Aviation Books.....Must Read Tomes!
One flight in a Loach cured me....half way through the flight!
Adrenalin takes a bit of time to wear off.....after a bit of excitement one morning I rashly offered to show the Loach and Cobra's where they could find some rather unfriendly folks that had scared me more than a little bit.
After the second orbit in the area I came to my senses.....and realized I had let my big mouth get me into a situation that was not conducive to a long boring life.
My hat is off to the guys who did that stuff for a living.....I was quite content to stay in my Chinook hauling beans, water and bullets.
Listening to the Gunny's in the bar at night as they recounted tales of fighting the bad guys seemed the best way to experience that kind of stuff.
We cannot all be Heroes.....someone has to stand on the kerb and applaud as they march by!
Adrenalin takes a bit of time to wear off.....after a bit of excitement one morning I rashly offered to show the Loach and Cobra's where they could find some rather unfriendly folks that had scared me more than a little bit.
After the second orbit in the area I came to my senses.....and realized I had let my big mouth get me into a situation that was not conducive to a long boring life.
My hat is off to the guys who did that stuff for a living.....I was quite content to stay in my Chinook hauling beans, water and bullets.
Listening to the Gunny's in the bar at night as they recounted tales of fighting the bad guys seemed the best way to experience that kind of stuff.
We cannot all be Heroes.....someone has to stand on the kerb and applaud as they march by!
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I've just thought of another book that I think we have all overlooked.
"Budgie the Helicopter"
written by ex HRH Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson and available at Amazon
Thrilling
"Budgie the Helicopter"
written by ex HRH Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson and available at Amazon
Thrilling
A bit off thread perhaps but speaking of " Budgie the Helicopter " who has seen " Fudgie the Little Attack Helicopter " cartoon strip in I think Viz comic ? .R
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SASless is right. I spent a tour circling with guns at 800 feet, watching OH-6 LOH's work the terrain at 2 meter height. I took two flights as an observer gunner in a LOH circling with a CAR-15 in my lap, and many smoke grenades in a box at my feet, waiting to be shot at/down. The combination of adrenalin and nerves made me sick in the first 20 minutes, and when I saw the first brown uniform duck intio the weeds on a pass, I almost wet my pants.
The Cobra was almost boring by comparison. My hat is off the scout pilots, every one.
The Cobra was almost boring by comparison. My hat is off the scout pilots, every one.
Ramen,
It proves I am four times as smart as you!
A half trip cured me of ever wanting to be a Loach Pilot!
It proves I am four times as smart as you!
A half trip cured me of ever wanting to be a Loach Pilot!
I recently finished 3 books...
Amazing rescues...
Amazon.com: Heart of the Storm: My Adventures as a Helicopter Rescue Pilot and Commander: Colonel Edward L. Fleming: Books
Amazon.com: Nine Lives: David Courtney: Books
This one is not rotary but if you are an "aviator" you will love it!
Amazon.com: Fate is the Hunter: Ernest K. Gann: Books
Best regards
Aser
Amazing rescues...
During his 30 years in the Air Force and Air National Guard, Fleming made a career of descending from the sky to pluck disaster victims from the jaws of floods, storms, sharks and polar white-outs. His gripping memoir vividly illustrates how tenuous the life of a deus ex machina can be. Fleming recalls the tragic and sometimes gruesome deaths of unlucky colleagues who succumbed to the elements and recounts hair-raising missions that often took place at night, flown through hazardous weather (including the vicious nor’easter Sebastian Junger made famous in The Perfect Storm) in fragile helicopters prone to mechanical breakdown. Avoiding gung-ho special-ops bluster, he probes the human flaws and lapses—incompetent, panicky pilots, abusive officers, penny-pinching bureaucrats who refuse to pay for much-needed equipment—that bedevil even elite outposts of the military. Fleming’s sober, straightforward, well-paced style lucidly conveys the lore of helicopter flight and the practical difficulties of rescue missions while letting the heroics speak for themselves.
A rescue pilot with some 300 missions under his belt, David Courtney has seen tragedy and triumph up close. Nine Lives is an account of being a rescue pilot: from learning to fly to the thrills and terrors of dangerous night rescues. Courtney explains how the entire rescue crew works. He also contrasts the dramatic with the mundane, delving into ordinary day-to-day family life -- from the birth of his children to the death of his father -- showing how the mundane can empower each of us to confront the dramatic. Blunt and open about fear, danger, disappointment, elation, and happiness, the book tells the story of his journey through adulthood and the appreciation of the here and now that rescue brings.
