Good books for pilots
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From the days when heroes walked the earth;
Alex Henshaw (who still does walk this earth, God bless him) wrote Sigh for a Merlin and the stupendous tale of world records that still stand, Flight of the Mew Gull - his beautiful mount from that tale G-AEXF still flies at Old Warden.
Harald Penrose, employee of the Westland Aircraft Company from trainee draughtsman in the '20s to Ch. Test Pilot in the '40s and '50s wrote a series of fabulous books including a definitive history of British Aviation but his other (mainly autobiagraphical) works are alongside Richard Bach's on my bookshelf. Airymouse?Sigh for a Currie Wot me!!
Another favourite is "Bring back my Stringbag" by Lord Strath..Strathgarne? Strathallen? I forget. Either way it's a no holds barred personal account of the horrors of Swordfish ops in WW2 - he was pulled out with a breakdown eventually. He too is still alive and until recently very active in the House of Lords. Some people just never give up.
From the other side Adolph Galland who I believe is also still around wrote a fascinating story of the Luftwaffe's war, from Blitzkrieg in Poland to the misdirected ME 262 and the A stoff and B stoff of the fearsome ME 163. Arrogant, honest and riveting and told by a true warrior.
But I have to agree with Skynet, the aviation book that best sums up the challenge, joy and fulfilment of flying is Jonathan Livingstone Seagull. IMHO nothing else comes close.
I got turned off this book at school when it was serialised in assembly as some pseudo religious tract, though I now know that to a non-aviator it only appeals on a certain level. Once a flyer though, and particularly a military flyer, this short and deceptive book takes on a quite staggering depth of meaning.
Flyers,read this book! Open your minds to two hours worth of the most delightful allegory of how we fly and why, and why we love it so. Dont take my word for it - just read it!
If this cloys, go to the other end of Bach's repertoire and try his hard and scary tale of his 1960's USAF jet patrol over Germany lost and in shyte weather - I cant for the life of me remember the name of the book, you'll find it if you look. That book lasts about as long as his terrifying 40 minute patrol alone in CBs in his Thud or Voodoo or whatever it was. I've never sweated so much just reading a book for half an hour. Bach is brilliant!
Most of Bach's other books are pretty good for comitted aviators though some more sensitive than macho; the thinking man's pilot.
Try; Stranger to the Ground, Biplane, Nothing by Chance, A Gift of Wings, Illusions, The Bridge across Forever.
Did someone mention the immortal Antoine de Ste. Exupery? Tween wars French pioneering stuff with all Bach's sensitivity and more.
I could go on and on and on and on ...........................
[This message has been edited by Agaricus bisporus (edited 21 September 2000).]
Alex Henshaw (who still does walk this earth, God bless him) wrote Sigh for a Merlin and the stupendous tale of world records that still stand, Flight of the Mew Gull - his beautiful mount from that tale G-AEXF still flies at Old Warden.
Harald Penrose, employee of the Westland Aircraft Company from trainee draughtsman in the '20s to Ch. Test Pilot in the '40s and '50s wrote a series of fabulous books including a definitive history of British Aviation but his other (mainly autobiagraphical) works are alongside Richard Bach's on my bookshelf. Airymouse?Sigh for a Currie Wot me!!
Another favourite is "Bring back my Stringbag" by Lord Strath..Strathgarne? Strathallen? I forget. Either way it's a no holds barred personal account of the horrors of Swordfish ops in WW2 - he was pulled out with a breakdown eventually. He too is still alive and until recently very active in the House of Lords. Some people just never give up.
From the other side Adolph Galland who I believe is also still around wrote a fascinating story of the Luftwaffe's war, from Blitzkrieg in Poland to the misdirected ME 262 and the A stoff and B stoff of the fearsome ME 163. Arrogant, honest and riveting and told by a true warrior.
But I have to agree with Skynet, the aviation book that best sums up the challenge, joy and fulfilment of flying is Jonathan Livingstone Seagull. IMHO nothing else comes close.
I got turned off this book at school when it was serialised in assembly as some pseudo religious tract, though I now know that to a non-aviator it only appeals on a certain level. Once a flyer though, and particularly a military flyer, this short and deceptive book takes on a quite staggering depth of meaning.
