Aviation Books

[Moses03]

NOTAM: I asked the powers that be to eliminate the book sub-forum since it was infrequently visited and posted in. I thought we could have a book sticky thread here in the main section that would work just as well.

So please post your favorite aviation themed books or anything related (magazines, periodicals etc). Reviews are also welcomed.

Moses

[Moses03]

I will kick it off with a little project I have been working on. As a fan of the famed Putnam Aviation books, I have attempted to come up with a comprehensive list of the entire published series. Except for some pre 1950 releases, here is what I have so far. Please feel free to suggest any additions or corrections.


Putnam Aviation Series (Post 1950 Titles)

1000 Destroyed; The Life & Times of the 4th Fighter Group
Aeroflot Soviet Air Transport Since 1923
Aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corps Military Wing
Aeromarine Origins
Air Defense of Britain 1914-1918
Aircraft of the Royal Air Force Since 1918
Aircraft of the Second World War; The Development of the Warplane 1939-1945
Aircraft of the Spanish Civil War 1936-1939
Airlines of Latin America Since 1919
Airlines of the United States Since 1914
Airlines of Asia Since 1920
Airports of the World
Airspeed Aircraft Since 1931
Annals of British and Commonwealth Air Transport 1919-1960
Armament of British Aircraft 1909-1939
Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Since 1913
Avro Aircraft Since 1908
Baa Baa Black Sheep
Beech Aircraft and Their Predecessors
Bell Aircraft Since 1935
Biplane to Monoplane; Aircraft Development 1919-1939
Blackburn Aircraft Since 1909
Boeing Aircraft Since 1916
Boulton Paul Aircraft Since 1915
Bristol Aircraft Since 1910
Bristol Fashion; Some Account of the Earlier Days of Bristol Aviation
British Aeroplanes 1914-18
British Aviation; The Adventuring Years 1920-1929
British Aviation; Great War and Armistice 1915-1919
British Aviation; The Pioneer Years
British Aviation; Widening Horizons 1930-1934
British Aviation; Ominous Skies 1935-1939
British Civil Aircraft Since 1919-Three Volumes
British Civil Aircraft Vol 1
British Civil Aircraft Vol 2
British Civil Aircraft Vol 3
British Flight Testing; Martlesham Heath 1920-1939
British Flying Boats & Amphibians 1909-1952
British Naval Aircraft 1912-1958
British Racing & Record Breaking Aircraft
Canadian Aircraft Since 1909
C.F.S. Birthplace of Airpower
Claude Grahame-White
Curtiss Aircraft 1907-1947
De Havilland Aircraft Since 1915
English Electric Aircraft and their Predecessors
European Transport Aircraft Since 1910
Fairey Aircraft Since 1915
Faster-Further-Higher; Leading-edge Technology Since 1945
Fighter Command; A Study of Air Defence 1914-1960
Five Down and Glory; A History of the American Air Ace
Flying Witness; Harry Harper and the Golden Age of Aviation
Fokker; The Creative Years
General Dynamics Aircraft and Their Predecessors
German Aircraft Of the First World War
German Aircraft of the Second World War
Gloster Aircraft Since 1917
Grumman Aircraft Since 1929
Handley Page Aircraft Since 1907
Hawker Aircraft Since 1920
Japanese Aircraft 1910-1941
Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War
Jetliners in Service Since 1952
Junkers Aircraft and Engines 1913-1945
Lockheed Aircraft Since 1913
McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Since 1920 Vol 1
McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Since 1920 Vol 2
Men,Women and 10,000 Kites
MiG Aircraft Since 1937
Miles Aircraft Since 1925
Modern Air Transport Worldwide From 1945 to the Present
Modern War Machine Military Aviation Since 1945
My Zeppelins
Parnall Aircraft Since 1914
Pioneer Aircraft; Early Aviation Before 1914
Polish Aircraft 1893-1939
R.A.F. Biggin Hill
Russian Aircraft Since 1940
Saab Aircraft Since 1937
Santos Dumont; A Study in Obsession
Saunders and Saro Aircraft Since 1917
Schneider Trophy Aircraft 1913-1931
Shorts Aircraft Since 1900
Sopwith Aircraft 1912-1920
Soviet Aircraft and Aviation 1917-1941
Soviet Transport Aircraft Since 1945
Squadron Histories RFC, RNAS and RAF Since 1912
Supermarine Aircraft Since 1914
The Aeroplanes of the Royal Flying Corps Military Wing
The Adventure of Man’s Flight
The Air Defence of Britain 1914-1918
The Air League Aircraft Recognition Manual
The Bird; A Novel
The British Bomber Since 1914
The British Fighter Since 1912
The Captive Luftwaffe
The Flight of Alcock and Brown 4th/15th of June 1919
The German Fighter Since 1915
The German Giants; The R Planes 1914-1918
The Modern Airliner
The Royal Aircraft Factory
The Seven Skies; A Study of B.O.A.C. and its Forerunners Since 1919
Tupolev Aircraft Since 1922
United States Military Aircraft Since 1909
United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911
Vickers Aircraft Since 1908
Westland Aircraft Since 1915
World Speed Record Aircraft; The Fastest Piston-engined Landplanes Since 1903
Yakovlev Aircraft since 1924
Zeppelin Rigid Airships 1893-1940

