Classic Aviation Literature

1/ All three Brian Lecomber novels
2/Best Foot Forward by Colin Hodgkinson [the other legless pilot of WW2]
3/ Vulcan 607 by Rowland White
4/ Mosquito Victory and Lancaster Target by Jack Currie
5/ Spitfire Women by Giles Whitell

You don’t need to advertise – it’s already been done for you!!

http://forum.keypublishing.com/showthread.php?t=121027

I’m obviously biased but if anyone wants to catch up on The Phantom, I was recently published. Plenty of photographs in colour and b&w covering the late 70s and early 80s,

There’s a sampler here for a preview:
http://www.fonthillnews.com/phantomsample.html

The Phantom In Focus:

http://deegee-media.webnode.com/

Abebooks.com have several copies of A Rabbit in the Air listed, including an author signed one at £150! I paid 50p for mine about 15 years ago but unsigned of course.

Don’t think The Big Show has been mentioned yet! Needs no introduction….

David Ross’s biography of Richard Hillary is an amazingly detailed read, alss is Hillary’s own book, The Last Enemy shouldn’t be overlooked.

The Most Dangerous Enemy, by Stephen Bungay is, in my opinion, one of the best books about the Battle of Britain.

Under The Wire by William Ash and Brendan Foley is about an American who joins the RAF and flies with the Canadians. Another great read.

Lonely Warrior by Jean Offenberg is a very good read he was buried just up the road from where I live at Scopwick Lincs

To the list I would like to add –

‘Golden Wings’ by Alison King.
‘The Story of Some of the Women Ferry Pilots of the Air Transport Auxiliary’. Circa. 1956 by Arthur Pearson Ltd.

An evocative well written first hand account from the opening chapter on the landing a Lancaster in a snowstorm at Turnhouse to, and beyond, the words … “Remember Then That Also We, In a Moon’s Course Are History”.

Classic Aviation Literature

Almost forgot, The Greatest Squadron Of Them All (Vols 1+2), a History of 603 Squadron.

Classic Aviation Literature

1..Bomber.
2..The Shepherd.
3..Recollections Of Wartime Experiences by Squadron Leader Bryan Colston D.F.C.
Suspect the last one has not been written yet but having received a copy of his memoirs, they would make a fantastic read.

The author was David Garnett and the book published in 1932, beyond that I can’t add anymore.

I keep deliberating bout buying a ‘St Ex’ book……..someone tell me why I should read one of his books?

David Garnett’s book “A Rabbit in the Air” is a gem, if you can find a copy. Anyone who is learning to fly even today, will identify with his struggles to master landings and navigation among other things! Mind you some things have clearly changed since 1932, the Blackburn B2s and Marshall’s Moths have changed a bit, and I don’t think his instructor telling him another lesson was due by beating up his cottage, would go down too well with the CAA today!

For the best of St Exupery I can recommend “Airmans Odyssey”, which combines three of his greatest. “Wind, Sand and Stars” flying in the early 1930s from France to Africa; “Nightmail”, pioneering flights in South America and “Flight to Arras” a harrowing story of what it was like in the crumbling Armee d’Air of summer 1940.

Hope you get it in time for Christmas!

Aviation Literature

From a civil aviation point of view, one of the best has to be:

Behind the Cockpit Door by Arthur Whitlock.

Forgot to mention in my earlier post…

‘A Thousand Shall Fall’ by Murray Peden , exceptionally well written by a decorated Lanc pilot.

‘Think Like A Bird’ by Alex Kimbell,a journey with the author through his training as an Army Air Corps pilot and on ‘ops’ in DHC Beavers,brilliantly written!!

Have to agree with this, however Murray Peden flew Short Stirling’s and the B17 Fortress with No.214(BS) Squadron.

My two favourites are :

Three Strips and Four Browning’s : Bill Jackson, 218 Squadron Reargunner.

High Adventure : R.Austin, Navigator with 218 Squadron.

