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

The History of the American Space Shuttle

by Dennis R. Jenkins

Meant to be a concise look at three decades worth of space exploration this book, written by a NASA insider, is a most competent guide to a singular chapter in the history of mankind.

Flying Catalinas, The Consolidated PBY Catalina in World War Two


by Andrew Hendrie

This quite specialized but very useful book looks at the wartime activities of the most successful flying boat in aviation history. Even if you don’t give a hoot about airplanes, you’ll know this one: remember the opening sequence of the film/musical South Pacific?

Conquest of the Skies

by William Wolf

You’ve heard it a hundred times: the Wright brothers’ first flight was shorter than the wingspan of a Boeing 747 built only 60 years later. How this was achieved is the question this book examines.

Dornier Do X: The Story of Claude Dornier’s Legendary Flying Boat

by Volker A. Behr

It was the biggest aircraft of its day but only three were built. It took twelve years to design—and less than half that time to withdraw them from service. What happened?

Tupolev Tu-16, Versatile Cold War Bomber

by Gordon, Komissarov, Rigmant

There used to be a time when you couldn’t pick up a newspaper without reading about Badger spottings. Why the Soviets needed it and how they built and used it is the topic of this quite enormous book.

Tumult in the Clouds: The Aviation Art of Russell Smith

by Jim Wilberg

Not only are 44 examples of Smith’s award-winning paintings shown and described but a dozen learned WW I specialists offer insights into airplanes, historic events, and the challenges of doing proper research.

Lady Lucy Houston DBE, Aviation Champion and Mother of the Spitfire

by Miles Macnair

Picture this: an air force is fighting for its very survival. A private citizen offers to buy her impoverished government several squadrons of fighter planes. The government says—no. This snub kickstarted a chain of events that culminated in Britain developing one of the important aircraft of all time.

Moonshots

by Piers Bizony 

Plenty of photos, yes, but this book is really more about the role of photography. Over and over it makes the point that you probably have seen these photos before, but probably not this way.

The Complete Book of the SR-71 Blackbird

by Richard H. Graham

A fantastic book about an aircraft everyone should know about, regardless of specialization or interest. You don’t know what you’ve been missing! It made history, and because there is still no substitute for it, may come back.

The Aircraft-Spotter’s Film and Television Companion

by Simon D. Beck

An indispensable companion when you watch a movie and wonder “What was that??” The book tells you that, and more: who flew it, who built it, where is it, was it real?

Dirty Work

by Richard Vaux with Brad Kuhn

June, 1985. Cairo to San Diego. You probably remember hearing on the news that the plane was hijacked. There are even two movies—but until you read this book, you have no idea what really happened.

The Berlin Airlift: The World’s Largest Ever Air Supply Operation 

by John Grehan

The enormity of this 1948/49 operation cannot ever be overstated. This tiny book seems an unlikely candidate for doing it justice, but it does. Exceptional!

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