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MUST READ AVIATION BOOKS

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 1:04 am
by iowa
here is my list. my favorites are: a gift of wings, fate is the hunter, airport
please let me know any that should be included!!
titel first and next line the author

PILOT ‘MUST READ’ BOOKS


Airman's Odyssey (Night Flight)
Antonine De Saint Exupery
Airman's World, the
Gill Robb Wilson
Airport
Arthur Hailey
America From the Air
Wolfgang Langewiesche
Alone over the Tasman Sea
Francis Chichester
Biplane
Richard Bach
Blaze of Noon
Ernest Gann
Carring the Fire
Michael Collins
Control Tower
Robert Davis
England Is My Village
James Liewellen Rhys
Fate is the Hunter
Ernest Gann
Flight of Passage
Samuel Hynes
Flying Mystique: Reality and Self in the Sky
Harry Bauer
Flying Circus
Ernest Gann
Glass Cockpit, the
Robert Davis
Gift of Wings, a
Richard Bach
High and the Mighty
Ernest Gann
High Flight-a Story of World War Two
Linda Granfield
Last Enemy, the
Richard Hillary
Lindbergh
Scott Berg
Little Prince, the
Antonine De Saint Exupery
Last of the Bush Pilots
Harmon Helmricks
No Echo in the Sky
Harald Penrose
North to the Orient
Annne Lindbergh
Nothing By Chance
Richard Bach
One-One
Dot Lemon
Over to You
Roald Dahl
Pilot, the
Robert Davis
Pastoral
Nevil Shute
Rainbow and the rose
Nevil Shute
Round the Bend
Nevil Shute
Sky of My Own, a
Molly Bernheim
Song of the Sky
Guy Murchie
Spirit of St. Louis, the
Charles A. Lindbergh
Steep Ascent, the
Anne Lindbergh
Stick and Rudder
Wolfgang Langewiesche
Stranger to the Ground
Richard Bach
Thats My Story
Douglas Corrigan
Time Life Aviation Book Set
(set)
Wager In the Wind
Don Sheldon
West With the Night
Beryl Markham
Wings Over Wilderness
Charles Thomas
Wind, Sand and Stars
Antonine De Saint Exupery
Yeager
Chuck Yeager

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 1:28 am
by jrenwick
Michael Collins' Carrying the Fire makes a nice companion to Lindbergh's The Spirit of Saint Louis. Collins was the astronaut who remained in the Command Module while Aldrin and Armstrong became the first men to walk on the moon. Like Lindbergh, he made a significant solo flight, which prompted Lindbergh to write a Foreword in recognition of that fact. Collins is a very fine writer.


But as flights go, the two are as different as any two solo flights could be. While Lindbergh was personally responsible for all aspects of his own flight, beginning with the fundraising, Apollo 11 couldn't have been done without a whole gummint agency and a cast of a thousand contractors. The contrasts are absolutely striking.

Carrying the Fire was out of print for a few years, but happily it's available now, and you can find it on Amazon.

Best Regards,

John

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 1:28 pm
by iowa
thanks john
i'll add it to the list.
of all the accomplishments in flight,
the greatest of them all was
lindbergh's flight across the atlantic!!
next would be the wright brothers 1st flight,
next would be the 1st moon landing,
next would be the saving of the ill fated apollo mission,
and next would be when every pilot
solos for the first time!!!!
but lindy's flt is the greatest!!!
dave

Aviation Books to read

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 7:36 pm
by Bobo
Dave,

'Fear is the Hunter" I believe should be "Fate is the Hunter" also
a very good book to read in my opinion is "The Pilot" by Robert P. Davis.
He also authored 'The Glass Cockpit" which is good also and both have been made into movies.

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 9:08 pm
by GAHorn
Doug Corrigan is one of those I most admire. He had no financial backers (like Lindbergh). No brand-new, special purpose-built airplane. He only had a desire to set a record, and did it in an airplane like most of us might own, and did it in the face of regulators who told him he couldn't do it. He then returned to a fairly quiet life and kept a smile on his lips whenever anyone tried to get him to brag.

