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

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.

A Technical & Operational
 History of the Liberty Engine: Tanks, Ships and Aircraft 1917–1960

by Robert J. Neal

One of history’s most famous engines, and very possibly the one with the longest active military service life, the Liberty represents an ambitious and visionary solution to what could have become an intractable problem: too much creativity resulting in too much incompatibility.

The VanDersarl Blériot: A Centenary Celebration

by Javier Arango & Philip Makanna

This spindly French machine made aviation history when it became the first heavier-than-air aircraft to cross the English Channel. Two American youngsters got excited. So they decided to build their own. It still flies, more than a hundred years later. See it here.

Landings in America: Two People, One Summer, and a Piper Cub

A Flying Memoir

by Peter Egan

A memoir of a 7000-mile flight across the US in a 1945 Piper. It took place 40 years ago, a boom time for private aviation in the US.

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