This one is not rotary but if you are an "aviator" you will love it!
V.S. PritchettNew StatesmanMr. Gann is a writer saturated in his subject; he has the skill to make every instant sharp and important and we catch the fever to know that documentary writing does not often invite.
The New YorkerThis book is an episodic log of some of the more memorable of [the author's] nearly ten thousand hours aloft in peace and (as a member of the Air Transport Command) in war. It is also an attempt to define by example his belief in the phenomenon of luck -- that "the pattern of anyone fate is only partly contrived by the individual."
New York Times Book ReviewFew writers have ever drawn their readers so intimately into the shielded sanctum of the cockpit, and it is here that Mr. Gann is truly the artist.
Cornelius Ryanauthor of A Bridge Too Far and The Longest DayFate Is the Hunter is partly autobiographical, partly a chronicle of some of the most memorable and courageous pilots the reader will ever encounter in print; and always this book is about the workings of fate....The book is studded with characters equally as memorable as the dramas they act out.
Saturday ReviewThis fascinating, well-told autobiography is a complete refutation of the comfortable cliché that "man is master of his fate." As far as pilots are concerned, fate (or death) is a hunter who is constantly in pursuit of them....There is nothing depressing about Fate Is the Hunter. There is tension and suspense in it but there is great humor too. Happily, Gann never gets too technical for the layman to understand.
Chicago Sunday TribuneThis purely wonderful autobiographical volume is the best thing on flying and the meaning of flying that we have had since Antoine de Saint-Exupéry took us aloft on his winged prose in the late 1930s and early 1940s....It is a splendid and many-faceted personal memoir that is not only one man's story but the story, in essence, of all men who fly.
The New YorkerThis book is an episodic log of some of the more memorable of [the author's] nearly ten thousand hours aloft in peace and (as a member of the Air Transport Command) in war. It is also an attempt to define by example his belief in the phenomenon of luck -- that "the pattern of anyone fate is only partly contrived by the individual."
New York Times Book ReviewFew writers have ever drawn their readers so intimately into the shielded sanctum of the cockpit, and it is here that Mr. Gann is truly the artist.
Cornelius Ryanauthor of A Bridge Too Far and The Longest DayFate Is the Hunter is partly autobiographical, partly a chronicle of some of the most memorable and courageous pilots the reader will ever encounter in print; and always this book is about the workings of fate....The book is studded with characters equally as memorable as the dramas they act out.
Saturday ReviewThis fascinating, well-told autobiography is a complete refutation of the comfortable cliché that "man is master of his fate." As far as pilots are concerned, fate (or death) is a hunter who is constantly in pursuit of them....There is nothing depressing about Fate Is the Hunter. There is tension and suspense in it but there is great humor too. Happily, Gann never gets too technical for the layman to understand.
Chicago Sunday TribuneThis purely wonderful autobiographical volume is the best thing on flying and the meaning of flying that we have had since Antoine de Saint-Exupéry took us aloft on his winged prose in the late 1930s and early 1940s....It is a splendid and many-faceted personal memoir that is not only one man's story but the story, in essence, of all men who fly.
Best regards
Aser
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Hi, sorry for resurrecting what may be an old thread but i have some questions and further recommendations.
Recently Immediate Response by Mark Hammond ( Immediate Response: Amazon.co.uk: Mark Hammond: Books ) has come out about a Chinook pilot in Afghanistan, also Armed Action by James Newton ( Armed Action: Amazon.co.uk: Lieutenant Commander James Newton DFC: Books ) seems to have not been mentioned - it involves a very interesting account of being a pilot on the Lynx Ah7 TOW and his encounters with Iraqi tanks in 2003. Will there be a Lynx Wildcat TOW or armed variant or has the apache totally replaced this role.
Also, there seem to be many books about Huey slick pilots or Cobra pilots but are there any accounts of the armed huey pilots as I would be interested to read them, .
Thanks for the good recommendations I will certainly be buying some.
Locomotion
Recently Immediate Response by Mark Hammond ( Immediate Response: Amazon.co.uk: Mark Hammond: Books ) has come out about a Chinook pilot in Afghanistan, also Armed Action by James Newton ( Armed Action: Amazon.co.uk: Lieutenant Commander James Newton DFC: Books ) seems to have not been mentioned - it involves a very interesting account of being a pilot on the Lynx Ah7 TOW and his encounters with Iraqi tanks in 2003. Will there be a Lynx Wildcat TOW or armed variant or has the apache totally replaced this role.
