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

Adventurous Empires: The Story of the Short Empire Flying Boats

by Phillip E. Sims

It was the most successful flying-boat airliner ever built, a majestic, beautiful aircraft. It made the world a smaller place and played a role in peace and war.

Diary of a Night Bomber Pilot in World War I

by Clive Semple

“I must now enjoy myself and not worry, otherwise I shall get nerves and that won’t do.” Far more than merely the story of a pilot, this is a glimpse of the world through the eyes of a young man with hopes, illusions, and—luck.

Spitfire In Sweden

by Mikael Forslund

How the Swedes got their Spitfires (postwar) is one of those on again/off again stories, but, given what use they were put to, it may have kept the Cold War a degree cooler.

American X & Y Planes: Volume 1: Experimental Aircraft to 1945

by Kev Darling

Many of the aircraft in this book may not be terribly well known but without them the planes that we do know would probably have not come about. In other words, trial by error.

The Fairey Barracuda

by Matthew Willis

Meet the “most reviled aircraft of WW II.” And find out why things aren’t as bad as all that. It did stay in service until the mid-1950s so it must have done something right!

Soviet and Russian Ekranoplans

Sergey Komissarov & Yefim Gordon

Duck and cover—lest a giant flying ship blows you over! These exotic things have been around on paper since the 1920s and in flight since 1935 but you still get a look of disbelief. Their day may come again.

Rocket Development with Liquid Propellants

by W H J Riedel

In 1939 the author became Chief Designer at the V-2 rocket development center. Prior to that, he helped early German rocket designer Max Valier develop a series of CO2 and liquid oxygen-alcohol rocket engines and rocket-driven cars to promote Heylandt products.

British Aviation Posters: Art, Design and Flight

by Scott Anthony and Oliver Green

Illustrated with advertising posters and photos, this book explores the 90-year history of Britain’s national airline from rickety biplane to the Concorde and its place in the world.

The Art of Gordon Crosby

by Peter Garnier

This prolific illustrator was held in wide regard but little had been recorded of his life. When this book was first published in 1978 it was the first attempt at organizing the snippets of fact and sort out the hearsay.

MiG-29: Kościuszko Squadron Commemorative Scheme

by Robert Gretzyngier & Wojtek Matusiak

If you know your American Revolution history you know there is an American connection to this Polish Air Force squadron. If you’ve run out of ways to customize your MiG-29 kits this book will give you lots of ideas.

X-Planes of Europe II: Military Prototype Aircraft from the Golden Age 1947–1974

by Tony Buttler

The title is clear enough—except that it doesn’t tell you it’s about fighters and bombers. And even at that, it is quite selective but it is bristling with important facts and many rare photos.

U.S. Army Aircraft (Heavier-Than-Air) 1908–1946

by James C. Fahey

A 70-year-old booklet that once cost all of $1 and is still relevant today catalogs US Army airplanes from the earliest contraptions to the postwar jets.