Book reviews: Helicopters, Principles of Flight etc

[VeeAny]

I've just bought APACHE to read while on holiday.

[carholme]

Nevil Shute:

- No Highway

- In The Wet

- Round The Bend


Regards

carholme

[Heli-Ice]

How pruners keep the edge?

Read Hustler magazine

[Dantruck]

The Naked Pilot

by David Beaty


Amazon.com: Naked Pilot: The Human Factor in Aircraft Accidents (9781853104824): David Beaty: Books

Dan

[JTobias]

Fatal Traps for Helicopter Pilots

Joel

Also:-

Apache - Ed Macy
Apache Dawn - Damien Lewis
Low Level Hell - Hugh Mills
Hellfire - Ed Macy

[albatross]

Landfall

Pastoral

Both by Nevil Shute as well as his autobiography "Sliderule" are also nice reads.

I think "Fate is the Hunter" and "Stranger to the Ground" should be required reading for all student pilots - helicopter or fixed wing.

[KNIEVEL77]

I'm still trying to get my hands on Principles of Helicopter Flight by Jean Pierre Harrison if anyone knows of one for sale please?

[TheVelvetGlove]

Wind, Sand and Stars- by Antoine de Saint Exupery

[Teglen]

Wind, Sand and Stars- by Antoine de Saint Exupery

Fabulous book, true raw adventure.

[tigerfish]

Hammerheads

"Hammerheads" by Dale Brown. First published in 1990 about drug counter diction and featuring the V22 Osprey, long before that aircraft ever flew.

A superb author about aviation, and one who often predicted world events. Sadly later became much too Sci Fi & lost it.

tigerfish

[JTobias]

How about......

Rich Man Poor Man - the riches to rags story of a Jet Ranger owner.

Joel

[heli1]

Look out for "Alan Bristow..Helicopter Pioneer "...his autobiography being released in November and available from The Helicopter Museum at around £25.00 plus P and P. A "Must Read" for Christmas I reckon .
Already got my order in !

[Heliport]

By the end of the first chapter, I was gripped and eagre to read more. By the end of the book, I didn’t know if I would have liked him or loathed him but I was sure of one thing: I wish I’d met him.

‘Alan Bristow: Helicopter Pioneer’ tells the story of an extraordinary man's extraordinary life.

As everyone who worked for Bristow Helicopters in his day has told me, the ‘Old Man’ was an almost mythical figure, sometimes frightening, bombastic, capricious, unpredictable, sometimes generous and forgiving, but always a one-man show, able to do any job in the company from writing the contracts to flying the helicopters to maintaining the engines and even sweeping the hangar floor.

Aged 16 the day war broke out, Bristow joined the Merchant Navy. Two ships were sunk under him before he ran away to join the Fleet Air Arm and learned to fly on Cornells and Harvards in Canada.

Diverted to helicopters against his will, he went on to become Westland Aircraft’s first helicopter test pilot working under the great Harald Penrose. Characteristically, he was sacked after knocking out the sales manager, picking him up by the ears and banging his head against the wall.

Bristow flew Hillers in North Africa and had many crashes, then went to Indochina where he won the Croix de Guerre evacuating wounded French soldiers under fire.

He fell in with some ex-SS mercenaries who were leaving the Foreign Legion to go whaling and sold helicopter services to Aristotle Onassis who had a pirate fleet in the Antarctic. Bristow had many narrow squeaks, including landing an iced-up Hiller on an iceberg when it would fly no more.

His big break came in 1955 when he met Douglas Bader, then managing Shell’s aviation assets, and began supplying oil rigs in the Persian Gulf using piston-engined Whirlwinds. Bristow clearly loved the camaraderie of the campfire and kept flying in Bolivia until the late 1950s, but when Freddie Laker bought Bristow Helicopters on behalf of Air Holdings Ltd in 1960, Bristow was already a tax exile in Bermuda.

