Archive for Items Categorized 'Aviation', only excerpts shown, click title for full entry.

L-15 Scout, Boeing’s Smallest Airplane

by Mal Holcomb

The “L” stands for Liaison and in theory this was a sensible aircraft. It was developed for a military contract that never materialized, and no civilian market ever emerged either. Only one is still flying, but you’d have to go to Alaska to see it.

Test Pilots: The Story of British Test Flying 1903–1984

by Don Middleton

Written by a pilot who is also a good writer this 1985 book continues to impress. This is not about flyboy derring-do but the hard and dangerous work of trying out things that look good on paper but have never been done in the wild before.

U-2 Over the Soviet Union

America’s Famous Cold War Spy Plane from a Soviet Perspective

by Dmitry Degtev

What the American military and political leadership thought they got out of the U-2 program is of course exhaustively documented. But how did it look to/from the “other side”? Answers here.

Hero Found: The Greatest POW Escape of the Vietnam War

by Bruce Henderson

Can’t think of anything inspirational this Thanksgiving? Here’s a story of escape and survival against all odds that’ll make you thankful for many things, not least that you were not tested as the protagonist was.

I’m Not the Only Idiot in the Cockpit

by Dennis Breen

A funny memoir that at times makes you doubt the man never had an actual accident in all his years of flying or being around aircraft in other capacities (cf. repo man!).

Whitney Straight – Racing Driver, War Hero, Industrialist

by Paul Kenny

Born into a prominent family, he hated being referred to as the “Boy Millionaire Race Track Idol”—but he was all that and more, and on his own merits. He would have been more still if he hadn’t died young, at 66. And then this fine book would have had to be even longer!

But Will It Fly?

The History and Science of Unconventional Aerial Power and Propulsion

by Iver P. Cooper

Alighting, staying aloft, and landing again are each hard enough—doing all, repeatedly, controllably, under any number of conditions and in various climactic and atmospheric environments is orders of magnitude harder.

Mr. Piper and His Cubs

by Devon Francis

Before there was a Piper Cub there was a Taylor Cub, and it was at Taylor that W.T. Piper got into aviation, rather by accident. Designed as a trainer its ruggedness, light weight, and affordability suit that role very well. A J-3 was the first American plane to be shot down in WWII—on a training flight.

The Flying Firsts of Walter Hinton

by Benjamin J. Burns 

Quick: who was the first to cross the Atlantic by plane? If you said Lindbergh, or Earhart, you’d better read this book!

GHOSTS 2026 Calendars, The Great War & A Time Remembered

by Philip Makanna

You’ve had over four decades to discover these splendid calendars; if you still haven’t, read this. And take a photography class.

Spitfire Manual
 1940

by Dilip Sarkar (Editor)

From the “Forget-Me-Nots for Fighters” to many other instructional booklets and manuals for pilots of the famous Supermarine Spitfire, this book gathers many oddities not normally seen by outsiders.

Secret Projects of the Luftwaffe in Profile

by Daniel Uhr and Dan Sharp

Building upon earlier, similar books this one introduces new or refined data and interpretations of German jet-propelled military aircraft designs into the record, especially regarding the historical context of their development.

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