Holiday reading-what would you recomend?

You lucky b******r ! I’d give a lot just to meet him…..

There is always the worry that when you meet a personal ‘hero’ they won’t live up to your expectations. Mr Wellum exceeded them, sharp as a tack at ninety-whatever, even brought his current girlfriend along with him.

Moggy

Another vote for First Light.

I took it on holiday some years ago, and it was such a good read, I finished it off on Day 1.

I’d never take my copy of First Light on holiday again. Last time I did some old geyser wrote on the flyleaf. Now possibly my most treasured book.

Moggy

Would that be geezer, or do you now have a very wet book?

Oooops! Edited, thanks. M

For non-fiction, as many others have said, First Light by Geoffrey Wellum. Paul Richey’s Fighter Pilot is also a good read.
For fiction, I’d recommend Night of the Whirlwind by David Bruce for a good read.

Kind regards.

Paul

You lucky b******r ! I’d give a lot just to meet him…..

I’d never take my copy of First Light on holiday again. Last time I did some old geezer wrote on the flyleaf. Now possibly my most treasured book.

Moggy

Why should your holiday destination reflect your book choice?

“The Sky Beyond” by Sir Gordon Taylor was a good read but I don’t know if it’s still available anywhere.

I am going on holiday in 3 weeks time and again I am stumped on which aviation related books to either take or order from amazon to take with me to read whilst sunning myself on the beach or most likely to be sat in the hotel bar whilst its raining.
So I am asking you all for your suggestions on this brain testing topic, my only stipulation is that the book subject must be historical aviation related between 1910 and 1960.

Thanking you all

Jay

It depends where you are going on holiday, doesnt it? For instance, if I was going to St Petersburg, I might read ‘The 900 Days;Siege of Leningrad’. If I was going to Malta, I might read ‘Fortress Malta’ or ‘Warburtons War’. Northern France, ‘King of Airfighters’ or ‘Flying Fury’. If, however, your going to Ibiza or Benidorm, you probably wouldnt be interested in any of my suggestions anyway.

‘War in a stringbag’by charles lamb, in my opinion on a par with….
‘Wings on my sleeve, Eric Brown
+1 for ‘winged victory’ v.m.yeates
‘Claude Grahame-White’ graham wallace
‘Bloody april’ Peter hart
‘Blue Ribbon of the air’ Henry Villard about the gordon bennett races
‘Wilfred freeman’ anthony furse

Another vote for “First Light”. Just finished “The Quick and the Dead” by Bill Waterton. Gives a frightening insight in to the attitudes of the designers at Glosters to their test pilots. Now well in to “Wings on my sleeve” by Winkle Brown. Amazing range of aircraft flown and described. White knuckle flights in Arado 234 s and DH 108s.

With apologies for repeating an earlier comment but First Light is my favourite from that period, so simply but evocatively written.

Another vote for first light. Another good one is Tom neils book gun button to fire. Great read.

I have just read Geoffrey Wellum’s First Light for the second time , great read , beautifully written . Test Pilots, the story of British test flying 1903-1984 by Don Middleton , and Lions Rampant , the story of 602 Spitfire Squadron are also great. I have always said , if someone want’s a loan of a book , I will happily post it . Some good choices above ! My favourite fiction is Catch-22 , but that’s a love or hate , read one time deal . Great book.

Schneider Trophy Seaplanes and Flying Boats.
Also it doubles up as a handy drinks tray, seat or surfboard

R.A.F. In Russia By Hubert Griffith.

I’m currently reading Coastal Dawn by Andrew Bird. An excellent read on the Bristol Blenheims and their crew from the Phoney War thru Battle of Britain. Unsure if there is a paperback, mine is hardback.

Never heard of it. Sounds like a very amusing read. But might try to find a cheap paperback somewhere….:)

Maybe a little out of scope, but entertaining reading, ideal for a holiday read.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Boys-Ballykelly-Gordon-Blair/dp/1846244056

A Thousand Shall Fall by Murray Peden.
Amazing book about a Canadian pilot in Bomber Command.