Anyone read any good books ?

[Arclite01]

Ladies 'n' Gents

Winter on the way - Anyone read any good aviation books recently that they could recommend for those long evenings ?

I've got several favourites like those below, anyone else got any ?

Delta Papa - Derek Piggott (great book)
Think like a bird - Alex Kimbell (even better)
Happy to Fly - Anne Welch
On being a bird - Phillip Wills
Wing Leader - Johnnie Johnson
Fly for your life - Larry Forrester
Airborne - Neil Williams

Any suggestions greatly appreciated.

Cheers

Arc

[flyingfemme]

We had a joint effort on just this subject a couple of months ago (on the Flyer Forum). The emphasis was on entertainment rather than education.......

A gift of wings Richard Bach
A rabbit in the air David Garnett
Aerobatics Neil Williams
Air America Christopher Robbins
Air disasters Stanley Stewart
Airborne Neil Williams
Airymouse Harold Penrose
Always another dawn Scott Crossfield
An aeroplane affair John Isaacs
Black Sunday Thomas Harris
Bomber Len Deighton
Cannibal Queen Stephen Coonts
Carrying the fire Michael Collins
Chicken hawk Robert Mason
Cloud cuckoo land Harold Penrose
Contact!:the story of the early birds Henry Serrano Villard
Emergency Stanley Stewart
Enemy coast ahead Guy Gibson
F4 Phantom : a pilot’s story Robert Prest
Faith is a windsock Miles Tripp
Fate is the hunter Ernest Gann
Flight of passage Rinker Buck
Fly for your life Larry Forrester
Flying for fun Jack Parham
Gift of wings Richard Bach
Goodbye Mickey Mouse Len Deighton
Hitler versus me : the return of Bartholomew Bandy Donald Jack
How sleep the brave (Flying Officer X) H.E. Bates
I flew for the Fuehrer Heinz Knoke
Inside the sky William Langewiesche
It’s me again (Bandy Papers) Donald Jack
Kill devil hill Harry Combs
Me Bandy, you Cissie (Bandy Papers) Donald Jack
Me so far (Bandy Papers) Donald Jack
Me too (Bandy Papers) Donald Jack
Mosquito intruder Dave McIntosh
No highway Neville Shute
Notes from a small mind Rob Sawyer
Pablo’s travels Pablo Mason
Propellerhead Antony Woodward
Reach for the sky Douglas Bader
Round the bend Neville Shute
Saggitarius rising Cecil Lewis
Sea Harrier over the Falklands Sharkey Ward
Serenade to the big bird Bert Stiles
Sigh for a Merlin Alex Henshawe
Sky fever Sir Geoffrey de Havilland
Slide rule Neville Shute
Spitfire – a test pilot’s story Jeffrey Quill
Stick and rudder Wolfgang Langewiesche
Stranger to the ground Richard Bach
Talkdown Brian LeComber
That’s me in the middle (Bandy Papers) Donald Jack
The Air War for Yugoslavia and Greece Christopher Shores, Brian Cull, Nicola Malizia
The flight of the mew gull Alex Henshaw
The last enemy Richard Hillary
The right stuff Tom Wolfe
The Shepherd Frederick Forsyth
Three cheers for me (Bandy Papers) Donald Jack
Thud ridge Jack Broughton
Under an english heaven Robert Radcliffe
Vol de nuit Antoine de St. Exupery
West with the night Beryl Markham
You want to build and fly a WHAT Richard Starks

[High Wing Drifter]

Boy that is a list and a 'alf! Can't compete with that but just to highlight one or two:-

I would personally recommend "Think Like a Bird" by Alex Kimbell and "Fate is the Hunter" by Ernest Gann.

If you want a brain idling thriller then Michael Crichton's "Airframe" is worthy alongside "Night over Water" by Ken Follett.

[SlipSlider]

two of my favourites not in that list:

Spreading My Wings - Diana Barnato Walker (ATA - enough said!).

Zero Three Bravo - Mariana Gosnell (coast to coast USA solo in a Luscombe)

Slip

[flyingwysiwyg]

" The Killing Zone" - How and why pilots die.

Quite an interesting read.

F - Wyg

[Arclite01]

Thanks all

I'd also have to add Wings over Georgia by Jack Currie

cheers

Arc

[Maxflyer]

First Light by geoffrey Wellham is well worth a look.

[Monocock]

Have read quite a few books that are associated with flying in the last few years.

There is one book that stands out in my mind and that is "Flight of Passage" by Rinker Buck. A great book, you'll never forget it.


I've read it 3 times now

[WestWind1950]

Great book about the ATC in the USA "Tracon"

... the author I can't remember because I lent the book out and haven't gotten it back yet but check in google... you can find the homepage which is also very interesting! sorry, no time to find it for you at the moment.. maybe later then I'll add it in here

Westy

took the time and found it: www.japphire.com author is Paul McElroy... great homepage!!