Flyers,read this book! Open your minds to two hours worth of the most delightful allegory of how we fly and why, and why we love it so. Dont take my word for it - just read it!
If this cloys, go to the other end of Bach's repertoire and try his hard and scary tale of his 1960's USAF jet patrol over Germany lost and in shyte weather - I cant for the life of me remember the name of the book, you'll find it if you look. That book lasts about as long as his terrifying 40 minute patrol alone in CBs in his Thud or Voodoo or whatever it was. I've never sweated so much just reading a book for half an hour. Bach is brilliant!
Most of Bach's other books are pretty good for comitted aviators though some more sensitive than macho; the thinking man's pilot.
Try; Stranger to the Ground, Biplane, Nothing by Chance, A Gift of Wings, Illusions, The Bridge across Forever.
Did someone mention the immortal Antoine de Ste. Exupery? Tween wars French pioneering stuff with all Bach's sensitivity and more.
I could go on and on and on and on ...........................
[This message has been edited by Agaricus bisporus (edited 21 September 2000).]
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'To War in a Stringbag' - rivetting autobiography of a FAA pilot, including the attack on Taranto harbour (which showed the Japanese exactly how to do 'it' a year or two later) and operating Swordfish from bases in Jugoslavia later in the war (when the Germans still occuppied the country).
'Thud Ridge' by Jack Brougham, about a tour on F105s into North Vietnam in 1967. One of the best true modern aviation reads I've ever had.
'Thud Ridge' by Jack Brougham, about a tour on F105s into North Vietnam in 1967. One of the best true modern aviation reads I've ever had.
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Agaricus bisporus: Regret to inform that Galland no longer walks this earth. Obit:
Adolf Galland, German wartime fighter ace, died on February 9 (1996) aged 83. He was born on March 19, 1912.
A FLYER who was among Germany's top aces of the Second World War, Adolf Galland commanded the fighter arm of the Luftwaffe from the end of 1941 until 1945. Credited with 103 kills by Luftwaffe statisticians, he was a tactician skilled in the handling of fighter forces. He always attributed the Luftwaffe's defeat in the Battle of Britain to the fact that it was not properly deployed by Goering, who used its fighters as a strategic rather than as a tactical weapon.
Thus, the Messerschmitt Me109 was used as a bomber escort a role for which its short range made it unsuitable rather than being used to attack the RAF's fighters. The flawed German system of using Luftflotten, air fleets of mixed fighters and bombers, rather than organising them as separate commands told against them when they were concentrated against the numerically inferior but tactically superior RAF in the summer of 1940.
Throughout the war Galland was a fearless critic of his boss, Hermann Goering, whom he regarded as being unfit for the command he held. With his thick, black hair and moustache, easy grin and cigar clamped between his teeth, even when airborne, Galland was a reassuring figure to his young pilots, and after he attained general's rank always remained "one of the boys".
Adolf Galland qualified as a glider pilot while in his teens. In 1932 he joined Germany's commercial airline, Lufthansa, and when it was formed, transferred to the Luftwaffe. He flew 300 missions for the Kondor Legion during the Spanish Civil War and gained much valuable experience of operations.
At the outbreak of the Second World War Galland was in a training post and took no part in the air operations of the Polish campaign. But by April 1940 he was back to active service in fighters and took part in the air attacks which supported the invasion of the Low Countries and France in May 1940. As an officer in the celebrated Jagdgeschwader 26 he played a prominent part in the Battle of Britain, making a name for himself along with Werner Molders and Helmut Wick as one of the most successful pilots on the German side. In August he was appointed to lead a fighter group in the battles which raged in the skies over the Channel and the South East of England. In the following year he was involved in countering the RAF's daylight fighter sweeps over France.
Much of Galland's success as a fighter pilot was due to his never underestimating his opponents; unlike Goering he did not make the mistake of disparaging the RAF's capacities at the outset of the Battle of Britain. Indeed, he is said jokingly to have told the latter when questioned as to Luftwaffe needs during the battle, that a squadron of Spitfires would benefit the performance of his Gruppe.
