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

Ballooning: A History, 1782–1900

by Kotar & Gessler

Many aeronautic “firsts” were accomplished in balloons. Some records haven’t been bettered in decades (altitude, highest parachute jump). How did it start? Why didn’t it last?

Airmen’s Obituaries, Book Two

by Jay Iliff (Editor)

You may not have known Moose Fumerton, Bobbi Trout, Cyclops Brown, orGrumpy Unwin in life but you really should get to know them in death. Think of these obits as mini biographies—nothing morbid about that!

The Pulitzer Air Races 

by Michael Gough    

In the space of only a few years, American flyers in American planes went from footnote to superstars—thanks to a series of races few seem to remember anymore. This is the first book exclusively devoted to them.

Ultra-Large Aircraft 1940–1970

by William Patrick Dean

“Volumetric fuselage aircraft”—if that’s not a word you normally use in a sentence, read this book to get insights into a very complicated subject and some very unusual aircraft.

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.

French Flying Boats of WWII

by Gérard Bousquet

The topic may not grab you right away but just look at the photo on the cover: one engine pointing backwards, three levels of workstations . . . you ain’t seen nothin’ yet. Those French . . . always doing things differently. Good book!

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!

The Art of Space

by Ron Miller

The moon and the stars and rocketships and, yes, aliens—here are examples of how artists throughout history and based on the scientific knowledge of their day have imagined that Final Frontier.

Fly and Deliver, A Ferry Pilot’s Log Book

by Hugh Bergel

Ferry pilots deliver planes—military, civilian, private. It’s an interesting career or sideline, even today, and a great way to build flight time and get your hands on the controls of many different types.