Compiled by K. Moore 10/13/2008

[Craig Taylor]

I recently read "Rampant Raider" by Stephen R. Gray (Naval Institute Press, 2007). It's a non-fiction personal account of Gray's experience going through Naval Aviation Cadet training, followed by flight school, carrier quals, and finishing with his first cruise to Vietnam as an A-4 pilot with VA 212 in USS Bon Homme Richard in '67. Some may find the coverage of his training too detailed, but I enjoyed every page of the book. You really get a sense for how he felt about the times and what they were doing. If you have a love of jets and carrier aviation, this would be a good book to read.

[lefty]

Re the Putnams, Kevin, I think you have missed out 'British Aircraft 1809-1914' by Peter Lewis. (I have a copy of this).

My personal count is 64, and I think I won't be getting any more ! (not really that interested in airlines, etc).

I also have a few duplicates now (15 in number, including Saro and Grumman, which are getting a bit scarce now) which I will keep for a rainy day, to sell on the Bay.

Judging by the current economic climate, that might not be far off !

[redrooster]

For those interested in Soviet/Russian aviation, both rotorcraft and fixed-wing, take a look at Yefim Gordon's books. I have 9 of them and they never disappoint. Great in-depth information on the design, production, variants, technical specs, and operational use of the aircraft. If there is a Soviet/Russian aircraft you want to know everything that is not classified about, check out his books.

redrooster

[lefty]

Another Putnam 'Miles' has appeared on EBay - auction ending Friday.

4 bids already - I reckon £150+ for this one.

[Moses03]

I recently bid on the Miles & Airspeed. Just missed on the Airspeed and the Miles ended up selling for $127.00 US.

[lefty]

There y'are - I did a 'remember me' this afternoon and it still asked me to log in again. Maybe I'm just instantly forgettable.......:frown:

Anyway, $127 wouldn't be a bad price for the Miles - at the old exchange rate - now its around $1.55, that is a different kettle of fish. Still cheap for one in good condition.

The Ebay one is now up to £63.50 - that's $100 - and a whole day to go - mmmmmmm..........

[sandar]

Several years ago, I found a very tatty copy of the Putnam's Miles book in a charity shop,( for £1 I think) but it was tatty, I left it there:banghead: thinking that another would come along. It was some time later that I discovered how expensive they are. It did have remnants of a dust jacket, but scribbled on and the pages were loose and falling out.
I did find a copy in a secondhand bookshop, but it was marked at £125, it stayed there.

[Moses03]

"In 1943, five American airmen were flying a treacherous, Himalayan supply route known as “the Hump”. They expected a routine flight from Kunming, in China, back to their base at Jorhat, in India. But a violent storm suddenly erupted and blew the men hundreds of miles off course.
Forced to bail out, just seconds before their plane ran out of fuel, the five men miraculously survived. They thought they had landed in India - or possibly in China - but instead they found they were stranded high in the mountains of central Tibet.


Their ordeal was just beginning."

