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

Ladies of Lascaris: Christina Ratcliffe and the Forgotten Heroes of Malta’s War

by Paul McDonald

The RAF did tremendously important reconnaissance work on Malta, and the women and girls who worked as plotters and cipherenes helped. Obviously, they had private lives, and Ratcliffe’s in particular is way out there.

Project Terminated

by Erik Simonsen

“Too many cooks spoil the broth” . . . this book puts the blame for pulling the plug on seemingly viable aviation projects on hapless bureaucrats who keep the military from doing its thing. But it ain’t that easy . . .

Mezek a Turbina: Messerschmitts in Czechoslovakia

by Bohumír Kudlička

The Czechs built German aircraft. Surprised? There’s much to be surprised at in this interesting little book!

Flying Catalinas, The Consolidated PBY Catalina in World War Two


by Andrew Hendrie

This quite specialized but very useful book looks at the wartime activities of the most successful flying boat in aviation history. Even if you don’t give a hoot about airplanes, you’ll know this one: remember the opening sequence of the film/musical South Pacific?

Tupolev Tu-16, Versatile Cold War Bomber

by Gordon, Komissarov, Rigmant

There used to be a time when you couldn’t pick up a newspaper without reading about Badger spottings. Why the Soviets needed it and how they built and used it is the topic of this quite enormous book.

Tumult in the Clouds: The Aviation Art of Russell Smith

by Jim Wilberg

Not only are 44 examples of Smith’s award-winning paintings shown and described but a dozen learned WW I specialists offer insights into airplanes, historic events, and the challenges of doing proper research.

The Complete Book of the SR-71 Blackbird

by Richard H. Graham

A fantastic book about an aircraft everyone should know about, regardless of specialization or interest. You don’t know what you’ve been missing! It made history, and because there is still no substitute for it, may come back.

The Berlin Airlift: The World’s Largest Ever Air Supply Operation 

by John Grehan

The enormity of this 1948/49 operation cannot ever be overstated. This tiny book seems an unlikely candidate for doing it justice, but it does. Exceptional!

Supermarine Spitfire V

by Robert Grudzień

More than 44 color profiles of the most successful Spitfire version ever will take advanced scale modelers to a new level.

The First Jet Pilot: The Story of German Test Pilot Erich Warsitz

by Lutz Warsitz

In just a few short years Warsitz went from fledgling sport flier to chief test pilot at Peenemünde West. What he knew was so valuable that the Russians hauled him off to Siberia after WWII when he wouldn’t spill the beans!

WO Bentley Rotary Aero Engines

by Tom Dine

Yes, we already posted a review of this book here but it wasn’t written by us. The book, and the circumstances of its publication, are important enough to re-review it once more but with more detail.

Drone Strike!

by Bill Yenne

Drone activities may be in the news a lot but in fact much remains—and rightly so given their purpose—behind closed doors. Yenne’s book is an excellent primer not only on what drones are capable of but how they fit into the arsenal.