Both books for me Convey the tension and fear of operational flying with RAF Bomber Command.

i’ve just read ‘cover of darkness’ by roderick chisholm, it covers the birth and development of the RAF’s night fighting, and the counter measures used against the germans. i found it quite fascinating, especially the bit where he tours germany just after the end of the fighting, interviewing the german night fighter pilots and fighter controllers about the effectiveness of the raf’s countermeasures.
i didn’t realise that the mosquito had such a fearsome reputation among the germans as a night fighter.

I’d strongly second both Bomber’s Moon by John Bushby and Pilot’s Summer by Frank Tredrey.

A few others:

The Eighth Passenger by Miles Tripp
Spitfire by Jeffrey Quill
Battle of Britain by Marcel Jullian
Corsairville by Grahma Coster (a nostalgic look at the heyday of flying boats)
Propellerhead by Anotny Woodward

And lastly, Reach For the Sky by Paul Brickhill. Yes, it’s a hagiography and no it’s not entirely historically accurate, but nevertheless it’s a great read.

This is probably the place to ask a question I’ve had since first reading Bach’s anthology 30 years ago…
In “A Gift of Wings” he has a chapter about his favorite pieces of aviaition literature…one he mentions, and I’ve never heard of before or since, is
“A Rabbit in the Air”, written by a prewar private pilot in the UK who discusses his efforts at learning to fly in a Moth.

I don’t know the author (I don’t have access to my copy of Bach’s book) but can anyone provide details of the book and its author?

The author was David Garnett and the book published in 1932, beyond that I can’t add anymore.

I keep deliberating bout buying a ‘St Ex’ book……..someone tell me why I should read one of his books?

For fiction anyone tried Gavin Lyall or Brian Lecomber ?
What about Stranger to the Ground by Richard Bach

In no particular order
Gift of Wings.
Moggy

This is probably the place to ask a question I’ve had since first reading Bach’s anthology 30 years ago…
In “A Gift of Wings” he has a chapter about his favorite pieces of aviaition literature…one he mentions, and I’ve never heard of before or since, is
“A Rabbit in the Air”, written by a prewar private pilot in the UK who discusses his efforts at learning to fly in a Moth.

I don’t know the author (I don’t have access to my copy of Bach’s book) but can anyone provide details of the book and its author?

Excellent idea for a thread. I have ‘Vulcan 607’ on my Christmas list, along with ‘Tales of my time’ by Raymond Baxter and ‘Edwin’s Letters’ – a collection of letters from Edwin Thomas, who was KIA at the age of 21, along with the rest of the crew of a 78 Sqdn. Halifax. My late uncle was also lost in a Halifax of 78 Sqdn. so I’m expecting this to be quite a poignant read.

I’ve just finished ‘Under the Wire’ by William Ash, about his escapology exploits, during his spells in various POW camps, which was a very interesting read; and I have just started reading ‘Tail-end Charlies’ by John Nichol & Tony Rennell – the story of the last operations of Bomber Command, told through the veterans who flew them – which is proving very difficult to put down.

Two books on my ‘unread’ pile and next to be read, are:- ‘Lancaster Target’ and ‘Mosquito Victory’ by Sqdn. Ldr. Jack Currie.

Other memorable reads would include: –

First Light – Geoffrey Wellum
My part of the Sky – Roland Beamont
War in a Stringbag – Charles Lamb
Bomber – Len Deighton

Dean.

The Shape of the Aeroplane by James Hay Stevens
Fate is the Hunter by Ernest K Gann
Adventures with Fate by Harald Penrose
Pilots Summer by Frank Tredrey
Rearsby recalled by Les Leetham
Chickenhawk by Robert Mason
And any Eric ‘Winkle’ Brown title.

How about:

No Moon Tonight by Don Charlwood. One of the best written bomber memoirs I have come across, and very moving.

Focus on Europe by Ron Foster. A glimpse of the life of a WWII Mossie PRU pilot, not an area I had read much about before, but an unusual story.

Chickenhawk by Robert Mason. Again a different perspective on the career of a Vietnam Huey pilot, and what an ending (I won’t give it away, but if you have read it you will know what I mean).