Aviation Books

[Moses03]

Found a copy of Gunston's Russian Aircraft for under $20.00.

[Hurricane91]

Great find Moses. I don't remember exactly what I paid for mine, but it was a lot more than $20. Good show.

[lefty]

Glad you got one eventually, Kevin, and that you didn't have to raid Fort Knox...

Pretty good book, although some gaps, and the usual Soviet designation minefield !

[lefty]

Just received my copies of both Aeroplane and FlyPast in the post - great timing for some Christmas reading.

However, these are, of course, the February editions of both magazines, and we're still in 2011 - does anyone else find this as irritating as I do ? Does it happen with American mags ? WHY ??

[jhefner]

My wife gave me an early Christmas present from my Amazon wish list that combines my two interests:

Steam in the Air: The Application of Steam Power in Aviation During the 19th and 20th Centuries



This is a subject I have researched in the past (my first FS project was three steam powered aircraft, followed by the Curtiss-Goupil Duck); but there were several aircraft proposals that I had not heard of before. He also dug up an amazing amount of detail on the steam powerplants that powered them, and some facinating proposals for modern day steam in the name of reducing fossil fuel emissions.

There was one that he missed:

http://www.theflyingsteamshovel.com/...g-steamshovel/

Almost none of these would qualify for the mystery aircraft thread since they did not fly, but I did find a couple of stinkers.

-James

[Moses03]

Most of the American mags are like that as well Mike.

Like James, I got Putnam's Canadian Aircraft Since 1909 as a Christmas present from my wife. I think that about does it for my Putnam collection for now.

[rayrey10]

Decided to pop in here to see if anyone had read any good books about the airline pilots in the heydays of TWA, Pan Am and Eastern...circa 60's-70's. I'm also looking for a good book about helicopters.

Anyways, I've read Black Sheep One: The Life of Gregory "Pappy" Boyington by Bruce Gamble. It was a very entertaining book, but I would like to read another book about Pappy Boyington, since this one focused heavily on his drinking, fighting and family life. I guess I am looking for a pro-Boyington book.

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I also read Lost in Shangri-La by Mitchell Zuckoff, which was more about surviving in the jungles of Papua New Guinea than aviation, they did survive a plane crash though. At any rate it was a very good book and I highly recommend it.

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Finally, I read In the Company of Heroes by Michael Durant which started off about helicopter aviation in the Army, then turned into his ordeal as a POW in Somalia.

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[lefty]

Santa gave me some book money too, so it went towards this new issue.....

[PRB]

This recently came in the mail from Amazon. It's packed with information, maps, posters, route schedules, and stories. After all the stuff I've been reading on the flying boats of Pan Am, I wanted something on the history of this air line. It's pretty good.



In this book, it is recorded that the Handley Page HP42 had a “symphonic” sound, due to a complicated system that prevented the Bristol Jupiter engines on the top wing from delivering power before the ones on the lower wing, and the other way around when reducing power. This was necessary to keep the beast from tipping over if too much power was applied to the top engines alone. Makes sense as the top ones are quite high up. I'll bet in flight there was still a nose down pivoting effect when power was brought up. I need one of those for FS now...

[Moses03]

Valentine's gift from the Mrs. Revolution In The Sky, The Lockheeds of Aviation's Golden Age.

Thanks to MM for the heads up on this one.

[Hurricane91]

It's a great book Moses. You'll love it.

[MM]

Terrific! ...Someone has great taste for Valentine's Day.

[PRB]

Just got this from Amazon. It's about this jounalist and plane nut (like us) who decides to trace the Imperial Airways route from London to Australia in 1980-something, by catching hops on all manner of airlines of the day. I just started it, and so far it's pretty entertaining. On the first flight via a British Airways L-1011 from London to Paris, the stew asks him if he wants breakfast, and adds, “we've got yonks in the oven.” I Googled “yonk” but am still wondering what the heck that is... And look what was in the inside cover. Croydon liberry! I hope they don't find out I have it!

[Moses03]

That is a great read P. Lefty got me hooked on it awhile back.

[PRB]

That is a great read P. Lefty got me hooked on it awhile back.

Definately a good read. This book would be a great addition to the reading list of any college anthropology class out there. The tales he tells of his experiences hopping local airline flights between cities in Egypt are simply amazing. I wonder how much things have changed in 30 years...