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

The Space Shuttle: Celebrating Thirty Years of NASA’s First Space Plane

by Piers Bizony

In the summer of 2011 NASA’s only sustained space flight program came to an end after three decades and 135 flights. This book is essentially a lavishly illustrated retrospective of the missions and orbiters.

Eagle: Henry Royce’s First Aero Engine

by Derek S. Taulbut

This excellent book details the development process of Rolls-Royce’s WWI V-12 aircraft engine of complex design, extraordinary power, and uncommon reliability.

Engines and Enterprise: The Life and Work of Sir Harry Ricardo

by John Reynolds

Ricardo’s education at the privileged schools of Rugby and Cambridge, coupled with his undying love for all things mechanical, propelled him on a career path to become one of world’s leading authorities in engine research and development.

The Airplane: A History of Its Technology

by John D Anderson Jr.

Almost all such books begin with the Wright brothers—not the first to fly and certainly not the inventors of the airplane—and it is ironic to consider that none other than Wilbur W. once ruminated, in a fit of despair: “Not within a thousand years will man ever fly!”

Vulcan Test Pilot: My Experiences in the Cockpit of a Cold War Icon

by Tony Blackman

Although there have been many books written about the Vulcan bomber program, this is the first to be authored by one of the project’s test pilots. Blackman logged over 1300 hours flying 105 of the 136 copies built and offer here a first-hand commentary

Robert Taylor’s Battle of Britain: Commemorative Collection

by Robert Taylor

WWII’s Battle of Britain was the first major campaign in which aerial warfare was a, if not the, decisive factor. Its 70th anniversary in 2010 prompted this compilation book of paintings by one of the dominant names in aviation (and other military) art.

Vikings at Waterloo: The Wartime Work on the Whittle Jet Engine by the Rover Company

by David S. Brooks

This is, sad to say, a dull book about an exciting topic. It concerns itself with the wartime development work on the Whittle jet engine done by the Rover, Lucas, and Rolls-Royce companies up to 1943 in the Waterloo Mill area of England.

Sänger: Germany’s Orbital Rocket Bomber in World War II

by David Myhra

Everyone knows NASA’s Space Shuttle. Many know the X-15 and -20. But few outside the rocketry community know the craft or the man that provided key theoretical underpinnings for their propulsion systems and the principle of the lifting body, Eugen Sänger.

Flying Cars, Amphibious Vehicles and Other Dual Mode Transports

by George W. Green

This book lists just about everyone from 1900 to 2010 who has ever publicly stated an intention to build either a flying car, a car/boat combination, or any other land/sea/air multi-use vehicle. Green briefly summarizes what is known about each effort and in rare cases, its success or failure.

From Balloon to Boxkite: The Royal Engineers and Early British Aeronautics

by Malcolm Hall

It’s not for nothing that the British Royal Engineers’ motto is “Ubique” (Everywhere). In their 900-year history they have been involved in every major conflict the British Army has fought in the far-flung British Empire, here and there and—everywhere.

The Art of the Airways

by Geza Szurovy

Award-winning aviation journalist Geza Szurovy has had a life-long love affair with airplanes and he’s even a pilot himself. And because he thinks about the world and the place of everything in it, he connects some interesting dots.

Higher and Faster: Memoir of a Pioneering Air Force Test Pilot

by Robert M. White and Jack L. Summers

US Air Force Major General Bob White (1924–2010) was the man who, in 1961 and 1962, flew the X-15 sixteen times to a speed of 4,094 mph (just short of Joe Walker’s 4,105 mph record) and an altitude of 314,750 feet (59.6 miles), earning White his astronaut wings.

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