Need a good book

[shags_j]

Hi All,

 

Just finished the latest book from a series I am reading and in need of another. Wanted a fictional WWII pilot book (just felt the need).

 

Any suggestions in this genre or any other for that matter. Preferable available on kindle.

 

Cheers,

 

Shags

 

 

[fly_tornado]

first light

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

reading 'I could never be so lucky again' Gen James Doolittle.

 

 

[Oksinay]

Hi All,Just finished the latest book from a series I am reading and in need of another. Wanted a fictional WWII pilot book (just felt the need).

 

Any suggestions in this genre or any other for that matter. Preferable available on kindle.

 

Cheers,

 

Shags

Anything by Dale Brown - especially the earlier books such as "Flight of the Old Dog".

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

It's not a WWII pilot book, but the books by John J Nance are excellent aviation thrillers, I found them pretty unputdownable.

 

Also worth reading (especially for members of a rec flying forum) is Propellerhead by Antony Woodward. I've read it about 5 times and loved it each time.

 

 

[Hongie]

Reading "tales of the south pacific" at the moment... Seems pretty good. Just finished "ghost in the wires" by Kevin mitnick... A name any old nerd like myself should be familiar with. Both are non fiction though

 

 

[shags_j]

Well I picked up the first book suggested (First Light). Guess I have some work cut out for me getting through all these by christmas ;)

 

Thanks for the suggestions. There looks to be some good ones in there.

 

Cheers,

 

Shags

 

 

[sain]

Its a biography, not fiction, but Reach for the Sky is pretty good if you havn't read it.

 

Also worth checking out is CloudDancer's Alaskan Chronicals. Volume 1 and 2 are a very amusing read. I don't have 3 yet, so no verdict there. You can get them here: http://clouddancer.org/ .

 

 

[fly_tornado]

shags do you have a kindle or ebook reader? If you do amazon will start tempting you to get back into reading. I have kindle on my netbook and tablet and love it.

 

 

[shags_j]

Kindle. Wouldn't trade it for the world. Is one of the best devices I have ever bought. I read a lot and never leave home withouot it (20% though first light now).

 

 

[kgwilson]

"Chickenhawk" by Robert Mason. An amazing account of his experiences in the Vietnam war flying UH-1 Iroquois helicopters. Great book, hard to put down.

 

 

[dodo]

I don't know so many good fictional books, but you might try Nevil Shute on a lot of aviation fiction - "Pastoral" for a bomber pilots experience, but some of the light plane flying in "Round the Bend" or "The rainbow and the Rose" are very cool.

 

Autobiographical stuff - Douglas Bader' "Reach for the Sky" Adolf Galland's "The First and the Last", Johannes Steinhoff's "The Straits of Messina" and especially "The Last Chance" are all good.

 

Or one of the all time greats of aviation books "Fate is the Hunter" by Earnest Gann is a brilliant experience of early commercial mail flying in the US. Fiction, but he had flown mail planes in the early, very dangerous era, so it is basically fictionalised experiences. Even though I haven't read the book in years, I can't forget the image of the aircraft captain lighting matches in front of a pilots face as he protests while landing a passenger aircraft, and dispassionately tells him one day he may need it. And then, years later, he is landing an aircraft with a cabin full of smoke with that memory.

 

dodo

 

 

[DarkSarcasm]

I don't know so many good fictional books, but you might try Nevil Shute on a lot of aviation fiction - "Pastoral" for a bomber pilots experience, but some of the light plane flying in "Round the Bend" or "The rainbow and the Rose" are very cool.

If you're trying Nevil Shute, even though it isn't one of his aviation ones, A Town Like Alice is my favourite book of his

 

 

[Guest ozzie]

A virtually unknown author in Australia is Mack Maloney. He wrote a series of about 15 books known as the Wingman series.

 

They were written about 25 years ago. Hawk Hunter, the Wingman flies a tricked up F15 in the aftermath of a Russian/USA conflict. All good yarns.

 

His later series of 4 books called Superhawks- Strike Force Alpha/Bravo/etc are about a group of patriots that are determined to hunt down anyone and everyone that was involved in 9/11. With no one to answer to and an unlimited budget it is on for young and old. Twists and turns keep the storyline rolling right along.

 

I'm now waiting for the arrival of his books in The Pirate Hunters series.

 

Mack is a pretty good Musician as well.

 

Some time back i wrote a review of his Superhawks books for Pac Flier and received a couple of autographed books from Mack.

 

Do a quick google on him and check out his sites. Lots of other titles to view as well.

 

Ozzie

 

 

[naremman]

Fiction: Goodbye Mickey Mouse by Len Deighton is a good read.

 

In non Fiction: if you can find a copy of Tale of a Guinea Pig by Geoffrey Page, and read it in parallel with The Last Eneny by Richard Hillary is a fascinating contrast. Both authors were Battle Of Britain pilots who experienced horrific burns and were early patients of Archie McIndoe when he was pioneering his treatment of burns patients. That both guys could have such a similar experience, but relate it in an entirely different fashion, is what really interested me.

 

An old paperback that sits on my bookshelf, yet on ocassions gets a dust off is One Man's Window by Denis Barham. Barham was a fighter pilot posted to Malta in 1942, which was not conducive to living to be an old man. He also was an artist, which is what gives his book such a unique perspective.

 

War in s Stringbag by Charles Lamb leaves one absolutley amazed that he experienced what he did over such an extended period, and lived to tell the tale.

 

The Neville Shute Norway books are all great reads. Slide Rule is autobiographical in nature and relates quite a few of his experiences as an aeronatical engineer. Most people can recall airship R101 which crashed in France with a heavy loss of life. Little is recalled of R100 a Vickers airship designed by Barnes Wallis, that was built and successfully flown in the same era. Neville Shute led the team that did all the stress calculations and rose to be Wallis' assistant on the project. No computers then, all the calculations were done on paper with pencil and slide rule!!

