Which Books to Buy?

Great thread Skypilot!

It all depends on your interests in aviation. I am interested in the Battle of Britain, general WW2 and early jets….wide spectrum. My most thumbed books covering WW2 and cockpits are:

Men of the Battle of Britain
BoB Then & Now by After the Battle
Blitz Then & Now Vol 1,2,3 by ATB
Every set of original & repro Pilots Notes I can get (60+ now)
The trilogy of excellent aircraft interior books by Nijboer/Patterson (Cockpit of WW2, Cockpits of Cold War and Gunner).
The superb book on German interiors (released in UK by Monogram, now no longer available except in German…still excellent)
Spitfire the history
Wrecks & Relics
UK Military serials from 1908…..to present
Assorted Squadron histories.

etc etc!

Thanks for that. But no Etc. Etc…I want to know! 😀

May I reccomend ‘Supermarine Walrus and Stranraer’ by one Roger Wallsgrove and ~hem~ yours truly? Just out, and we are v. pleased with it. Avaliable, as they say, from any bookshop that thinks it’s good, or visit www.mmpbooks.biz

Back on topic, it does rather depend on your interest. Bob Ogden’s museums of the world books; Mikesh’s Museum Aircraft; Hunt’s Veteran and Vintage; Putnams Br Civil a/c 1 – 3; are all essential for me as they are about aviation preservation. Wrecks & Wreliks, various; Warbirds Worldwide Directories are vital references, in combination with the web.

Robert Rudhall’s two Battle of Britain film books, likewise. Personally I’m not interested in crash logs, unit histories, serial numbers etc, so they pass me by – but I’ll borrow other’s expertese in these areas!

Books of pretty pics of aircraft are nice, but far from essential. The long o/p Osprey colour series are great fun for the winter, and often useful for a snapshot in time, but hardly vital.

Most ‘unlikely’ reference work is the Chronicle of Aviation. Remarkably useful…

Cheers

I can recommend ‘Luftwaffe Aces’ by Mike Spick,an excellent book about the Luftwaffe fighter arm in general and it’s development and tactics,aswell as potted career histories and anecdotes from particular aces. There’s also a comprehensive listing of aces at the back of the book,giving their decorations,victory tallies etc. It was first published about 20 years ago,but it’s recently been reprinted.
Spick has written a number of other books along the same lines,such as ‘Luftwaffe Bomber Aces” and “Allied Fighter Aces” and these are said to be just as good,although I’ve yet to get my mits on them.

Yes , Andy is the Putnams king 😀 😀 😀 😀 Anna 😉 Hows the shades of grey going 😉 😀 😀

Anna, you’re not the lady with the Westie are you?!

I know this will be a very subjective list BUT….

As we have so many knowledgeable people on the forum here, what books would people recommend for research and why?
To keep the list relatively narrow could we avoid biographies/autobiographies, but DO include squadron histories.
I’m always trying to expand my own library but you don’t always hear what’s available or what others recommend.

My own “Most Thumbed”….

cut…text
Over to you chaps!

😀

Great thread Skypilot!

It all depends on your interests in aviation. I am interested in the Battle of Britain, general WW2 and early jets….wide spectrum. My most thumbed books covering WW2 and cockpits are:

Men of the Battle of Britain
BoB Then & Now by After the Battle
Blitz Then & Now Vol 1,2,3 by ATB
Every set of original & repro Pilots Notes I can get (60+ now)
The trilogy of excellent aircraft interior books by Nijboer/Patterson (Cockpit of WW2, Cockpits of Cold War and Gunner).
The superb book on German interiors (released in UK by Monogram, now no longer available except in German…still excellent)
Spitfire the history
Wrecks & Relics
UK Military serials from 1908…..to present
Assorted Squadron histories.

etc etc!

Happiness is indeed a shelf full of Putnams – I find British Civil Vols 1-3 most useful, as they are comprehensive, with stacks of information difficult to find elswhere.
Others worth a mention – the Action Stations series on airfield histories (originals long out of print, but aren’t they being reprinted?)…’Mighty Eighth’ by Roger Freeman, absolute classic.

Hi Moondance
A very tidy bookshelf that.
If you ever get bored with owning any of them, there’s one or two there I’d take off your hands.
Cheers
Andy 🙂 🙂 🙂 😉 😉 🙂 🙂

I agree with Andy about the Puttenhams books

I also have found the following as excellent starting points for further research:

Warplanes of the Third Reich by William Green, various editions, but mine is ISBN 0-356-02382-6

The complete book of Fighters by William Green and Gordon Swanborough (although it isn’t as complete as they say!)
Again Various editions, mine ISBN 0-86288-220-6

All of Eric Brown’s books … Wings of the Luftwaffe, Wings of the Navy etc.

Many of Airlife’s books are worth looking at

Jim

Happiness is indeed a shelf full of Putnams – I find British Civil Vols 1-3 most useful, as they are comprehensive, with stacks of information difficult to find elswhere.
Others worth a mention – the Action Stations series on airfield histories (originals long out of print, but aren’t they being reprinted?)…’Mighty Eighth’ by Roger Freeman, absolute classic.

Yes , Andy is the Putnams king 😀 😀 😀 😀 Anna 😉 Hows the shades of grey going 😉 😀 😀

Hi Anna
the book on grey paint isn’t published by Putnams 🙂 🙂 🙂 😉 😉 🙂
All the best best from
The Grey Paint Fan… 😀 😀 😀

Anything published by Putnams.
A number of you would have guessed this already. 🙂 🙂 🙂

Thanks for that Andy. I always wondered whether they were worth the money. My background is collecting flying gear and only recently have I taken a more in depth look at the actual aircraft, hence why some of the “obvious” choices to forum members may have been overlooked by myself who is a bit of a novice in this area (which you may have guessed from my inane constant questions!) 😀 Fortunately you have all been very patient with me!

Now, want to know about the differences between 1st and 2nd pattern C-type helmets, I’m your man! Hence why when watching the Battle of Britain I’m constantly getting scowls from the other (better) half as I tutt and sigh every time I see yet another FAA C-type helmet, MkVII goggles and 1950’s orange “Frankensteins” Mae-West.

Dean

Anything published by Putnams.
A number of you would have guessed this already. 🙂 🙂 🙂

Yes , Andy is the Putnams king 😀 😀 😀 😀 Anna 😉 Hows the shades of grey going 😉 😀 😀

Anything published by Putnams.
A number of you would have guessed this already. 🙂 🙂 🙂

1/ Have a look on the Air Britain site – http://www.air-britain.com/
2/ Drool at the informative books available.;)
3/ Join Air Britain.
4/ Grin as you utilise your discount…:D

Flood

Joined last night, grin on it’s way :p

Skypilot

“The Other Battle: Luftwaffe Night Aces Versus Bomber Command” by Peter Hinchliffe. The title is self-explanatory, it is a must in it’s field, arguably the best anaysis of this war long fight, plus it’s a good read and has some great photos.

Put it on the top of your list.

cheers and good luck

What a question.

All of them!

😀 😀

1/ Have a look on the Air Britain site – http://www.air-britain.com/
2/ Drool at the informative books available.;)
3/ Join Air Britain.
4/ Grin as you utilise your discount…:D

Flood