Molders had been made Inspector of Fighters in 1941 but was killed in an air crash later that year and in November Galland was appointed to succeed him. In the following year he was promoted to become, at 30, the youngest general in the German armed forces.
For the next two years it was his melancholy task to attempt to orchestrate an air defence for the Third Reich against the numerically and technically superior air forces of the Western allies, and to witness the total destruction of his command under the relentless night and day onslaught mounted by the RAF and the US 8th Army Air Force. It was a tribute to his qualities as a leader that he was nevertheless continually able to inspire his pilots whose numbers daily dwindled, especially heavy toll being taken of their attempts to break up the massive daylight raids of the American bomber squadrons with their powerful long-range fighter escorts.
Nevertheless he was always alert to make the latest technical advances available to his pilots and continually strove for tactical innovations which would offset the Luftwaffe's inferiority in numbers. Thus such novelties as rocket and even bomb attacks were experimented with, against the tightly packed American bomber formations.
Although rising to high command, he retained the mentality of, and sympathised with, the problems of the front line pilot with whom he was prone to side in the frequent arguments between the operational units and the Supreme Command. In particular, he was a severe critic of Hitler's initial decision to deploy the new Me262 jet fighter which would have given the Luftwaffe a perhaps decisive air superiority over the Allies only as a fighter bomber.
This stance made him enemies and in January 1945 he was relieved of his command when Goering ordered him on permanent leave without naming a successor. However, he did fly operationally again and was shot down in combat with an American Mustang fighter a fortnight before the end of the war.
After the war Galland pursued his interest in commercial and military aviation and was for a period a consultant and adviser to the Argentine Air Force.
Galland typified to a degree the chivalry which existed between combatants in the air and was a popular figure at the air force reunions of his old adversaries. He was, for example, a welcome figure at the thanksgiving service for the life of the legless RAF ace Sir Douglas Bader, in St Clement Danes Church in the Strand, in 1982.
He was married with two children.
Adolf Galland, German wartime fighter ace, died on February 9 (1996) aged 83. He was born on March 19, 1912.
A FLYER who was among Germany's top aces of the Second World War, Adolf Galland commanded the fighter arm of the Luftwaffe from the end of 1941 until 1945. Credited with 103 kills by Luftwaffe statisticians, he was a tactician skilled in the handling of fighter forces. He always attributed the Luftwaffe's defeat in the Battle of Britain to the fact that it was not properly deployed by Goering, who used its fighters as a strategic rather than as a tactical weapon.
Thus, the Messerschmitt Me109 was used as a bomber escort a role for which its short range made it unsuitable rather than being used to attack the RAF's fighters. The flawed German system of using Luftflotten, air fleets of mixed fighters and bombers, rather than organising them as separate commands told against them when they were concentrated against the numerically inferior but tactically superior RAF in the summer of 1940.
Throughout the war Galland was a fearless critic of his boss, Hermann Goering, whom he regarded as being unfit for the command he held. With his thick, black hair and moustache, easy grin and cigar clamped between his teeth, even when airborne, Galland was a reassuring figure to his young pilots, and after he attained general's rank always remained "one of the boys".
Adolf Galland qualified as a glider pilot while in his teens. In 1932 he joined Germany's commercial airline, Lufthansa, and when it was formed, transferred to the Luftwaffe. He flew 300 missions for the Kondor Legion during the Spanish Civil War and gained much valuable experience of operations.
At the outbreak of the Second World War Galland was in a training post and took no part in the air operations of the Polish campaign. But by April 1940 he was back to active service in fighters and took part in the air attacks which supported the invasion of the Low Countries and France in May 1940. As an officer in the celebrated Jagdgeschwader 26 he played a prominent part in the Battle of Britain, making a name for himself along with Werner Molders and Helmut Wick as one of the most successful pilots on the German side. In August he was appointed to lead a fighter group in the battles which raged in the skies over the Channel and the South East of England. In the following year he was involved in countering the RAF's daylight fighter sweeps over France.
