What book/s started you off as a kid?

I started out around 11 with what was in my father’s cupboard, can remember reading ‘Bomber’ and ‘Fighter’ by Len Deighton and ‘Bomber Command’ by Max Hastings, the chapter about 82 Squadron and the horrific losses they suffered flying Blenheims had quite an impact on me. Still have them as they came with me when I left home! Does anybody remember the fictional series of books by Robert Jackson with R.A.F. fighter pilot George Yeoman and Hans Richter, his opposite in the Luftwaffe? Dad had ‘Hurricane Squadron’, set in the Battle of France and the final one ‘The Last Battle’ where he flew Gloster Meteors against Richter in an ME262, both survive too!
First book I bought, and still have was ‘Antiques Of The Air’ by Michael F. Jerram which featured all the warbirds that were flying both sides of the Atlantic in the late seventies, a good number of them happily still are now.

This brings back some nice memories:
http://bearalley.blogspot.com/2007/10/avro-698-big-delta.html

Not quite sure what first got me interested in aircraft. I remember a friend at junior school had Timothys Book of Aircraft when I was about 8 years old and the school library had the Longacre Book of Aircraft but I was already into aeroplanes before that having pestered my dad to build me a 1/72 Spitfire from a Revell kit. Other early influences were The Eagle comic with it’s cutaway drawings, a 1961 Civil Aircraft Recognition given to me by a neighbour of my grand parents and my grandad gave me one volume of Aircraft of The fighting Powers which was (and still is) much read and greatly treasured.
I also remember reading “Building For Those Magnificent Men” by Derek Piggot when I was about 11 and this triggered my interest in early aircraft.

My first real air book was AASF by Charles Gardner. France 1939/40. Kain ,Orton , “Boy” Mold, Paul Richey et’al. I was about 13 at the time . Lost it in the 80’s ( moving house ) then managed to get a tatty copy about 3mths ago. My Maths teacher did 53 op’s with 50 sqdn so that kept the interest going .

Another book I recall reading a lot when I was younger was:

I had one of the earlier prints, and now have the updated version gracing my shelves, too…

Just catching up with this thread has reminded me of a book I had as a kid and which predates my long standing preference for autobiographies.
It was ‘The Wonder Book of Aircraft’,I used to pore through it whenever possible,just googled it and hadnt realised how many editions there had been – I saw one in a charity shop some years ago,shoulda bought it 😀

Hi,

my dad’s old copy of ‘Our Air force’ (RAF) printed in around 1939 was the first aviation book I remember as a kid. (Two bladed Spitfires, Wellingtons, Fairy Fox ect).

My grandfather served in the RAAF during WW2 and later worked at Commenwealth Aircraft Corp. Melbourne during the 1960s……….. he gave me his service medals and other things……… that was the beginning.
We used to go to CAC for the staff christmas open day, while all the other kids were haveing pony rides and such I’d be inside looking at the Mirage production line!
Of course the 30 + Airfix and Frog 1/72 models hanging from the ceiling in our bedroom was an omen of things to come! (I had two brothers who built models too).

The real point of being completely screwed up was going to see the Battle of Britain film in 1969 (about five times)!

The spare room before my daughter was born, now it’s full of fluffy toys and pink furniture!

cheers,

-John

Blimey, I remember owning the ‘Air Ace’ book ‘First in’ + about 100 others!! I loved them. One of my earliest reads was Pierre Clostermann’s ‘The Big Show’…..a marvalous book.

A sample of Ian Kennedy’s incredible inkwork

Len Deighton’s ‘Bomber’. Found it as a soft-back in our school library – clearly the librarian wasn’t a fluffy revisionist back in 1976 – and subsequently found a first edition in a second-hand bookshop in York, which is taken from my bookshelf and re-read every couple of years.

The book I vividly remember reading over and over again was Thunder and Lightnings, I now have a copy courtesy of ebay on my shelf.

The combat comics and Victor comics also played there part as did visiting my Aunts who lived near Kenley aerodrome in the early 70’s.

Septic.

