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

Nieuport 1875–1911: A Biography of Edouard Nieuport

by Gérard Pommier & Bertrand Pommier

Edouard and his brother’s names are writ large in the history of early aviation but try finding a proper full-length biography about them. This isn’t one either but it does contain useful items.

The Heroes We Needed

The B-29ers Who Ended World War II and My Fight to Save the Forgotten Stories of the Greatest Generation

by Trevor McIntyre

This is not another color-within-the-lines aircraft history. If you have an imagination, it’ll hit you were it hurts. And, sure, you’ll learn plenty.

The Four Geniuses of the Battle of Britain: Watson Watt, Henry Royce, Sydney Camm & RJ Mitchell

by David Coles & Peter Sherrard

Radar, airframes, and aero engines played a key role in this predominantly aerial engagement. This book presents bios and work histories of four of the men in the design offices in the years before the war.

I Worked on Spitfires

The Memoirs of a Member of RAF Groundcrew and his Part in the Victory in Europe

by Ronald L. Chapman

Even after all these decades since WWII ended there are still new voices to shed light on increasingly forgotten things, in this case the foreign pilots who fled countries that had fallen to the Germans offering their services to the RAF.

Malta Spitfire Vs – 1942: Their Colours and Markings

by Brian Cauchi

The island of Malta is a small place that played a big role in a world war. The use of Spitfires there tipped the scales. You may not care how they were painted; but find out why you might.

Messerschmitt Me 262: Development and Politics

by Dan Sharp

Why did Germany’s first mass-produced jet go into production so late in the war when the project had actually started months before? There have been many answers, and many myths and rumors. If only there were original documents. Wait, there are, and many are shown and discussed here.

L.A. Birdmen, West Coast Aviators and the First Airshow in America

by Richard J. Goodrich

This small book could have had any number of titles. The story really begins in San Francisco, and years before the 1910 L.A. Meet. The Wright Bros mainly come off as obstructionists. From pilots to makers to business groups, conflict abounds. Happy reading.

Rising Ground and No Room to Turn, A Biography 

by Vivien Eyers

When you design, build, and fly your own aircraft—especially if they were never certified—you’ll have some stories to tell. While the protagonist really had no inclination to do that he left enough material behind for his sister to give it a whirl.

The Avro Shackleton: The Long-Serving ‘Growler’

by Jason Nicholas Moore

The Shack is indeed named after the polar explorer because they both went on far-away and long-lasting missions to inhospitable places. It entered service in 1951 and stuck around for 40 years and of all the books about it, this is the most comprehensive.

American Eagles, A History of the United States Air Force (2nd Ed.)

by Daniel Patterson & Clinton Terry

It’s the 75th anniversary of the USAF and the 100th of the NMUSAF so of course there needs to be a book! This is an update of the 50th anniversary book that had been written by a high-ranking British RAF officer.

The Last Enemy

by Richard Hillary

After being shot down in the Battle of Britain this Spitfire pilot endured pioneering plastic surgery to rebuild his face and hands. While recovering, he wrote this memoir, then returned to flying again. Two months later was shot down again, at 23. This time he died.

Sea Flight: The Wartime Memoirs of a Fleet Air Arm Pilot

by Hugh Popham

The first published memoir by a British WW II fighter pilot. Not a story of fly-boy derring-do but quiet reflection.

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