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.

:)

More good reads...
 

Non-fiction you wanted? Let's see.... from my bookshelves:

Flight of the Mew Gull- Alex Henshaw
Slide Rule- Nevil Shute
Spitfire- Jeffrey Quill
Fighter Test Pilot/Flying to the Limit (or his latest book, can't remember the title)- Roland Beamont
The Dangerous Skies- A.E. Clouston
The Spirit of St. Louis- Charles Lindbergh
Voyager- Rutan and Yeager
Yeager- Chuck Yeager and Leo Janos

Early ones from Richard Bach are great, and I'm still looking for other books by Don McVicar. I got 'Mosquito Racer' cheap at Duxford two years ago but I still regret not buying the other titles by him that were available there. Can't seem to find them anywhere now, any ideas anybody?

Indeed 'Cannibal queen' is very good, but although they are fiction you should also read 'Flight of the Intruder' and 'The Intruders' from Stephen Coonts. They are based on his own experiences and especially 'Intruders' contains many details based on true experiences which make excellent reading. Flight of the Intruder is more a Vietnam story, but don't get me wrong: IMHO it's one of the best ones I've read!

That should keep you reading for a while, let us know when you finished these :D

Cub Stories
 

The best one is "Flight of Passage" by Rinker Buck.

Treadigraph and Shaggy Sheep Driver: you must have been looking over my shoulder at the most-thumbed books on my shelves! To your recommendations I'd add Cecil Lewis's 'Sagittarius Rising' (a Great War air fighting classic), Jack Parham's 'Flying for Fun' (see Private Flying Forum) and David Garnett's 'A Rabbit in the Air' (both capturing the spirit of pre-war light aviation), Harald Penrose's 'Adventure with Fate' and 'Winkle' Brown's 'Wings on my Sleeve' (test-flying memoirs), Bert Stiles's 'Serenade to the Big Bird' (a poignant account by a Flying Fortress crewman), and Col. Jack Broughton's 'Thud Ridge' (F-105 ops over Hanoi), and something by St. Exupery, of course. Fiction? Ernie Gann, Gavin Lyall, Brian Lecomber, John Templeton-Smith won't fail you. And don't overlook anthologies -- they can pave the way to further enjoyment.

Spot on, Jhieminga. "Slide Rule" - Nevil Shute Norway. A great read!

You mention Australia, Double Asymmetric? If you are in Australia and interested in Ozzie (and PNG) aviation history:

"A Thousand Skies" - Chilla Kingsford Smith story
"Wings of Gold" - Jim Sinclair (Pre War PNG)
"Sepik Pilot" - Jim Sinclair (Bobby Gibbes story)
"Balus" I, II & III - Jim Sincalir (Post War PNG)

"Qantas Rising" by Hudson Fysh is interesting. Was at Longreach last weekend for the first (last, and only) Qantas B747-200 Classic VH-EBQ landing and noticed the Qantas Founders Museum has a good collection of aviation books for sale.

http://www.flyer.co.uk/books.php

interesting set of links to flying books

You guy's gotta try 'Dancing in the Skys' by 'Tony' Jonsson. The only Icelander to fly with the RAF in WWII. Great story.

'Beyond The Blue Horizon'
 

Written by Alexander Frater, an Australian, who had a 'thing' for flying boats and in the '70s or 80's repeated the journey from London to Sydney, going via as many of the old flying boat stations as possible and describing how life would have been during the flying boat era. I found it fascinating and hard to put down.

Out of print now but you should be able to get a copy here:

http://www.abebooks.com/

'Phantom over Vietnam' by John Trotti. A Marine F4 pilot, Trotti's book is similar in style to Prest's, except with the added edge of combat ops. Includes his description of trying to hit a ground target on a bomb run with his eyes shut after getting blase about AAA coming past his canopy every day for the last six months. The best book I have read on the subject of flying fast-jets in combat.

'A Lonely Kind of War' by Marshall Harrison, is a fixed-wing version of 'Chickenhawk', and comprises the Vietnam war diaries of an OV10 Bronco pilot. Spent all of his time wazzing around 'on the deck' doing armed FAC sorties, as well as being rocketed nearly every night in his bed whilst deployed in the field. An excellent read.

I would also second the recommendation of Stephen Coonts' two 'Intruder' novels. Fiction they may be, but having been written by an A6 pilot who was actually 'there' they are as gripping and realistic to read as any collection of real flying war stories. You're in an A6 cockpit on a carrier at night in crap weather hooked onto the catapult. Cat fires, pressed back in the seat, shooting along the deck, both engine fire warning captions come on... Brilliant.

