Aviation Books.....Must Read Tomes!
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Vietnam Helicopter Novels
Chicken Hawk was good with regard to flight school stories, but was too much BS toward the end. There is no way one person could have experienced all that.
A good read is CW2 by Layne Heath.
A good read is CW2 by Layne Heath.
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...And one that you should probably avoid: "Set Me Free," by Dennis Surrendi.
Alberta man admits to plagiarizing Vietnam veteran Robert Mason's bestseller
I/C
Alberta man admits to plagiarizing Vietnam veteran Robert Mason's bestseller
I/C
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'Rescue Pilot' by that Jerry Grayson bloke 
is a pretty good read about Royal Navy SAR work and other such shenanigans.
First chapter (free download) has him starting a Wessex in the hangar before launching past flying debris.
* sending wireman down to pick mushrooms for breakfast
* dodging flying cars
* ditching Admirals into the ocean
* naked pilots flying Seakings with all the instruments pulled out of the panel
* Fastnet race rescue
Some of the colourful stories that come to mind.
is a pretty good read about Royal Navy SAR work and other such shenanigans.First chapter (free download) has him starting a Wessex in the hangar before launching past flying debris.
* sending wireman down to pick mushrooms for breakfast
* dodging flying cars
* ditching Admirals into the ocean
* naked pilots flying Seakings with all the instruments pulled out of the panel
* Fastnet race rescue
Some of the colourful stories that come to mind.
Aviation Books.....Must Read Tomes!
"Sully" by US Air Captain Chesley B. "Sully" Sullenberger III (ISBN 978-0-06-192468-2, Harper Collins Publishers) original Title "Highest Duty".
Just finished this one....very serious aviation book with something for all Pilots who seek professionalism in their flying....and a wonderful insight into what motivates us all when we seek to prove ourselves to be true Aviators.
Get it and save it to your Library....you will want to re-visit it in Years after you first read it.
Just finished this one....very serious aviation book with something for all Pilots who seek professionalism in their flying....and a wonderful insight into what motivates us all when we seek to prove ourselves to be true Aviators.
Get it and save it to your Library....you will want to re-visit it in Years after you first read it.
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SAMURAI by Saburo Sakai is well worth reading. He was a Zero pilot with 64 planes downed.
Flew 500 miles with a bullet in his forehead, lost one eye, landed back at base.
Also saved a C47 full of Dutch women and children he was supposed to destroy.
Out maneuvered 15 Hellcats alone for 20 minutes and landed with no bullet holes in his plane.
One hell of a book !
Saburo Sakai Is Dead at 84 - War Pilot Embraced Foes - NYTimes.com
http://acesofww2.com/japan/aces/sakai/
Flew 500 miles with a bullet in his forehead, lost one eye, landed back at base.
Also saved a C47 full of Dutch women and children he was supposed to destroy.
Out maneuvered 15 Hellcats alone for 20 minutes and landed with no bullet holes in his plane.
One hell of a book !
Saburo Sakai Is Dead at 84 - War Pilot Embraced Foes - NYTimes.com
http://acesofww2.com/japan/aces/sakai/
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Great read!
India Charm Offensive, an immensely good read. I'd put it up there with anything by Cristopher Robbins or Nelson DeMille, and it is:
Found at Barnes and Noble, plus Amazon.
Found at Barnes and Noble, plus Amazon.
Can anyone recommend a good book on helicopter aerodynamics and control ?
Maybe something that covers practical designs from Focke-Angelis onwards ?
Maths is advanced high-school/beginning college. Not familiar with Navier-Stokes, but can learn.
Ideally something that describes autos, different flight regimes, vortex ring state, Robbo crashes from level flight...
Maybe something that covers practical designs from Focke-Angelis onwards ?
Maths is advanced high-school/beginning college. Not familiar with Navier-Stokes, but can learn.
Ideally something that describes autos, different flight regimes, vortex ring state, Robbo crashes from level flight...
A must read for anyone who was/is involved in the Mull of Kyntire campaign, and the subsequent avoidable accidents to miltary aircraft, is David Hill's book "Their Greatest Disgrace". It is a thorough account of the accident and the follow up and is supported by masses of evidence. It is published by the author and can be bought on Amazon with all proceeds going to a military charity. It is very readable but would make very uncomfortable reading for some RAF very senior officers.
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New book
A shameless plug for my best friend as he has just published his first novel. He has been a long term member of PPRuNe, possibly as long as we've known each other.
Congratulations Captain.
Congratulations Captain.
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Good luck with the plug and the book....
Love the hard thought out title. However.....it will have marketing benefits when people Google helicopter + pilot Good work.
Cheers FP
Love the hard thought out title. However.....it will have marketing benefits when people Google helicopter + pilot
Good work. Cheers FP
Easy Target
At my brother’s interment in Keene New York last year, there was a small Honor Guard from the local American Legion chapter, and I went over to thank them individually. One of the rifleman was a slight man wearing US Army wings and a 1st Cav patch on his uniform shirt. Name is Tom Smith. He had a very polite and reserved manner about him. We had a chat, and found out later he had written a book about his experiences. It is available on Amazon and is a well written and accurate tale of flying the OH-6 scout. If you have read Chickenhawk or To The Limit, you have the general idea of the situation flying the UH-1 in Vietnam. This book does the same for the very, very different missions required of the Scout. The book is entitled “ Easy Target “ and it is clear that in his earlier life, Tom Smith lived on the edge. If you read this exciting account, you may well think that is a gross understatement.
Last edited by JohnDixson; 2nd Feb 2018 at 12:04. Reason: Typo. word changes.
Spitfire Singh by Mike Edwards
I bought this book mainly because I knew Mike's father and I am finding it an excellent read. It is the story of AVM Harjinder Singh who joined the fledgling Indian Air Force in 1932. He started life as an orphan in the Punjab, went to an engineering college and then joined the IAF as a sepoy (lower than an RAF Aircraftsman). With others he fought against prejudice and bigotry to establish the IAF as a dedicated and efficient fighting force on the North West Frontier. He eventually goes on to become a pilot, through the wars against the Japanese and Germans and into the jet age.
Harjinder Singh left copious notes on his life and Mike has used his excellent writing skills to make this very interesting book which I believe deserves to sit alongside First Light and Fate is the Hunter as an aviation great.
Mike Edwards is a BA pilot who used his frequent visits to India to help establish the Vintage Flight of the IAF. He has been honoured for this work by an MBE and, as the book describes, by an invitation to fly their Tiger Moth in the 80th birthday celebrations of the IAF.
Harjinder Singh left copious notes on his life and Mike has used his excellent writing skills to make this very interesting book which I believe deserves to sit alongside First Light and Fate is the Hunter as an aviation great.
Mike Edwards is a BA pilot who used his frequent visits to India to help establish the Vintage Flight of the IAF. He has been honoured for this work by an MBE and, as the book describes, by an invitation to fly their Tiger Moth in the 80th birthday celebrations of the IAF.
Want to know all the dirt on offshore flying on the Dark Continent? If you've been there it will ring, if you haven't you can live vicariously. Loosely based on real events (of course!), you may even be able to identify some of the characters.
