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

Soviet and Russian Testbed Aircraft

by Yefim Gordon & Dmitriy Komissarov

From military and civilian aircraft to rocket components and technologies, this book presents key types and programs since the 1930s along with information on the flight test centers.

Brooklands

by P.J. Wallace

A mini history of the world’s first purpose-built banked motorsport venue and one of Britain’s first airfields.

Jacqueline Cochran:
 Biography of a Pioneer Aviator


by Rhonda Smith-Daugherty

Beautiful and testy, Cochran held more aviation records for speed, altitude and distance than anyone. Despite worldwide fame in her day and being a relentless self-promoter, her name today is overshadowed by another’s.

Experimental & Prototype U.S. Air Force Jet Fighters

by Dennis R. Jenkins & Tony R. Landis

From 500 mph at the end of WW II to exceeding the sound barrier only two years later. Someone was busy . . . and technology advanced rapidly. 50-odd examples of the jet age are shown here.

Building the P-51 Mustang

by Michael O’Leary

So, how did they do it? Build the legendary Mustang, that is. This book lets you look over their shoulders and tells you at the same time a lot about the aircraft itself.

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.

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.

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