[englishal]

"Fate is the Hunter" & "The Killing Zone - How and why Pilots die" get my vote. FITH is probably the best aviation book ever written.

EA

[High Wing Drifter]

FITH is probably the best aviation book ever written.

Oh! It was the first one I read, so its downhill all the way from 'ere then

[Dude~]

You all absolutely must read Chuck Yeagers book, can't remember what its called, but its his autobiog so should be easy to track. Its the most amazing read ever.

Re non pilot stuff, try reading about Ernest Shackletons amazing feat of humun endurance back in 1914 when his ship (endurance) sank in Antartica and the crew spent 18 months heading back to safety. Dammed amazing...!

[cirrus01]

"At the Edge of Space " by Milt Thompson

Story of the X-15 Flight programme.

Brilliant !

[MLS-12D]

You all absolutely must read Chuck Yeager's book, can't remember what its called, but its his autobiog so should be easy to track.

That's easy: Yeager - An Autobiography, by Chuck Yeager and Leo Janos.

I agree with most of the books other people have cited, except for Cloud Cuckooland and Airymouse, both by Harold Penrose. I have copies of both, but despite several efforts I have never been able to 'get into' either one.

One worthwhile book that has not been mentioned thus far is The Cockpit: A Flight of Escape and Discovery, by Paul M. Gahlinger.

MLS-12D

P.S. I agree with Monocock, Flight of Passage by Rinker Buck is a wonderful book. Almost as good is the similarly-titled Flights of Passage, by Samuel Hynes (story of a USMC TBM 'Avenger' pilot in WWII).

[Phoenix09]

I think that the best flying book that I have ever read (and re-read and re-read) is First Light by Geoffrey Wellum . An excellent book that describes his experiences as he learns to fly and then goes on to fight in the Battle of Britain.

[Genghis the Engineer]

Having in the last fortnight just read "first light" I agree totally on that one, I really felt that it put me in the cockpit, which any good flying book should do.

I'm a little surprised to see AW's "happy to fly" listed - although I'm well known for my deep admiration for the late Ann Welch, I found her autobiography by far the least interesting of anything she wrote - I suspect because her very self effacing nature meant that she talked (in my opinion) too much about other people and not herself. Her "accidents happen" I found much more interesting.

Having worked in the environment that Crichton wrote about in airframe, I found it interesting and well researched, but not altogether plausible in some areas (although his big idea about a divergent SPO killing pax in a big airliner is certainly possible). He does write a good yarn however.

Alan Bramson's "Book of Flight Tests" is non-fiction but fascinating for most GA pilots IMHO. Same author "Pure Luck" is a very insightful biography of Tommy Sopwith.

Anybody who enjoyed "Yeager" should also try "John Glenn, a memoir" by John Glenn and "Aerospace Flight Test Engineer" by William Murray Thompson.

And for something slightly off the wall, and incredibly readable, try "Father Goose" by William Lishman - this is the true story upon which the film "Fly away home" was somewhat loosely based.

Also, the perfect loo-book "the daily telegraph book of airmans obituaries".

And never forget good old "Pooleys flight guide" as an entertaining read of adventures to come!

G

[MLS-12D]

If you enjoyed First Light (as did I), then you might also like Carrier Pilot, by Norman Hanson. It is the only Fleet Air Arm fighter pilot's autobiography that I have come across so far (of course, there are at least two good FAA Swordfish pilots' autobiographies: Charles Lamb, To War in a Stringbag, and John Godfrey, Bring Back my Stringbag)

[High Wing Drifter]

Also, if you enjoyed "First Light" then you really must read "Think Like a Bird". Sorry to keep pushing this one but it is a gem. It is all about the author's experiences in the early Army Air Corps flying Austers and Beavers. From training through to operational flying in Aden. I especially enjoyed the type of training they had to go through to be effective spotters and how to fly Austers to evade fast jet fighters trying to shoot you down! Very gritty stuff.

Books added to my list of stuff to read now include Yeager and Carrier Pilot. Thanks guys

[scottish_ppl]

The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe is well worth a read....


Fate is the Hunter also, but I doubt theres many one here who hasnt read it already...

[Dave Gittins]

Favourite Books

To add to the emminently readable list :-

Testing Years by Roly Beamont

and if you've really got your technical head on :-

Handling The Big Jets by Dave Davies
Flying the Big Jets by Stanley Stewart

And on the technical but interesting ....

Papa India - The Trident Disaster by John Godson - who also wrote a number of other very in depth books about assorted aviation disasters, like the Paris THY DC-10 in 1974 - and all the rest of the early DC-10 story, which looked like an accident waiting to happen and "Unsafe at Any Height". a general indictment of the aircraft manufacturing and airline businesses.

And for books with just pictures ... Skytruck and Skytruck 2 by the late Stephen Piercy.