Aviation Books

[PRB]

Reading an interesting book called Operation Plum, by Adrian Martin and Larry Stephenson. “Plum” was the name of the operation to reinforce the Philippines with air power prior to the start of the Pacific War. Larry Stephenson's uncle was Glen Stephenson, a pilot in the 27TH Bomb Group. Larry wanted to research details about his uncle's death in April 1942, and in so doing, ended up writing a book about the ill-fated 27TH BG, with his uncle Glen a sort of almost central character in the story.

Glen Stephenson (co-pilot) and the crew of B-25C (41-12455) were killed on April 21, 1942 while trying to find the airfield at Charters Towers in northeastern Australia after the long flight from Port Moresby, 740 miles away. They crashed into Mt. Bartle Frere, the highest mountain in Queensland. It was night, the weather was bad, and there were no navigation aids of any kind. Even the runway at Charters Towers was only lit by “flame pots”. They were flying low, trying to find Charters Towers by sight, feeling their way through this mountainous region of Australia. I flew around there in FSX to see...

This is an interesting story. Poignant and sad for Glen Stephenson and his crew, for probably nobody besides his family had ever heard of him. He had just gotten married before the war started. And now he was dead fighting for his country, like so many other “kids.”

By the time of Stephenson's death, the 27TH BG had been “absorbed” into the 3RD Attack Group. The B-25Cs they were flying were “acquired” from the Dutch... There is some disagreement, to this day, as to exactly how these Dutch B-25s ended up in the 3RD BG. The US side has a tale worthy of Merc-Air, when personnel from the 3RD BG, including the legendary Paul “Pappy” Gunn, flew down to Archerfield in Brisbane and basically made off with the planes. The Dutch side says they were properly transferred to the U.S...

Anyhow, a good book.

[Moses03]

On sale for $5.00 at the local discount bookstore-




Lots of old black and white photos. My favorite! Not just about the planes but the tiny out of the way places they stopped at and the local history.

[lefty]

Just received this - Dimitar Nedialkov is a Colonel and Professor - still an active pilot with Mig-17, Mig-21 and Su-22 experience.

He has produced a great book, and kindly signed a copy for me....

[PRB]

Two books came in the mail from Amazon.com today:

[PRB]

Ok, these Nick Grant books are not what I expected, but they are a fun read. First of all, they were written very recently (2008, 2009). Written by Jamie Dodson, they are “historical fiction” taking place in 1935. Nick Grant is a 16 year old kid who get into all sorts of trouble and adventure with Pan American Airways. The first one, Flying Boats and Spies, is about the setting up of the PAA bases on Midway and Wake, the interest in this shown by the Japanese, and, well, the misadventures of our young hero, and a Sikorski S-42. The next one, China Clipper, starts out where the last one ended. Don't know what it's about yet, but there's a picture of a Martin 130 on the cover, so how bad can it be?

The other book I ordered just got in today. Escape of the Pacific Clipper. This is the story of one of the Boeing 314s that was stranded in New Zealand when the Pacific War started, it's long adventurous flight home. This one I'm bringing with me on the airplane Friday!

[lefty]

This just arrived

Attachment 17172

Late birthday present from the Boss (she's a good girl really)

It's a complete update of William Green's classic, to be published in 3 volumes, with great new photos, colour 3-views, cutaways, etc etc. Not, however, cheap.

Here's the website
http://www.aerospacemasterbooks.com/

[Moses03]

Very good. I know there has been some grumbling in the past from "Luftwaffe Experts" over some of the misinformation.

Would be nice to have the updated volumes.

[Ferry_vO]

Two slightly early birthday presents: Rob JM Mulder's book about the E.L.T.A. (Eerste Luchtvaart Tentoonstelling Amsterdam (First Aviation Exhibition Amsterdam) 1919) which scored five roundels in the April 2010 issue of Aeroplane, and the Fokker D.XXI issue of the 'Dutch profiles' series.



