Searching for a good read...
 

Hiya all.

Does anybody care to make some recommendations of some pleasant aviation reading (non-fiction)? I'm thinking along the line of people enjoying the simple pleasure of flying, or doing amazing things with their beloved aeroplane. Along the lines of:
"Charlie Mike Charlie" by Clive Canning
"Aiming High" by Jon Johansen
etc if you are familiar with these (Australian) books. You know the kind, flying your Piper Cub around the world/country/neighbourhood, building your own plane etc etc.
While I'm at it, Stephen Coonts (A-6 driver of "Flight of the Intruder" fame) wrote a non-fiction book about rebuilding and flying a Stearman...anyone know the title and care to share your opinion? Doesn't have to be GA, gliding/ultralighting etc would be nice as well.
Hope someone has some recommendations!

Cheers!

:D

The Stephen Coonts book is "The Cannibal Queen" and is IMHO a darn good read. Enjoy it!

Delta Papa - Derek Piggott's autobiography is a good read, mostly about gliding as I recall, but plenty of powered flying.

Two volumes about the Tiger Club by Lewis Benjamin are very worth while reading; a third volume by Michael Jones is now available, though my copy hasn't been delivered yet!

Very fond of biographies, Bob Hoover, Yeager, Stanford-Tuck, etc are enjoyable.

Also "Fly Low Fly Fast" by Robert Gandt is a good read if you like the Reno Races.

One I've just been re-reading is "Throw Out Two Hands" by Anthony Smith, story of a balloon safari he did in Kenya/Tanzania in 1962 with a hydrogen balloon... he's an excellent writer and the book is a delight.

If I think of anything else...

Treadders

"Sigh for a Merlin" by Alex Henshaw. Spitfire test pilot.

Double Asymmetric
The Title you're after is "The Cannibal Queen"
There's been a thread previously about favourite authors, books etc so perhaps you could do a search through the archives to save going all through the list agin.

But If you missed that "Ernest K Gann" featured high in the list another popular one was "Harald Penrose."
"A gift of Wings" a collection of short stories by "Richard Bach" has a list of some of the authors favorites in one of the stories, which pointed me towards the above authors and others which were well worth reading.:)

If you can, get "the Saga of Iron Annie" by Martin Caidin.

It tells the story of his purchase and restoration of the JU-52 "tante Ju" which is now owned and flown by Lufthansa.

Only available second hand I'm afraid. But well worth getting.

Martin Caidin


Iron Annie (Bottom of the page)

'Chickenhawk' - memories of a Huey pilot in Vietnam is good reading.

Try also,

PropellerHead by Antony Woodward.

ISBN: 0-00-710728-5

I have just finished reading this book and it is highly amusing and a very enjoyable read.

Two that I have enjoyed in recent times are:

Corsairville - Graham Coster a good read concerning the old flying boats,

My god, It's a woman - Nancy Bird's autobiography.

I got both of my copies through Doubleday on the net at pretty reasonable prices.

Thanks everyone!

I really appreciate the feedback, and will chase up same. I especially will hunt down "The Cannibal Queen" - I remember perusing it years ago but for some reason didn't grab it.


And by all means, keep the suggesting coming!

DA


:) :) :)

Skunk Works - Ben R. Rich & Leo Janos ISBN 0 7515 1503 5.

"Skunk works is the true story, told for the first time, of America's most secret and aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operations brilliant boss for nearly two decades" (off the back cover)

OK I'm only a third of the way through it but it's making the commute go considerably faster. The book's also been highly recommended by a couple of pals.

Also recently finished "Propeller Head" as noted above, a fun read.

'Airymouse' and 'Cloud Cuckoo Land' by Harald Penrose.

Richard Bach: 'A Gift of Wngs', 'Stranger to the Ground', and 'Biplane'.

Ernest Gann 'Fate is the Hunter' (recollections of early US airline pilot - absolutely superb).

'F-4 Phantom', by Robert Prest. Superbly written account of an RAF F-4 pilot. Why didn't he write anything else?

SSD

Agree SSD, just recently finished reading Robert Prests F4 for the second time ,excellent book, might be a bit hard to come by now though, found my copy on a boot sale.
Pablo's War, by Pablo Mason, best book to come out of the Gulf War IMHO.
Read it as a library book but have never been able to find it to buy, I do have his follow up Pablo's Travel, also a good read.
The two Johns, Team Tornado is also worth a sniff.

Might be apochryphal, but I seem to recall being told by a disgruntled back seater that Robert Prests book only mentions the word navigator twice (he being an F4 driver)! :D

Anyone confirm or deny?

ORAC - Can't remeber any mention of the back seater. Arn't they just provided as something for the pilot to eat should they be forced down in a remote area? ;~))

SSD

I though they called Nav's RIO'S in those long off days .;)

F-4 nav.(Prest)
 

A quick trawl on random pages shows the word "navigator" at least 6 times,but no job description!!:p

A Good Read
 

Two of the best aviation books I ever read were

"To War in a Stingbag" by Charles Lamb (available on Amazon); this guy had a amazing war starting with his carrier being sunk at the start of the war ranging to the attack on Toranto, Malta a period in a Vichy POW camp and ending in the Pacific. I read it twice and it is ALL true!

The other great aviation book is the classic "Thud Ridge" by Col Jack Broughton - F105 ops over North Vietnam. The flying sections are all taken from radio calls recorded during the operations. A brilliant book and well worth hunting down.

Of the other books mentioned above I have a copy of "Chickenhawk" and it is excellent.

Anything by Gill Robb Wilson is worthwhile reading.

The Airman's World comes to mind.

"First Light" by Geoffrey Wellum is a great book. Tells about his training in 1939 (RAF) and then the Battle of Britain. REalLy GOOD!

"Saggitarius Rising" by Cecil Lewis. About a pilot's experiences of the First World War. SpLEndid!

Both the above should not be too hard to find and are probably the best ever military flying books. Really well written.

Also agree about Chickenhawk

Just read:-

The Spice of Flight, Richard Pike. Lightnings, F4s and Whirlwinds.

Meteor Eject, Nick Carter. Meteors through to Hunters in Jordan.

Both well written autobiographys.

Mr G.

:)