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

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.

Tupolev TU-22 Blinder

by Sergey Burdin & Alan E. Dawes

The West feared it, the Soviets had high hopes for it, but this pioneering supersonic bomber failed to live up to either. But it looked pretty. And crews could turn unused alcohol from the AC system into “vodka.” Nastrowje.

The Quest for Speed

by Mike Roussel

Air racing was once a big thing, seemingly the catalyst for advancing aircraft technology and also public buy-in. By looking at only the Schneider Trophy, and from a very European point of view, this book is limited in its answers.

Avro Lancaster: The Survivors

by Glenn White

Only 17 known complete survivors of the iconic WWII bomber exist worldwide and this thoroughly illustrated book takes you to and inside them.

Hypersonic

by Dennis R. Jenkins & Tony R. Landis

Over their 199 flights, the three X-15s obliterated records and returned benchmark hypersonic data for aircraft performance, stability and control, and materials. This book is so thorough you could probably build an X-15 from scratch!

Rocket and Jet Aircraft of the Third Reich

by Terry C. Treadwell

A popular subject these days—but this book won’t be! Too inaccurate.

“I Would Not Step Back . . .” Phil Lamason

by Hilary Pedersen and others

More than a just another war story, this book explains what made a quiet, humble man a leader even his enemies could not ignore.

The Lancaster and the Tirpitz

by Tony Iveson & Brian Milton

The subtitle calls only the bomber “legendary” but not the battleship? A good and necessary book but a bit one-sided.

The Spitfire: An Icon of the Skies

by Philip Kaplan

There’s a ton of Spitfire books. This one adds something. People who flew or otherwise know the Spit inside out tell you what makes this airplane different, and, well, better.

The Avro Manchester: The Legend Behind the Lancaster

by Robert Kirby

If it weren’t for the subtitle many readers would probably not even know into what period to place this all but forgotten aircraft. Developed during times in which neither the technology nor the mission was entirely clear it lived a short and difficult life—but it was not for naught.

Military Aviation Disasters: Significant Losses Since 1908

by David B.Gero

Whereas the Geneva-based Aircraft Crashes Record Office compiles and makes public statistics on aviation accidents of aircraft capable of carrying more than six passengers (excluding helicopters, balloons, and fighter airplanes), the military keeps its cards closer to the vest.