Recently finished Lost In Tibet by Richard Starks & Miriam Murcutt. I lucked into a hardcover copy at the local discount book store for $12.00 US. Fascinating story. They were among the first Americans ever to enter the "Forbidden City". I highly recommend it.


More info here: http://www.lostintibet.com/


http://i36.tinypic.com/xaux4p.jpg

[lefty]

The Putnam Miles went for the equivalent of $170.
It probably would have raised more, but there was a warning that it came from the collection of a heavy smoker - I have a couple of books like that and it is really quite nauseating. Have tried every trick (in the book!) to get rid of the smell but boy it does linger.

[sandar]

A really good yarn is Imperial 109, by Richard Doyle. Set in the 1930's on an Imperial Airways Short S-30 Empire class flying boat (Caterina), flying from Uganda to New York.
It has the usual list of characters, wealthy nobs, Nazi's, the obligatory jerk etc. Bit of a silly ending, but what the heck.

I read Night Over Water, by Ken Follett some years before I found this book, although '109 came out a long time before Follett's book. Although the stories are different, the similarities are startling. Read them both and see what I mean.

[Hurricane]

Picked up a copy of Mushroom Model's Blackburn Skua and Roc today at Duxford. Like all their books its very good value, I think thats 7 or 8 of theirs I've got now and I'm yet to be disappointed.

(Duxford pictures to come later)

[MM]

<o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="country-region"></o:smarttagtype><o:smarttagtype namespaceuri="urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" name="place"></o:smarttagtype><!--><xml> <w:WordDocument> <w:View>Normal</w:View> <w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:PunctuationKerning/> <w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/> <w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:Compatibility> <w:BreakWrappedTables/> <w:SnapToGridInCell/> <w:WrapTextWithPunct/> <w:UseAsianBreakRules/> <w:DontGrowAutofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:BrowserLevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" LatentStyleCount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if !mso]><object classid="clsid:38481807-CA0E-42D2-BF39-B33AF135CC4D" id=ieooui></object> <style> st1\:*{behavior:url(#ieooui) } </style> <![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]> <style> /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:10.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-ansi-language:#0400; mso-fareast-language:#0400; mso-bidi-language:#0400;} </style> <![endif]--> "Of all the fighters, two could really excite a flyer. One was the P-51, Mustang, lovely to look at, honest, efficient, hard-working and dependable. In those days she was thought of as a wife, and I know men who married her, back then, and are still in love with her. The other was the P-39, Airacobra. It was slim, with a gently curved tail section, a smoothly faired in air intake, and a perfectly rounded nose con with its ugly, protruding cannon. But the Airacobra was lazy and slovenly and given to fits of vicious temper. It was a sexy machine, and rotten. Nanette was like that, and I was a little queer for her." (Edwards Park, [I]Nanette p. 14.)
<o:p> </o:p>
Edwards Park flew Nanette over <st1:country-region w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">New Guinea</st1:place></st1:country-region> during the war. He was not a particularly distinguished fighter pilot. But he's a terrific writer. (He was an accomplished professional journalist and a writer for the Smithsonian.) For us, he wrote two wonderful books about his wartime experience.
<o:p> </o:p>
The first, Nanette (1977), is a poetic love story about his relationship with his own bird—and his own youth. The second, Angeles Twenty (1997), is more of a standard narrative that reflects on the real character of the wartime experience. Each tells the same story from different artistic sensibilities. And each is wonderful in its own way.

[Ralf Roggeveen]

New to me & looks good; thanks for the tip Mike M! Great writer, indifferent pilot - the American Saint-Exupery perhaps?

Personally I love the Airacobra & made Hero of the Soviet Union in one in Il-2 Forgotten Battles, though it never flew so well in Pacific War. Admittedly the 'Hero' was over Stalingrad where you can get turkey shoots of unescorted Ju-52s lumbering in courtesy of Fat Hermann. The RAF never liked it & handed their few on to the Russians who did indeed use them - plus a lot more which came via Vladivostok & were renamed Kobra - very, very effectively at low altitudes. The mid-engine configuration takes a bit of getting used to, but its centreline cannon is great fun once you work out how to line it up properly. Doesn't really compare with the Mustang, but a beauty in its own right & surely one of the best fighters of the 1930s?