During the 1960s the company expanded across the world and launched the North Sea services which it was eventually to dominate, with Bristow at the helm except for a three-year secondment as CEO of BUA.

Ousted by Lord Cayzer in an argument over a Board position for the son of the Indonesian President, Bristow launched a takeover for Westland Helicopters, which led to the famous ‘Westland Affair’. Bristow’s insider take on the political events of the time is particularly fascinating – the book says he was twice offered a knighthood to switch sides.

Perhaps the man himself sums up the flavour of the book in part of his own summary:

“I have drunk champagne with billionaires in the best hotels in the world and hauled my men out of some of the seediest whorehouses in South America. I have been court-martialled for desertion and awarded the Croix de Guerre and the Order of the British Empire. I have triumphed in shipboard brawls which would have appalled the Marquis of Queensbury and have represented my country at four-in-hand carriage driving with the Duke of Edinburgh. I have put a lot of backs up and disjointed a lot of noses, physically and metaphorically, and in an era when most companies are controlled by risk-averse men in suits shuffling other people’s money and creaming off their cut, my way of doing business is perhaps an anachronism. But by God, it was fun while it lasted!”

Full of adventure and humour, a great life properly celebrated. Very well written - not surprising because it was co-written with Patrick Malone who is a superb aviation writer and also an enthusiastic pilot.
Highly recommended for anyone with an interest in the helicopter industry.
.

[R22_EGNH]

Just ordered myself a copy of "Professional Helicopter Pilot Studies - JAA" the new colour version, it was highly recommended by a friend in the industry.

[Dave_Jackson]

A rotorcraft booklet on the Internet

For those who like reading, the 32-page booklet 'The Luftwaffe Profile Series No. 6 ~ Flettner FL 282' can be read on the Internet, or downloaded for future reading.

It is probably the most interesting story ever written in English on the Flettner FL 282. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about this remarkable craft.


Dave

[EN48]

Two more interesting books

Armed Action by James Newton: 847 Naval Air Squadron operations in Iraq featuring Lynx and Gazelle;

The Night Stalkers by Michael Durant & Steven Hartov: U. S. Army 160th SOAR(A) mission stories featuring AH6/MH6, Blackhawk, and Chinook

Both good reads!

[nuggets]

Hello guys, any new aero-d' books in the recent years worth having a look at?

[Chugalug2]

Thanks for bringing this thread back to life, Nuggets. I don't know whether my recommendation ticks your particular box, but it should do for anyone who cares about airworthiness whether rotary or fixed wing. It is Their Greatest Disgrace by David Hill, and is available from that familiar small South American stream in either paper or ebook format:-

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Their-Great...6097879&sr=1-1

The crash that killed all 29 occupants of Chinook ZD576 was some 22 years ago and most of the time since then was spent in getting the RAF Very Senior Reviewing Officers' ruling of pilot gross negligence successfully reversed. What had emerged was that the Chinook Mk2's had been released into RAF service in a knowingly grossly unairworthy condition. The reason for that is revealed in the book. It further reveals a cover up that continues to this day, and which still prevents the proper reform of UK Military Airworthiness. I highly recommend it.

[Old Farang]

Originally Posted by nuggets

Hello guys, any new aero-d' books in the recent years worth having a look at?

I recently bought the following. Advertised as a workshop manual, but it is actually a comprehensive account of the development and use of the Merlin engine used in the Spitfire and many other aircraft. Most informative book.

Rolls Royce Merlin, Owners Workshop Manual
ISBN 978 0 85733 758 0

[Old Farang]

There is also a Haynes manual for the Sea King, but I do not have it yet. If it is anything like the Merlin book, it should be a good read.

Westland Sea King Owners' Workshop Manual: 1988 onwards (HU Mk.5 SAR model) - An insight into the design, construction, operation and maintenance of the Royal Navy's life-saving SAR helicopter

Publisher: Haynes Publishing UK, 2015
ISBN 10: 0857335057 ISBN 13: 9780857335050
Hardcover