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

World’s Fastest Four-Engine Piston-Powered Aircraft

by Mike Machat

This super sleek photo recon plane did fly faster, higher, and farther than anything else in the sky but the relentless march of progress sidelined it.

The Pointblank Directive

by L. Douglas Keeney

No matter how much you’ve read or seen, this book has something new to say and does it in an uncommonly dramatic way.

US Guided Missiles: The Definitive Reference Guide

by Bill Yenne

Ok. Your eyes are glazing over. No! This is a fine book, well written, important. Cheap even. What’s not to like??

Jimmy Stewart: Bomber Pilot

by Starr Smith

Oscar-winning actor Stewart was a star and saw the stars: he was a competent pilot even before he entered the service, attained the rank of Brigadier General in the Air Force Reserve, and even went Mach 2 in the back seat of a B-58 Hustler jet bomber.

Grumman F6F Hellcat

by Corwin “Corky” Meyer & Steve Ginter

With a kill-to-loss ratio of 19-to-1 and producing 307 aces the “Wildcat’s big brother,” specifically built to counter the Japanese Zero, was probably the most important Naval aircraft in WWII.

Flying Fox – Otto Fuchs: A German Aviator’s Story, 1917–1918

by Adam M. Wait (editor)

Not your basic autobiography! As much a novel as a historical investigation this first-ever English edition adds many layers of commentary by the translator.

Lightning Eject: The Dubious Safety Record of Britain’s Only Supersonic Fighter

by Peter Caygill

After an accident in 2009, decades after being withdrawn from service, all remaining private Lightnings were grounded and relegated to museums. This book examines the good and the bad.

The U-2 Spyplane: Toward the Unknown, A New History of the Early Years

by Chris Pocock

Iron Curtain. Cold War. Nuclear winter. The end of the world. It was the U-2 that made it possible to step back from the brink. Anyone with an interest in world affairs and aviation “firsts” should read this.

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.

Pure Luck, The Authorised Biography of Sir Thomas Sopwith

by Alan E. Branson

Camel, Pup, Hurricane, Typhoon, Tempest, Lancaster, Harrier. You know the names, now meet the man behind them and many other aviation, business, and sporting accomplishments.

The Royal Air Force: An Encyclopedia of the Inter-War Years

by Ian M. Philpott

From tactics to equipment, the RAF underwent drastic changes at a time the world was making great efforts to avoid or at least manage conflict. A complex story told in a complex set of books.

AMARG: America’s Military Aircraft Boneyard

by Nicholas A. Veronico, Ron Strong

An excellent pictorial survey of the history of a one-of-a-kind storage facility and the procedures used in mothballing, recommissioning, or destruction.