ST

One book which still stays in my memory is 'Lonely Warrior', the story of Belgian fighter Pilot Jean Offenberg, who escaped from his overrun country to fly with 609 Sqn during the Battle of Britain. A very moving account. Not sure whether it's still in print though.

Second the Cootz "Intruder" novels...they are more realistic than real and technically and tactically accurate.

If you like one or both of these try the old warhorse "Bridges at Toko Ri"

I really enjoyed for a floatplane yarn:


True North: Exploring the Great Canadian Wilderness by Bush Plane
By George Erickson

ISBN 0-88762-103-1

Also North Star on my shoulder by Bob Buck about early airline flying in the US

Wunper

:cool:

Has anyone mentioned "North to the Orient" by Anne Morrow Lindbergh? apologies if so, missed it on brief scroll through the thread.

(Almost) everything by St Exupery (only one brief mention above?) should be on the essential reading list. You asked for non fiction, but St Ex's novels are informed by his own experiences.

Additional war memoirs: Pierre Clostermann's "The Big Show" is available in translation, although for the expanded version, "Le Grand Cirque 2000" you need to read French . See also the memoirs by Hugh Dundas and Neville Duke.

As I never fail to observe when this thread comes up: Bach is a load of old ********. New age pseudo-spiritual meanderings, bah, humbug. I could get higher from smoking teabags. Pass the bong.

Let's just say that Bach is an 'aquired taste' :D

(and I'm not talking about Johann Sebastian....)

'A Gift of Wings' is a collection of short stories by him and when taken in moderation might just keep FNG from revisiting his breakfast, but for others: there are a quite a few nice stories in there. If one survives that, one might very carefully try 'Biplane', 'Nothing by chance' or 'Stranger to the ground'. Only move beyond those titles after taking the advanced course in Tarot, having both palms read and accompanied by no less than a CPL licensed spiritual guide.

That's all for this week's short introductory course on Bach ;) .

Oi FNG! I like Bach :D

Tracking down out of print books
 

It can be a pain looking for out of print books, even on the internet.

I just bought a uncirculated mint second hand copy of Jack Broughton's book "Going Downtown" which goes over some of he ops he went on and his eventual court martial. It was a 1st edition and cost me less than buying it new!

I bought my copy through ABEBOOKS -

http://www.abebooks.com/

they have a lot of books of all types both fiction and non-fiction and is certainly worth a look.

Recommendations
 

Here are some more titles that I don't believe anyone has mentioned so far. I've listed the boooks alphabetically and according to my own subjective rating system [**** = excellent, *** = very good, **= good]:

****

(1) Paul M. Gahlinger, The Cockpit: A Flight of Escape and Discovery (2000) [from California to Egypt in a Cessna Cardinal]
(2) Mariana Gosnell, Zero Three Bravo: Solo Across America in a Small Plane (1993) [summer flying in an old Luscombe]
(3) Robert S. Grant, Bush Flying: The Romance of the North (1995) [bush flying in Canada]
(4) Frank Kingston Smith, Flights of Fancy (1960) [adventures in a Piper Comanche]
(5) Frank Kingston Smith, Weekend Wings: the Complete Adventures of the Original Weekend Pilot (1982) [full circle from a Cessna 140 to a Piper Cherokee 140]

***

(1) Donald Fonger, Challenging the Skies (1988) [around the world in a Twin Comanche]
(2) Hugh Godefroy, Lucky 13 (1987) [Spitfire pilot in WW2]
(3) Laurence Gonzales, One Zero Charlie: Adventures in Grass Roots Aviation (1992) [aerobatics and weekend flying in Illinois]
(4) John Kilbracken, Bring Back my Stringbag (1979) [Swordfish pilot in WW2]
(5) Frank Kingston Smith, Weekend Pilot (1957) [learning to fly in a Cessna 140]
(6) Frank Kingston Smith, I’d Rather be Flying (1962) [learning to fly instruments and learning to fly a Piper Apache]
(7) Dave McIntosh, Terror in the Starboard Seat (1980) [Mosquito navigator in WW2]

**

(1) Justin de Goutiere, The Pathless Way (1969) [float flying in British Columbia]
(2) Harmon Helmericks, The Last of the Bush Pilots (1969) [bush flying in Alaska]
(3) Harmon Helmericks, The Flight of the Arctic Tern (1952) [bush flying in Alaska]
(4) Roy Mason, Ice Runway (1984) [recreational flying in British Columbia]
(5) Jack Schofield, Flights of a Coast Dog: A Pilot’s Log (1999) [bush flying in British Columbia]
(6) Sheila Scott, I Must Fly (1968) [around the world in a Piper Comanche]
(7) Sheila Scott, On Top of the World (1973) [further adventures in a Piper Aztec]

Happy reading!