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 10:26 pm
by iowa
bob
your right! i'll change the name
and add the other 2 books by davis
(my partner has been in India for 3 weeks & my brain is numb)

george
yes, i'm familiar w/doug c.
and it was quite a feat.
but...he wasn't the 1st one.
i admire bob hoover more.

dave

Posted: Thu Oct 26, 2006 10:29 pm
by N1478D
I just read Bob Hoover's book. You gotta love that guy! They sure had some fun pulling pranks, it''s a good read.

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2006 1:59 am
by mit

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2006 4:03 am
by GAHorn
iowa wrote:...george
yes, i'm familiar w/doug c.
and it was quite a feat.
but...he wasn't the 1st one...
dave

I believe he was indeed the first to fly nonstop from NY to Ireland, which was his original intent. (Although considering the meager rations he took with him, he may have made the decision on the spur of the moment.) He was also one of the employees of Ryan aircraft co., and worked on building Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis, gaining credit with devising a way to install increased fuel capacity in the wings. He was a native of next years' convention city, Galveston.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Corrigan

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2006 12:34 pm
by iowa
i'm not taking anything away from doug
but he did make a little shorter trip
with 11 years of technology to build on
believe me, i'd never do it,
i still think lucky lindy's flt is unbeatable,
yes, he did have backers, but really how much,
no one assisted him on his lonely trip over the ocean.
dave

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2006 5:37 pm
by GAHorn
Yes, but he totally disregarded that technology, making the flight in an old Curtis Robin with a Wright J-5 bult from junk parts. :lol:
Interestingly, his ticker-tape parade in NYC was a much larger reception than Lindbergh's. (Might have something to do with the Irish poplulation up there.)
He led a quiet life in California in the orange business, especially after he'd lost a son in an airplane crash on Santa Catalina island.
He kept his ocean-crossing Curtis (which the CAA had declared unairworthy and unfit, thereby denying him permission to fly to Ireland) in his garage for decades. (He barely talked them into letting him fly it back to California, and claimed his flight to Ireland was a mistaken interpretation of his compass reading.) :roll: He never changed his story, although it was usually told with a wink. :wink:
As late as 1988 he was persuaded to bring out the old airplane and show it off, and he surprised everyone by actually firing up the engine for the crowd. The FAA saw to it that any possibility of a take-off run was blocked. :lol:

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2006 6:18 pm
by iowa
you obviously feel for doug c
much as i do about clara barton.
florence nightingale got the limelight
but it was clara who disobeyed
not only generals, but the president himself
to be in the civil war battles giving aid
to the soldiers.
dave

Posted: Fri Oct 27, 2006 6:55 pm
by GAHorn
Naw, I'm just amused by his sticking his finger in-the-eye of the CAA (now FAA) and flying wherever/whenever he wanted to. Of course, his airplane was deemed airworthy for transcontinental flight, but they seemed preoccupied with denying him permission to fly over the ocean where he'd fall on no one at all! (I personally believe it's because he had no big-money sponsors to lobby the authorities, and no one stood to make money on his stunt. I'd never suggest anyone try this at home!) :wink:

Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 3:25 am
by mbram
Here are a few of my favorites

Lindbergh A. Scott Berg

Wager with the wind the Don Sheldon Story

Last of the Bush Pilots Harmon Helmericks

Yeager Chuck Yeager

Time Life Aviation Book set

The National Geographic articles on the Lindberghs Atlantic and Orient trips
(additional Photographs)
Lockheed sirius Tingmissartoq
http://www.lindberghfoundation.org/history/photo8.html

currently located on the mezzanine level across from the spirit of
St Louis at the Air and Space museum

Posted: Sat Oct 28, 2006 11:45 am
by iowa
thanks mike
i'll add them
i had a chance once to
buy
spirit of st. louis
by lindbergh
1st edition signed
but it was 4000
dave