Much of Galland's success as a fighter pilot was due to his never underestimating his opponents; unlike Goering he did not make the mistake of disparaging the RAF's capacities at the outset of the Battle of Britain. Indeed, he is said jokingly to have told the latter when questioned as to Luftwaffe needs during the battle, that a squadron of Spitfires would benefit the performance of his Gruppe.
Molders had been made Inspector of Fighters in 1941 but was killed in an air crash later that year and in November Galland was appointed to succeed him. In the following year he was promoted to become, at 30, the youngest general in the German armed forces.
For the next two years it was his melancholy task to attempt to orchestrate an air defence for the Third Reich against the numerically and technically superior air forces of the Western allies, and to witness the total destruction of his command under the relentless night and day onslaught mounted by the RAF and the US 8th Army Air Force. It was a tribute to his qualities as a leader that he was nevertheless continually able to inspire his pilots whose numbers daily dwindled, especially heavy toll being taken of their attempts to break up the massive daylight raids of the American bomber squadrons with their powerful long-range fighter escorts.
Nevertheless he was always alert to make the latest technical advances available to his pilots and continually strove for tactical innovations which would offset the Luftwaffe's inferiority in numbers. Thus such novelties as rocket and even bomb attacks were experimented with, against the tightly packed American bomber formations.
Although rising to high command, he retained the mentality of, and sympathised with, the problems of the front line pilot with whom he was prone to side in the frequent arguments between the operational units and the Supreme Command. In particular, he was a severe critic of Hitler's initial decision to deploy the new Me262 jet fighter which would have given the Luftwaffe a perhaps decisive air superiority over the Allies only as a fighter bomber.
This stance made him enemies and in January 1945 he was relieved of his command when Goering ordered him on permanent leave without naming a successor. However, he did fly operationally again and was shot down in combat with an American Mustang fighter a fortnight before the end of the war.
After the war Galland pursued his interest in commercial and military aviation and was for a period a consultant and adviser to the Argentine Air Force.
Galland typified to a degree the chivalry which existed between combatants in the air and was a popular figure at the air force reunions of his old adversaries. He was, for example, a welcome figure at the thanksgiving service for the life of the legless RAF ace Sir Douglas Bader, in St Clement Danes Church in the Strand, in 1982.
He was married with two children.
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Just a few off my shelf:
Vietnam:
"The Ravens", Christopher Robbins ISBN 0593 010477. Subtitles "Pilots of the secret war in Laos". Air America type ops. Hilarious.
"The Invisible Air Force", Christopher Robbins ISBN0-333-21847-7. The real Air America!
"Thud Ridge" & "Going Downtown", Col Jack Broughton. ISBNs 0-553-25189-9 & 0-517-56738-5. Thud pilot.
"Chickenhawk" - mentioned above.
WWII:
"Stuka Pilot", Hans Ulrich Rudel ISBN 0-553-12304-1. Stuka pilot who flew for 6 years mainly over the Eastern Front. Total Nazi. Brilliant pilot. Amazing story. (The stuka was a pig in combat, this guy was being bounced 20 to 1 and walking away from it!!)
"Samurai", Saburo Sakai ISBN 0-553-11035-7. Legendary Japanese ace.
Post WWII:
"A Change of Wings", Don McVicar ISBN 0-906393-42-6. RAF ferry pilot who joins start BWIA flying into jungle strips then moves home to the Canadian northlands and goes into partnership with a fur trader flying trappers in and out of the wild country.
Modern era:
"Ragwings and Heavy Iron", Martin Caidin ISBN 0-395-36141-9. Subtitled "The agony and the ecstasy of flying history's greatest warbirds". What it says.
Novels:
Series by:
Dale Brown; Stephen Coonts; Richard Herman Jnr; Mark Berent; Eric L Harry.
There is a superb comedy series based on a Canadian (Bartholemew Bandy) joining the Royal Flying Crps in WWI, "The Bandy papers", Donald Jack,Vols 1-4.
Vol 1: "Three Cheers for Me" ISBN 0-704-31145-3.
Vol 2: "Thats Me in the Middle" ISBN ?
