary books about aviation, as well as to practice my english and vocabulary.

Would you please advise me with books your have read and recommend to read.

It can be anything concerning aviation, like memories of constructors, pilots, fighter or bomber pilots etc. or really fiction ones.

It would be also great if it is not very rate books, so i can easily purchase
them thru the books store or online.

Links to a similar topics is also welcomed.

Thank you very much.

Well, somebody is going to say it, I might as well be the first:

Wind, Sand and Stars, by Antoine de St. Exupery. You can practice your French and English.

Wind, Sand and Stars

Fate Is The Hunter by Ernest K. Gann.

Not works of Fiction , nonetheless very good books
 

Fate is the hunter by Ernest K Gann

Fate is the Hunter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Going Solo by Roald Dahl

Going Solo - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


:)

NEVILE SHUTE
 

Nevile Shute often used aviation themes in his work.

Fiction, usually with good geographic reference and very readable;
No Highway, Round the Bend, In the Wet (but a slow start - bear with him it is a foundation for the end), An Old Captivity and (non fiction) Slide Rule.

I highly recommend this:



Very inexpensive, very short independent stories 3-4 pages max, each story is a description and commentary on a very interesting real airplane accident, most of them are about small aircraft but some deal with big ones and since all these accidents cover various aspects of flying you get great span of vocabulary plus the language used is very non-technical, perfect book for someone who is just learning English. It is a must read for every beginning pilot who wants to stay alive. As you can see the book has great reviews.

The High and the Mighty - E. Gann

Airport - A. Hailey

Flight of Passage - R. Buck

Basically all of St Exupery,
Fate is the hunter by Gann of course .The summum,
The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe. but not all on aviation, space as well.,
Yeager , an autobiography ( excellent)

and if you just want to dream about flying , the small book : Johantan Livingston Seagull.

You will note that all these were written between 1930 and 1970 .
After that (Air)bus driving slowly took over.

"Tales of an Old Aviator -- The Big Chill"
by Duke Elegant
http://www.pprune.org/aviation-histo...big-chill.html

Aviation fiction books needed.
 

Behind the Cockpit Door
Arthur Whitlock
ISBN 978-0863037450

Anything by Capt W.E. Johns. :ok:

Runway Zero-Eight by Arthur Hailey.

in all of my life I have read just one book written by a woman that I enjoyed.

Christina Jones, Walking on Air. ISBN 0-00-651344-1. published by Harper Collins.

it is about a near derelict airfield in england where they decide to work up into a wing walking act for the airshow circuit. it is a brilliant read.

Shooting Script, Gavin Lyall.

How to use a DH Dove in combat against a Vampire....

John Gordon Davis : Seize the Reckless Wind
Alexander Frater : The Blue Horizon

In my teens I too devoured W.E Johns ("Biggles"); then almost all of Nevil Shute Norway (all fiction except Slide Rule), and (later) Gann and St Exupery. Must admit to a preference for biography. At some stage I read Reach for the Sky (Paul Brickhill?), which taught me to call a 'plane an aeroplane (airplane if you are west of the pond) and a biography of Frank Whittle, the jet engineer.

There were also a few pilot memoirs, including:
The Sound Barrier by Nevil Duke;
Mach One by Mike Lithgow;
Wind in the Wires by a WW1 fighter pilot called ? Grinnel-Milne.

More recently, there are the memoirs of Chuck Yeager and Jim Lovell.

IMO the best fiction is based on fact. In that category David Beaty, a former BOAC pilot, wrote "The(?) Heart of the Storm and The Cone of Silence, both of which dramatise the conflicting priorities that airline captains sometimes face.

I also thoroughly recommend the Obituary pages of quality newspapers, if you are trying to polish your English. Sadly, many of the most interesting subjects are long-gone...

In addition to many of the above, I would highly recommend 'Winged Victory' by VM Yeates.

I'm surprised no one's mentioned David Beaty, starting off with

Lots of good books here:

http://www.pprune.org/military-aircr...tary-read.html

http://www.pprune.org/military-aircr...h-l-mills.html

http://www.pprune.org/military-aircr...n-library.html

http://www.pprune.org/military-aircr...d-reading.html

Try Brian Lecomber's novels; probably the best is 'Dead weight'...