Little Success Story
 

I thought I would share this, trivial though it may be. I grew up in Australia, and two of my favourite books were a pair of pre-war aviation books of my mother's. They were part of the reason I fell in love with aviation. When we came back to the UK, everything we had was stored in a warehouse which subsequently was destroyed by fire. The things I missed most were those two books. In the intervening years I've kept an eye out for them, but not really knowing the titles I was chasing wild geese. Then the other night I hit the mother lode and found them, first on ebay and then on the South American river. The courier arrived today and I'm now the happy owner of "Wonders of World Aviation" edited by Clarence Winchester. An early Christmas present to myself. Spookily, it's just short of fifty years since the other pair were destroyed.

Get a copy of 'Fate is the Hunter' by Ernest Gann. Best early aviation book ever written. Full of lessons for today.

Books
 

Nice one Herod.

"Get a copy of 'Fate is the Hunter' by Ernest Gann. Best early aviation book ever written."

... and that one by Ernest Gann is my all time favourite - my treasured copy is old and watermarked now but I can still pick it up and read a chapter at random - written with real feeling and you just know he has been there.

Happy Christmas.

It's Christmas time again, and that means blowing a year's dust off my favourite Christmas read - The Shepherd, by Frederick Forsyth.

Can be read in an hour or so, with a glass of port at your side, and preferably late at night. Still gives me goosebumps.

........and Forsyth was there too.

I agree that Fate is the Hunter should be on every aviator's bookshelf, along with such as Sagittarius Rising and Enemy Coast Ahead; however it is a relatively modern book (1961). These are pre-war and contain some magnificent pictures of the RAF's latest modern fighters, the Spit and Hurricane. In a section on commercial flight one picture is captioned " the pinnacle of an airline pilot's career" showing the crew boarding a HP42. I've also got Encyclopedia of Aviation and How to Become an Air Pilot, both from the thirties. Did you know that an airline pilot could earn between £ 300 and £ 500 per year? How the mighty live!!!

Three hundred to five hundred a year? I didnt think Ryanair was that old!

I know how you feel Herod: in the late 1950s I was given the Wonder Book of Aircraft, with some lovely pictures, and articles written almost to adult levels of technicality and language, far ahead of me at the time. It was at the time that Comets were still the only turbo-jet airliners, and obviously at a great turning point in aviation, and lots of photos of British planes being made and tested in their factories, and various engines on their stands. Heady stuff, but it got lost in a move within a few years.

Two years ago I found a copy at a boot fair, the cover painting of a Connie's nose wheel and a Pan Am Stratocruiser being re-fueled in the background caught my eye from a fair distance...re-united!

During advanced flying training on the Varsity, my instructor loaned me a copy of Fate is the Hunter and told me that to pass the course I had to read it. (There were other criteria for passing as well!) Many of Ernest K Gann's memoires had lessons that were relevant to all aviators and are still applicable today - a brilliant and well written book. I challenge anybody connected with aviation to put the book down part way through the chapter where he describes picking up icing whilst flying the mail.

You need to know that F Forsyth's 'The Shepherd' is complete fiction. There are some good believable descriptive bits of a night flight in a Vampire, but when he doesn't dare to close the throttle more when descending at over 300 knots "for fear of stalling..." it rather spoils the illusion. And spinning compass needles?

Stay with Ernest K. G for real feeling.

The Shepherd is indeed fiction, but better than reading it is to sit back at 8pm on Christmas Eve with your favourite refreshemnt G&T , mulled wine etc take the lights down and listen to "The Shepherd" played by the Canadian Broadcasting Service every year for over 30 years!

Well I agree with you there ATR43, that makes much better listening than the read, and the G & T would make it all much more agreeable. Strangely enough, that particular bit in his descent that niggled me, has been carefully edited out in the Canadian reading, the rest of which follows the book precisely!

Enjoy.