Vol 3: "It's Me Again" ISBN 0-704-31260-3.
Vol 4: "Me Among the Ruins" ISBN 0-704-31284-0.
(Someone stole my Vol 2. if anyone knows where I can replace it please let me know!!)
Lastly, A book I always thought would make an excellent film but never did, even in concept:
"Gray Eagles", Duane Unkefer ISBN 0-330-29331-1. 31 years after WWI 8 German pilots secretly restore fully armed 109Gs in the USA and attack USAF bases, mix it with jets etc. They are then hunted down by the Confederate Air Force in P-51s, Spitfires etc.
Just think of the flying scenes and the fun making it!!
Sorry if I went on a bit.
[This message has been edited by ORAC (edited 24 September 2000).]
Vietnam:
"The Ravens", Christopher Robbins ISBN 0593 010477. Subtitles "Pilots of the secret war in Laos". Air America type ops. Hilarious.
"The Invisible Air Force", Christopher Robbins ISBN0-333-21847-7. The real Air America!
"Thud Ridge" & "Going Downtown", Col Jack Broughton. ISBNs 0-553-25189-9 & 0-517-56738-5. Thud pilot.
"Chickenhawk" - mentioned above.
WWII:
"Stuka Pilot", Hans Ulrich Rudel ISBN 0-553-12304-1. Stuka pilot who flew for 6 years mainly over the Eastern Front. Total Nazi. Brilliant pilot. Amazing story. (The stuka was a pig in combat, this guy was being bounced 20 to 1 and walking away from it!!)
"Samurai", Saburo Sakai ISBN 0-553-11035-7. Legendary Japanese ace.
Post WWII:
"A Change of Wings", Don McVicar ISBN 0-906393-42-6. RAF ferry pilot who joins start BWIA flying into jungle strips then moves home to the Canadian northlands and goes into partnership with a fur trader flying trappers in and out of the wild country.
Modern era:
"Ragwings and Heavy Iron", Martin Caidin ISBN 0-395-36141-9. Subtitled "The agony and the ecstasy of flying history's greatest warbirds". What it says.
Novels:
Series by:
Dale Brown; Stephen Coonts; Richard Herman Jnr; Mark Berent; Eric L Harry.
There is a superb comedy series based on a Canadian (Bartholemew Bandy) joining the Royal Flying Crps in WWI, "The Bandy papers", Donald Jack,Vols 1-4.
Vol 1: "Three Cheers for Me" ISBN 0-704-31145-3.
Vol 2: "Thats Me in the Middle" ISBN ?
Vol 3: "It's Me Again" ISBN 0-704-31260-3.
Vol 4: "Me Among the Ruins" ISBN 0-704-31284-0.
(Someone stole my Vol 2. if anyone knows where I can replace it please let me know!!)
Lastly, A book I always thought would make an excellent film but never did, even in concept:
"Gray Eagles", Duane Unkefer ISBN 0-330-29331-1. 31 years after WWI 8 German pilots secretly restore fully armed 109Gs in the USA and attack USAF bases, mix it with jets etc. They are then hunted down by the Confederate Air Force in P-51s, Spitfires etc.
Just think of the flying scenes and the fun making it!!
Sorry if I went on a bit.
[This message has been edited by ORAC (edited 24 September 2000).]
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ORAD, I like your taste. The Brandy books are all excellent,'laugh aloud' reads, a bit like "Harry Flashman in a helmet and goggles". (For those who haven't yet had the pleasure, do youself a favour and find those books. It'll give you a whole new perspective on WW1. Biggles he ain't!!)
Likewise the Chris Robbins books. Mel Gibson should hang his head in shame for what he and Hollywood did to Robbins' "Air America".
"The Ravens" is also excellent. I knew some of those guys and boy, all I can say is they must have had balls of steel. Night ops over the highlands of laos in a single engined recip... ouch!
For any ex-mil people out there, how whould you react to losing eight aircraft from a single squadron in one week, five of the eight on one day? I shudder to even think of it - and if you weren't picked up in the first thirty minutes, you weren't picked up at all, 'coz Tricky Dicky was telling the American people he had no troops in Laos. And after thirty minutes? If - when - the Pathet Lao caught you... well, suffice to say none of the MIA airmen shot down in Laos were returned in 1973.