 

Every time I go near a second hand book shop I tend to loose myself for a while seeking out the obscure and rare. Many is the time when a good read has followed.

 

The Royal Aero Club at Jandakot has an excellent library, so I don't know whether any of the other aero clubs might have something similar.

 

 

[rgmwa]

`Sagittarius Rising' by Cecil Lewis. Non-fiction and WW1, not WW2 but a fascinating first-hand account of the air war. Lewis was a fighter pilot in the famous 56 Squadron in France, and flew with Ball, McCudden, et al.

 

rgmwa

 

 

[old man emu]

The first aviation book I read was in the late 1950s when I was a kid. The book is called "I Flew for the Fuhrer" by Heinz Knoke. The book is produced as a transcript of his diary. He was an ME109 pilot in Western Europe. The diary runs from just before the start of the War through to the German surrender.

 

I would say that his book started my love of all things aviational.

 

OME

 

 

[rgmwa]

The first aviation book I read was in the late 1950s when I was a kid. The book is called "I Flew for the Fuhrer" by Heinz Knoke. The book is produced as a transcript of his diary. He was an ME109 pilot in Western Europe. The diary runs from just before the start of the War through to the German surrender.I would say that his book started my love of all things aviational.

OME

Hey, I've got a copy of that, but I blame Biggles for starting my interest in planes and flying.

 

rgmwa

 

 

[dodo]

Knoke is a Knutter, but if you want the really loony German pilots of the era, it is him and Rudel. Rudel was a Stuka pilot, seriously considered as Hitler's successor, mainly because he was a devoted Nazi, but as a"true believer" in National Sociaism. Lost most of a a leg? Give me a few weeks and I'll be back on those Godless Red Horde Commie tanks. Published in English as "Stuka Pilot". Oh, and that bloke that blew up the harbour in Greece,and started Wild Sow..can'tt remember the name and can't find the book... ...note to self - "Stop lending these books to others - no one returns them!"

 

I'd read Steinhoff any time. Or Jean Zumbach, who flew for the Polish airforce, lost, escaped via Hungary to France, flew for the French airforce, lost,, escaped to England, flew for the English, and knew then their was nowhere to escape to from England when the Nazis won as they always had to date! Ended up flying B26s in the Congo - but his book is hard to find.

 

dodo

 

 

[Old Koreelah]

I often find accounts of war from the other side interesting, especially U-Boat novels.

 

My favourite fighter pilot is Saburo Sakai, ("Samarai") who mastered the awesome Zero to down 64 Allied aircraft.

 

The Zero had outstanding range compared to contemporary Allied fighters- he once flew for 12 hours and 5 minutes until tanks dry, then glided in to land. Perhaps I can stir up a debate: I believe that if the Luftwaffe had operated a few squadrons of Zeroes during the Battle of Britain they would have won the war.

 

His accounts of the fighting over New Guinea includes an amazing dogfight with an Australian bomber. After the war he tried unsuccessfully to have its pilot decorated posthumously. Perhaps most extraordinary was his 600 mile flight all the way from Guadalcanal home to Rabaul, bleeding from head wounds. He lost an eye and part of his brain but returned to flying, downing a B-29 at the end of the war. Made of stern stuff.

 

 

[Spin]

Good thread! I don't think anyone has mentioned Stephen Coonts. Flight of the Intruder, The Intruders and Final flight are fictionalised stories about his own and other experiences in combat during and after the Vietnam War. Some of his other books also have an aviation theme, eg Hong Kong, Cuba and I rather enjoyed his science fiction books about a Saucer as well. Cannibal Queen is autobioagraphical about a flight around part of the states in a Stearman.

 

I'm not in Don's class when it comes to picking out inconsistencies, but I do get a bit rattled when people write about things in detail and get the technical bits wrong. For that reason I've always rather enjoyed Dick Francis' books, meticulously researched, to the extent that when he wrote Rat Race - about an air taxi pilot, his wife learnt to fly. Slightly dated now but still an enjoyable read I find.

 

Someone else who can be relied upon to get aviation detail correct is Stuart Woods, crime thrillers that are undemanding airport reading. He is a pretty experienced pilot, owning and flying aircraft from a C182 to his current Cessna Mustang light jet. Who said crime(writing) didn't pay!

 

I can't think of the titles right now, but there are some brilliant, older books about test flying during and after WW11, Alex Henshaw (Sigh of a Merlin?) about the Spitfire, Roland Beaumont (Bee) about the Typhoon, later the Lightning and quite a bit of background about the TSR2. My local library carries some pretty good books by Aussie authors too, I'll have to scratch around for names but there is some good stuff about the RAAF in and after the war in the appropriate section of the non fiction library. Edit. Garry Cooper - Sock it to em Baby about being an FAC in Vietnam is an excellent example.

 

 

[Spin]

Couple more;

 

Richard Bach - Biplane, A Gift of Wings and Nothing by Chance. Bach isn't for everyone, his philosophy and theology can get in the way of a good yarn, but I quite enjoy him in small doses.

 

Brian Shul - Sled Driver about flying the SR-71

 

Roy Watson - Bush pilots do it in fours

 

Tom Wolfe - The Right Stuff

 

James Salter - Gods of Tin

 

Beryl Markham - West with the Night

 

Eric 'Winkle" Brown - Wings of the Weird and Wonderful, plus others

 

 

[old man emu]

Knoke is a Knutter, !" dodo

Sir. Defend that statement. What facts have you got to support your assertion?

 

Old Man Emu