[lefty]

Re James' Mushroom books - it seems they are hard to get hold of once the initial print run is sold out.
I have been looking for the Lysander - there seem to have been two versions of this published by Mushroom in 2003 and 2006 - but no luck !

[Hurricane]

Keep looking because its very good. There isn't a lot out there on Lysanders and for the price (which could be more now if they're hard to find) it covers it fairly well.

[lefty]

Any Biggles men out there ??

When I was a kid (and you know how long ago that was!) I had a Biggles WWI short story omnibus, in large format, with superb colour plates.
All I remember is one story where he escapes from a German port in a Brandenburg floatplane.

Any of you oldies remember this ? I would love to track down a copy of this book.

[Kofschip]

Here you go Lefty: http://www.bhaduris.net/biggles/

I used to read the Dutch translations in grade school, but in high school I rapidly switched over to the original English ones. They really helped me to learn the English language and they were FUN to read.:d

[hewman100]

Read a lot of Biggles in my time too. There were about half a dozen in my primary school library, all WWI stories and they got me hooked.

[Willy]

I used to read the Dutch translations in grade school, but in high school I rapidly switched over to the original English ones. They really helped me to learn the English language and they were FUN to read.:d

I did the opposite when I finally got out of Dutch language school and over in Belgium. Comic books in Dutch taught me a lot on how the language is actually used. (more into Asterix and Lucky Luke at the time though)

[Willy]

Back on topic with the books. I find the reproduction Air Ministry Pilot's Notes booklets interesting reads on how the aircraft was actually operated. I've only got the one for Spitfire XIV & XIX, but need to get more for other RAF and FAA aircraft that I like to fly in FS as well. The AH Spit XIX can be flown pretty close to the book.

Also available for some American aircraft that Britain used as well as the Focke Wulf Fw 190 and Messerschmitt Bf 109 (I'm assuming these were for captured aircraft).

[Ferry_vO]

No new aviation books here, but I did preorder a book about the first hundred years of Dutch aviation. Hope it will arrive before christmas!

I'm also looking at good books about the 'Nachtjagd'; there's these two books in English by Theo Boiten (http://www.aviationmegastore.com/?shopid=LM48b5e27dd66e064da93f20716c&action=prodinfo&parent_id=0&art=78648 and http://www.aviationmegastore.com/?shopid=LM48b5e27dd66e064da93f20716c&action=prodinfo&parent_id=0&art=78649 ) which will set me back about €86/$112/72GBP, or alternatively there's this book in Dutch (Hussars of the night; http://www.aviationmegastore.com/?shopid=LM48b5e27dd66e064da93f20716c&action=prodinfo&parent_id=0&art=73701) which is part 1 of a two or three part series. This one is only slightly more expensive if there will be two books and a lot more if there will be three.
:)

[Kofschip]

Ferry, I have Nachtjagd by Theo Boiten. It is outstanding and I can recommend it. I bought it a long time ago, when it was more reasonably priced.:d

There is another book that is rather interesting, especially for Dutch people with past ties to Nederlands Oost Indie. It is "The Dutch Naval Air Force against Japan" (The Defense of the Netherlands East Indies, 1941-1942) by Tom Womack. It is by far the most comprehensive English language account of the Allied Naval air war in the Netherlands East Indies. The publisher is McFarland and ISBN 0-7864-2365-X. I obtained it a couple of years ago in Canada and it was I believe $39.50.

[Ferry_vO]

Thanks for the info; I found Womack's book too, but right now I'm more interested in the Nachtjagd. Former Fliegerhorst Deelen (And the 'Diogenes' command center) is less than 10 miles from here which make it slightly less 'ver van mijn bed'. ;)
What's weird is that about 7,500 aircraft, both German and allied, were shot down over Holland but yet there is almost nothing to be found about it in museums etc. There are one or two museums which have a small expo about recovered aircraft but that's it.

BTW another book on my short list is the autobiography of Wolfgang Falck: http://www.aviationmegastore.com/?shopid=LM48b5e27dd66e064da93f20716c&action=prodinfo&parent_id=0&art=44915

:)