Also, there seem to be many books about Huey slick pilots or Cobra pilots but are there any accounts of the armed huey pilots as I would be interested to read them, .
Thanks for the good recommendations I will certainly be buying some.
Locomotion
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Not a Book but the Series of 4 progs, Helicopter Wars is looking very good.
First had a Huey in Nam 67, two Huey's rescued 100 + Inf in contact with NVA regulars.
Three pilots awarded Air Force Cross.
Senior Pilot Punches his OC.
Very well made and the 'Movies' shot at the time make it worth watching.
The 'Basic' intro to how helis work is one of, if not best simple explanation I have seen.
john
First had a Huey in Nam 67, two Huey's rescued 100 + Inf in contact with NVA regulars.
Three pilots awarded Air Force Cross.
Senior Pilot Punches his OC.
Very well made and the 'Movies' shot at the time make it worth watching.
The 'Basic' intro to how helis work is one of, if not best simple explanation I have seen.
john
Aser,
To be an aviator.....one must know Gann.
He has several books about flying that are must reads for those who aspire to understand flight.
Amazon.com: Ernest Gann
Add in Richard Bach to your list of authors as well. It took a while to fully appreciate his work but after a few years and a re-reading of his books I got a lot more out of them.
Richard David Bach | LibraryThing
"The Cannibal Queen" is also an excellent story of flying an old round engined bi-plane around the United States.
"Robert's Ridge" by Malcolm McPherson is also a good account of combat in Afghanistan.
"Sole Survivor" by Marcus Luttrell is mind boggling! It takes up where Andy McNabb's "Bravo 21" leaves off in a way. Very similar experiences of a small Recon team compromised and engaged by greatly superior numbers of enemy forces.
Michael Durant's books about his experiences during "Blackhawk Down" are excellent accounts as well.
To be an aviator.....one must know Gann.
He has several books about flying that are must reads for those who aspire to understand flight.
Amazon.com: Ernest Gann
Add in Richard Bach to your list of authors as well. It took a while to fully appreciate his work but after a few years and a re-reading of his books I got a lot more out of them.
Richard David Bach | LibraryThing
"The Cannibal Queen" is also an excellent story of flying an old round engined bi-plane around the United States.
"Robert's Ridge" by Malcolm McPherson is also a good account of combat in Afghanistan.
"Sole Survivor" by Marcus Luttrell is mind boggling! It takes up where Andy McNabb's "Bravo 21" leaves off in a way. Very similar experiences of a small Recon team compromised and engaged by greatly superior numbers of enemy forces.
Michael Durant's books about his experiences during "Blackhawk Down" are excellent accounts as well.
Last edited by SASless; 26th Aug 2009 at 02:55.
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Ed Macy- Hellfire
Nearly finished Ed Macys new book, 'Hellfire', superb, can't put it down. It wasn't in the usual bookstores but in a supermarket, nearly missed it. Get yourself a copy pronto.
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An excellent read. A very good account of an extremely lethal machine. I searched on youtube and actually found some vision of some key battles mentioned in the book.
Cheers
Bigsquirrel
Cheers
Bigsquirrel
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Mmmm ...
Back on post #99 I mentioned a book written by my friend Randy Mains .... "Dear Mom ... I'm Alive ... letters home from Blackwidow 25" (ISBN 1-41204590-8).
I have now been told there is a really good chance it will be made into a movie (assuming Hollywood don't F**K with it too much ?) it should turn out to be a 'hoot' !
Back on post #99 I mentioned a book written by my friend Randy Mains .... "Dear Mom ... I'm Alive ... letters home from Blackwidow 25" (ISBN 1-41204590-8).
I have now been told there is a really good chance it will be made into a movie (assuming Hollywood don't F**K with it too much ?) it should turn out to be a 'hoot' !
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If anyone has a few hours spare this is a good read:
View Writer's Works - Writers Harbor
So it's not a book but it's so interesting. This man really did the hard yards to become a R/W pilot. Reminds me of a few characters I met in smoky bars on the islands in the Pacific.
There are many other good stories on that site aswell.
View Writer's Works - Writers Harbor
So it's not a book but it's so interesting. This man really did the hard yards to become a R/W pilot. Reminds me of a few characters I met in smoky bars on the islands in the Pacific.
There are many other good stories on that site aswell.
Last edited by hef; 3rd Jan 2010 at 02:02.