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

Flying Boat Pilot in War and Peace, Disaster and Survival

The Extraordinary Life of Captain M.J.R. ‘Roly’ Alderson

by Mark Alderson

From learning on an Avro Lynx biplane—six months after Lindbergh’s solo Atlantic crossing—to leading BOAC’s “Comet Development Unit” this book covers the whole arc of aviation development.

Air Commodore Sir Frank Whittle: The Man Who Invented the Turbo-jet

by Robert L. Evans

High speed, long range, high altitude—there was a time when aircraft couldn’t achieve any of these let alone all. Whittle developed a theoretical solution, but the materials didn’t yet exist to actually build an engine. Besides, no one thought his scheme was practical. Or so they said.

Building Dutch Air Power in World War II

The Role of Lend-Lease and Aircrew Training in the United States

by Nicholas M. Sambatuk

When the Dutch lost territory to foreign invaders they sent their aircrews to the US to train. What makes the Dutch flying school different from any other is that it remained a fully autonomous Dutch base on foreign soil with limited interaction from American forces.

Building Engines for War

by Edward M. Young

In most wars, military production ramps up by drawing on existing civilian infrastructure. But the tolerances for both technical parameters and work habits may be incompatible so it is the processes themselves that first need to be calibrated.

Lockheed Constellation: A Legends of Flight Illustrated History

by Wolfgang Borgmann

A fine book with which to start your Constellation discovery, and also to appreciate big-picture factors such as how different the playbook for air travel once was—and how difficult it was to have to deal with Howard Hughes.

Ronny Bar Profiles: Spitfire, The Merlin Variants

by Ronny Bar

The book intentionally omits any sort of technical or operational detail—because that’s already been covered any which way elsewhere. Instead Ronny Bar does what he does best: show hundreds of examples in profiles to keep modelers busy for years.

GHOSTS 2025 Calendars, The Great War & A Time Remembered

by Philip Makanna

Excellent air-to-air shots, esthetically pleasing, technically tricky, suitable for framing, not expensive. What more could you ask for?

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.

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