Likewise the Chris Robbins books. Mel Gibson should hang his head in shame for what he and Hollywood did to Robbins' "Air America".
"The Ravens" is also excellent. I knew some of those guys and boy, all I can say is they must have had balls of steel. Night ops over the highlands of laos in a single engined recip... ouch!
For any ex-mil people out there, how whould you react to losing eight aircraft from a single squadron in one week, five of the eight on one day? I shudder to even think of it - and if you weren't picked up in the first thirty minutes, you weren't picked up at all, 'coz Tricky Dicky was telling the American people he had no troops in Laos. And after thirty minutes? If - when - the Pathet Lao caught you... well, suffice to say none of the MIA airmen shot down in Laos were returned in 1973.
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ORAC - check out www.abe.com
As of 2120 EDT 7 Oct 2000 there were 48 copies of "That's Me in the Middle" listed . . . from $3.25 for a paperback, to $42 for a hardcover first edition.
Cheers and good luck,
PD
(Apologies for dragging this up to the top again, there was no e-mail listing for ORAC and I was on holiday when the post was added . . . )
As of 2120 EDT 7 Oct 2000 there were 48 copies of "That's Me in the Middle" listed . . . from $3.25 for a paperback, to $42 for a hardcover first edition.
Cheers and good luck,
PD
(Apologies for dragging this up to the top again, there was no e-mail listing for ORAC and I was on holiday when the post was added . . . )
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Checked my bookshelf - yes it's Stephen Morris, not Stanley. My copy has Pilotage bound with it, I didn't know they were published separately.
Incidentally, does anybody know where I can get hold of a copy of Ann Welch's autobiography? I think it's been out of print for a few years.
G
Incidentally, does anybody know where I can get hold of a copy of Ann Welch's autobiography? I think it's been out of print for a few years.
G
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Many great novels mentioned above. My favorite autobiography is Gen. Jimmy Doolittle's "I could never be so lucky again." Gen. Doolittle did not pen this, his first and only book, until he was in his 90's. I feel very fortunate to have an autographed copy from the late Gen. Doolittle.
Yes, the Ravens is an incredible true story of some real heroes.
A good source of military aviation books is the Naval Institute Press at www.nip.org.
Check 6
------------------
Kick the tires, light the fires, first off is lead, brief on guard.
[This message has been edited by Check 6 (edited 09 October 2000).]
Yes, the Ravens is an incredible true story of some real heroes.
A good source of military aviation books is the Naval Institute Press at www.nip.org.
Check 6
------------------
Kick the tires, light the fires, first off is lead, brief on guard.
[This message has been edited by Check 6 (edited 09 October 2000).]
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Martin Caidin has just barely been mentioned. I haven´t read one of his non-fiction books yet that I didn´t enjoy.
Autobiographies by Jimmy Doolittle, Clarence ¨Bud¨ Anderson, Tex Johnston, Gregory ¨Pappy¨ Boyington, Tom Blackburn, Bob Hoover.
¨The Mighty Eighth¨ by Gerald Astor
¨JG 26¨ by Donald Caldwell
¨Air Command¨ by Jeffrey Ethell with original color photos.
Gallands book is called ¨The First and the Last¨.
Autobiographies by Jimmy Doolittle, Clarence ¨Bud¨ Anderson, Tex Johnston, Gregory ¨Pappy¨ Boyington, Tom Blackburn, Bob Hoover.
¨The Mighty Eighth¨ by Gerald Astor
¨JG 26¨ by Donald Caldwell
¨Air Command¨ by Jeffrey Ethell with original color photos.
Gallands book is called ¨The First and the Last¨.
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Ernest Gann was the king. Many years trying to find a good book on the Biafra Airlift. Amazon has a recently published book by Michael I. Draper titled Shadows. Really a concise document on the Biafra/Nigerian Air war and airlift. Many great pictures and documents the entire event. Biggest non military airlift in history. All done with recips.
Jetjackel
Jetjackel