Attachment 18070 Attachment 18071

[PRB]

Pappy Gunn, by Nathaniel Gunn

http://www.amazon.com/PAPPY-GUNN-Nathaniel-Gunn/dp/141843776X

To those who have read history of the Pacific War, Paul (“Pappy”) Gunn is a legendary name. He is probably most famous for his idea to turn B-25s and A-20s from glass nosed and ineffective level bombers to “hard nosed” gun ships, bristling with forward firing .50 cal Brownings. I've never heard of a book specifically about him, so when I saw this one I jumped on it. The fact that it was written by his son somehow confirmed for me, before even reading it, that it would be good. But that was an assumption, and you know how those go...

The problem with this book is that it's written in such a hokey style that it's almost difficult to take seriously. And Nathaniel Gunn says some pretty wacky stuff, attributed to “Pappy”. Things like he invented skip bombing because he suddenly remembered one day that “naval guns 'automatically cut off' when they're elevation angle is less than 18 degrees, so if you come in low they can only hit you with light machine guns. 18 degrees? What? He has Pappy explaining this to the USAAC crews over and over again. “Just stay below their 18 degree line of fire and they can't touch you!” The other inspiration for skip bombing was that he noticed, during dive bombing practice, that “if you were off by just a couple of feet, the bomb would skip across the water like a flat stone across a pond.” What??!!

And then there is the matter of the Dutch B-25s in Australia that ended up with the 3RD Attack Group in the summer of 1942. There are several versions of this story out there ranging from “there was an official agreement between the US and the Dutch governments, and the planes were transferred to the USAAC”, to “The men of the 3RD Attack Group ripped 'em off.” According to this book, Pappy noticed them, hatched the plan to steal them, lead the mission to steal them, and when the Dutch commander protested, pointed his two .45s at him, called he and all his countrymen cowards, and threatened to shoot him right there on the spot if he tried to stop him. I like the stories about Pappy Gunn, but if this one is true, it doesn't make him look so good. However, I'm not sure I'm buying that version of the story in the first place, given other accounts I have read of this apparently controversial event.

What I really like about the book is all the source material, in the form of letters between Gunn and various generals and such, and between various generals and North American tech reps, and between generals and other generals about Gunn. These source documents show what was being said at the time, and shortly after the war, about Gunn and his inventions, particularly the “gun ship” conversions. On the down side, many of these source documents are poorly reproduced and difficult to read. When I was only a quarter way through the book I didn't think I would make it to the end. But now, at two thirds through, I think it's worth reading to the end.

[lefty]

A book I can recommend to all of you if you haven't come across it before - an absolute classic of its kind...

Attachment 22119

Frater tries to replicate the old Imperial Airways route from London to Brisbane as closely as possible using scheduled flights - his BA ticket had 53 sectors on it !- and the results are fascinating, and often hilarious. Details of his trip are interlaced with reminiscences of crew and passengers from the '30's, flying HP42's and Atalantas.

A great read.

Haven't enjoyed a book so much for a long time

[Moses03]

Currently reading the book Lefty posted above. A nice one so far. (Thanks Mike!)

Also, finally picked up a copy of Gann's Flying Circus from ebay for $6. Hardcover too. Required reading from the Flight 19 library.



Snagged a overview:

"Ernest K. Gann began his love affair with flight in 1953, barnstorming in various wood & fabric bi-planes. Later, as an airline pilot, he flew to many parts of the world in a wide variety of the aircraft, from lumbering trimotored Fords to the latest jets. He shared the world's skies with many of the gallant airemen he writes about here.

Gann traces the development in American of the commercial use of airplanes through the early days of airmail, air cargo, and the first passenger airlines. He takes the reader aboard such planes as the United Air Lines Boeing 40-B-4 delivering newspapers to the ranger station in Oregon; the 'Flying Brooklyn Bridge,' the 1936 Condor for which pilots developed an almost maudlin affection; the 'Tin Goose,' Ford's incomparable trimotored 4A-T; the incredible DC-3, which has cruised every sky known to mankind, and many others...