I can also vividly remember a book my dad gave me back in the late sixties when we were living in Cupar, while dad was posted at Leuchars, Scotland. It was about carving solid models out of wooden layers. Also it wasn’t the subject here that attracted my attention, it was the elegant execution of the graphics. Beautiful line drawings. The book and even memories of its title have long gone lost, but sometimes an image or something can hit that switch even in these days and a for a flash a picture of those line drawings appears in my mind. I’d love to know which book that was but I guess even for the most knowlegable this description lacks substance.

Here are two Ian Kennedy covers. I don’t have any ink drawings scanned at the moment, but might get some done in the office tommorow.

I remember those too. There was one about a Halifax crew which was also drawn by Kennedy. One of the crew was called Phil (I think) and he was quite a bright spark. He improved the aircrafts defenses (and most likely the performance too) but when trying to improve the rear-turret he got killed during a night-fighter attack. A poem also played a major part in this book (comic?): T’was brillig and the slithy toves did gire and gimble in the wabe…” I still know it off by heart; all of it, so don’t anyone say we didn’t learn anything from these Air-Ace Picture Libraries. The drawings by Ian Kennedy were amazing!

Peter

As a young kid it was the Air Ace Picture Library comics. I’m surprised noboday has mentioned these yet- is it one of those things you never admit to? There was one artist doing stuff for Fleetway at the time that was incredible. His drawings were perfect and he frequently did colour covers as well, even for Commando but he never did ink drawings for them. I have often thought about this amazing artist over the years and occasionally did internet searches to find out who he was and just a few months ago I found him. His name is Ian Kennedy and he is still around. So we, my brother and myself, didn’t just go for what was available at the newsagent – it had to be stuff by ‘him’. For some reason a lot of his stuff was about Blenheim and Beaufort crews so these two aircraft became extremely popular especially with Airfix and Frog kits available back then.

A one of visit to Barrowlands in Glasgow and spending my pocket money on an early 1950’s British Annual of Aviation (or similar title) – large and blue hard back bound. Inside were lots of pictures of experimental aircraft – the flying wing etc

That reminds me of one: “Timothy’s Book of Aircraft”. Must have been around 1965, I recall a double-page spread of an artists impression of a Lancaster bombing a german city. In the caption it said, a Lancaster pilot needed nerves like steel. The book that really got things going was Leonard Mosley’s Battle of Britain – the hardbound issue of course, chock full with pictures. We got it at the library at Laarbruch. It seemed huge to us boys in those days. When I got a second hand copy of one a few yeras back I was surprised how small it actually is.

Peter

“Dive Bomber – Learning to fly the Navy’s fighting planes”, by Robert Winston. First published in 1939.
I’m quite a bit older than most of you – a 1931 model. But up in Alaska back then you traveled by boat or seaplane. Seaplanes were okay; we even got to see the Boeing 314 once, but fighters – I wanted to fly them after getting this book and By God I did!
FWIW I found a reprint and got it about 3 weeks ago; it still gives me a kick to read it again after all those years.
Walt BJ

WaltBJ

We’ve all waited the last couple of hours…….what did you fly!!

Baz

A one of visit to Barrowlands in Glasgow and spending my pocket money on an early 1950’s British Annual of Aviation (or similar title) – large and blue hard back bound. Inside were lots of pictures of experimental aircraft – the flying wing etc.

From there to Commando books and WARLORD magazine ( including subscription secret agent code book) and Airfix. Not forgetting Captain WE Johns finest…

Walt BJ

“Dive Bomber – Learning to fly the Navy’s fighting planes”, by Robert Winston. First published in 1939.
I’m quite a bit older than most of you – a 1931 model. But up in Alaska back then you traveled by boat or seaplane. Seaplanes were okay; we even got to see the Boeing 314 once, but fighters – I wanted to fly them after getting this book and By God I did!
FWIW I found a reprint and got it about 3 weeks ago; it still gives me a kick to read it again after all those years.
Walt BJ

For me it started when I was 7 or 8. My aunty owned the Olympia amusement arcade in Blackpool. On summer holidays we would visit her and she would open up the prize bingo and let me have anything i wanted. Anyhow this year my brother got a fishing rod and i got a massive (well to a kid) wind up P40 in flying tigers markings. That was it for me. Ever since ive been nuts on aviation, also had a thing for p40`s to lol.