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

X-Plane Crashes

by Peter W. Merlin and Tony Moore

This book is less about experimental planes than the process of and reasons behind looking for their crash sites. You too could find yourself a cool bookend in the desert—if you knew what you’re doing.

The Flying Firsts of Walter Hinton

by Benjamin J. Burns

Quick: who was the first to cross the Atlantic by plane? If you said Lindbergh, or Earhart, you’d better read this book!

Sound Barrier: The Rocky Road to Mach 1.0+

by Peter Caygill

Shake, rattle, and roll—that’s the sound barrier at around 500 mph. This book explains how and why it happens, and how this difficult obstacle was overcome.

Douglas C-124 Globemaster II

by Earl Berlin

Meet Old Shaky, the primary heavy-lift military transport aircraft during the 1950s and ‘60s. Not sexy but very, very useful.

The Seaplane Years

by Tim Mason

Ever skipped a stone across water? Ever noticed the “suction” effect when lifting a flat-bottomed object out of water? Float and seaplanes have to overcome these and other problems, and this book explains how they were tested.

The Secret Years: Flight Testing at Boscombe Down 1939–1945

by Tim Mason

Everything the Royal Navy, Army, and Air Force was supposed to put in the air needed to be tested first. Written by a test pilot of a later era, this book describes this once highly classified work.

American Flying Boats and Amphibious Aircraft

by E.R. Johnson

Concrete runways are expensive, water is free. Enter, the seaplane. From tiny leisure craft to gargantuan people hauler, Americans built a lot of them. Seemed like an idea with a future. Apparently not.

Fatal Army Air Forces Aviation Accidents in the United States, 1941–1945

by Anthony J. Mireles

War is bad; people die. But war isn’t just combat but also preparing for war. Did you realize that in aviation, more US lives were lost in training than in actual combat? Mireles started counting them—and isn’t done yet.