Internationally, there are stories of Aeropostales' flights across the Andes and in Saint-Exupery country; Sabena in the Congo; Imperial Airway's deluxe flights in Scipios when Britain ruled the skies; BOAC's Lockheed, known as 'Bashful Gertie,' which shuttled bravely from Scotland to Sweden for essential ball bearings during WWI; and other aeronautic history.

Little known anecdotes about legendary fliers abound -Juan trippe & Glenn L. Martin; Charles Lindbergh; Prof. Hugo Junker; whose firm built4,832 'Iron Annies' in Germany; and Count von Zeppelin.

The final chapter finds the author back in a DC-3 after 19 years, this time piloting the Savaii from San Francisco to Apia in Western Samoa, with a crew of three.

A dossier of the planes, in the order of their appearance in the narrative, appears at the end of the volume, with vital statistics on span, power, passenger load, gross weight, range, cruising and landing speeds."

[PRB]

The Flight of the Mew Gull, by Alex Henshaw.

This book was a fantastic read. At first I must admit to being a little bored. Not sure why, perhaps because the early chapters dealt with Henshaw's start in flying, which is a familiar story the world over. Anyhow, it got better quickly, in expected and unexpected ways. I knew it would be an adventure story about the record breaking speed run from England to Cape Town, and in this the book does not disappoint. In fact it went way beyond my expectations of exciting reading, from the scouting run that Henshaw and his father made in his Vega Gull, covering the entire course, the year before, to the actual flight by Henshaw in the tiny single seat Mew Gull. The accounts of flying across Africa in the 1930s is just great stuff.

Two unexpected aspects of this book really had me interested. One was the insight into the British style handicapped air racing circuit of the 1930s. Henshaw flew many of these races, in a couple of different planes during these years. EasyEd should be interested to find that Henshaw became bored and disillusioned with the whole air racing scene once he figured out that the real challenge, and the key to winning these races, was to hoodwink the handicappers, just enough to ensure that they placed you in a take off time slot that ensured you would win.

The other unexpected and the most interesting aspect to this book was the peek inside the engineering of fast planes in the 1930s. Hensahw spends a lot of time talking about the choices of engines, modification of engines, propeller designed, and variable pitch prop technology. He also spends a bit of words on air racing technique, particularly the best way to get around pylons. Lots of pilots in these races were doing Immelman style turns at the pylons, mostly, evidently, because it looked cool from the ground, and was great fun for the pilot. But, it not the most efficient method if you wanted to maintain speed across the race course...

So anyway, it's a good book. Read it!

[lefty]

I seem to remember air racing on television (the old, grey, grainy variety) back in the fifties - commentated by the immortal Raymond Baxter, naturally.....

[Ralf Roggeveen]

What's everyone planning on getting for Chrsitmas book prezzies?

I've ordered Empire of the Clouds from Mississippi, Nile, Amazon or whatever it's called (nearly half price there). This book has been heavily reviewed in the UK and is about how the British lost their 1950s aviation edge to the USA. So there will be a lot about Comets, but apparently he also blames long liquid lunches at De Havilland (which I find rather unlikely, but will defer judgment till I've read it). The guy who wrote it, James Hamilton-Paterson, seems to know what he's talking about, not just a journalist with a pair of scissors & a pot of glue.

Also joined Air Britain which is well worth it for all the benefits of membership, including excellent discounts on excellent books. (No doubt lefty has been a member for decades.) Getting Red Sea Caravan the Aden Airways Story, right up my street and should give plenty of inspiration for some Middle East adventures in fs9!

Anyway, will post some reviews when I've read 'em. What are you lot going for or hoping that Santa will bring?

[lefty]

Well I've ordered 'Empire of the Clouds' too - not much surprise there !

But I am not a member of Air Britain - thought about it........

Nice to hear from you again, Ralf - Sherwood under snow just now, eh ???

Fife certainly is......