MLS-12D:)

Here's a haphazard choice from my shelves, most of which I cannot recall having seen listed previously:

James Gilbert - The World's Worst Aircraft (one of my favourites)
Jennifer Murray - Now Solo (about her rtw epic in a Robinson R44)
Dirk Bogarde - Cleared for Take-Off
Laddie Lucas - Out of The Blue (The role of luck in air warfare 1917-1966
A.L. Isenhauer - The Flying Carpetbagger (about Robert Vesco)
Charles Berlitz - The Bermuda Triangle
Judy Lomax - Flying for the Fatherland (she also wrote one on Sheila Scott)
Christopher Robbins - Air America
P.R. Reid - Winged Diplomat (The life story of Air Cdre Freddie West)
Gordon Baxter - Bax Seat
Neville Duke - Test Pilot
Ulrich Steinhilper - Spitfire on my Tail (with Peter Osborne)
Peter Townsend - Duel of Eagles (plus of course Time and Chance)
Harry Combs - Kill Devil Hill
Eric Mueller & Annette Carson - Flight Unlimited (mine is signed by Eric - Farnborough 6.9.84)
Louise Sacchi - Ocean Flying
Mary S. Lovell - Straight on till Morning
Annie Bullen & Brian Rivas - John Derry (hope you always pay a visit to the memorial to him in the garden at Cannes Airport...)
Carel Birkby - Dancing the Skies (stories behind the aircraft at the SAAF museum at Saxonwold)
Julian C. Temple - Wings Over Woodley (the story of Miles Aircraft)
Richard Serjeant - Private Flying for Business and Pleasure (mine is signed 23 Nov 1962!)
Bramson & Birch - The Tiger Moth Story
Jean Batten - Alone in the Sky (signed 6.8.79 - at Cranfield)
Bob Price - Life on the Airliners
Arthur Pearcy - The Dakota (mine is obviously from Arthur's own library because it is signed by all manner of people, and also contains handwritten addenda on schoolbook paper)
Jeffrey Quill - Spitfire
Desmond Scott - Typhoon Pilot
AVM Donald Bennett - Pathfinder
Martin Caidin - Fork-Tailed Devil: The P38
Len Deighton - Bomber (also Fighter)
John Sweetman - The Dambusters Raid
Alex Henshaw - Sigh for a Merlin
Peter G. Campbell - Tales of the Fifties (and More Tails, etc)
Beryl Markham - West With the Night (and Splendid Outcast)
and in that vein I must add:
Karen Blixen - Out of Africa

and for the sheer pleasure of having it to thumb through - a pristine copy of The Air Pilot of 1934, or a bound copy of 6 months of Flight International 1939, much translated into German....

What I am missing (although it's so small it could be sandwiched somewhere) is a signed copy of Fredrick Forsyth's The Shepherd which, although fiction, possibly is not.......

and I must mention and recommend the facsimile edition of Ferry Pilots Notes, issued to the pilots of the A.T.A. (bless them).

Happy Reading!

atb1943,

You're right, "Bax Seat" is very good. He also published a sequel, "More Bax Seat: New Logs of a Pasture Pilot", but it is difficult to find.

I hope that Lane Wallace, Bax's heir at Flying magazine, will eventually publish an edited collection of her columns. Please let it be hardbound!

MLS-12D:)

P.S. A list of aviation books appears at: www.inl.net/hp/richieb/books_by_author.html

ATB1943 remind me of another: Annette Carson's "Flight Fantastic - the Illustrated History of Aerobatics".

A great read full of wonderful anecdotes about - and from - the pioneers and exponents of the sport. 15 years or so since publication; with the advances in the aircraft and manouvers plus the newer competitions, an updated edition is called for!

Treadigraph: You're so right about an updated version of 'Flight Fantastic' being long overdue. If you're out there Annette, how about it? I was lucky enough to get my copy signed by many aerobatics 'greats' at the 1986 WAC at South Cerney, but have pulled it from the shelf with such regularity that it's looking decidedly tatty now. Alway envied Tony Bianchi his original of Lynn Williams' cover painting. I had to settle for a print, but it's wonderful nonetheless.

atb1943: My shelves reflect your random selection almost volume for volume, and I can still find my (unsigned) copy of 'The Shepherd'!