Need a Good Aviation Book: Reccomendations?

[Whitey]

The title says it all, really...

The story behind is that I'm going on holiday soon and want a good one to read at the airport and on the plane.  It has to be aviation related...preferably with a lot of flying action.  I've already read 'That Summer' and 'Bomber', so they're out.  Also, I really can't for the life of me get my hands on 'Air Warriors' by Douglas C Waller.  It's simply impossible to get in Britain.

So, give me a few good titles and a brief description of each book...

Thanks a lot for this, I'm sure we'll hear about a lot of good books in this topic.

[Craig.]

ghost of flight 401  doesnt have to much action but is a great read. basically about an eastern L1011 that crashed in florida in the 80's due to a few factors, then there were reports of ghost sightings of the crew of that flight who died, appearing on flights of L1011's that used pieces from the crash. the author goes in search of as much info on this as possible including company coverups and all sorts, its a great read, and you can pick it up for about

[Woodlouse2002]

Let see now...

The Dam Busters,
Eagle Day,
Wild Blue,
Good-bye Mickey Mouse
And War in a Stringbag.

The list goes on with ones I cannot remember at the moment. That lot should see you through a holiday though.

[Iroquois]

I have a few good ones.
Flight: 100 Years of Aviation by RG Grant
Avro Aircraft and Cold War Aviation by Randall Whitcomb
An Illustrated History of the RAF by Roy Conyers Nesbit
The Illustrated Directory of Modern Commercial Aircraft by Gunter Endres
The Illustrated Directory of Fighters by Mike Spick
The Illustrated Directory of Fighting Aircraft of WWII by Bill Gunston

The Illustrated Directory series is probably the best for vacatins as they are the size of the average paper back. They're technical books list different aircraft. For each aircraft they list technical data and a brief history of how it came into existance. Another book I had about Aviation was The Soldier Spies by W.E.B. Griffin. It's about soldiers sent on a recon mission to find information on the Luftwaffe development of the A-Bomb during ww2. Fiction of course.

BTW, if your looking for a book you can't get in Britain. Try Amazon.com in the US or Chapters.ca in Canada.

[Loafing Smurf]

I think there is a book called "Worlds Ugliest Airplanes" (or just "Ugly Aircrafts), something like that. It

[ozzy72]

If you want inspiration, then Sir Douglas Baaders Reach For The Sky is good.
If you like Vulcans Tim Lamings The Vulcan Story is a must (and a great read).
If you are as mad as me, and want a book that'll last all holiday and fill your head with technical knowledge beyond belief, then it has to be Spitfre: The History by Eric B. Morgan and Edward Shacklady (but it does way about 7kgs!).
However in the fiction front there is just too much to choose from, some good, some absolute rubbish that makes you wonder if the author has ever seen an aeroplane let alone been in one. However for good fun the Firefox and Firefox Down by Craig Thomas are quite good, in fat all his books containing the character Gant involve lots of aviation.

Ozzy

[Deputy]

Books like When Planes Crash seems to really, well, scare the people sitting next to you. I personally enjoy reading that kind of book on commercial jets - not really to read, but, to observe. . .

Another thing, (that airlines don't like too much) is playing DVDs on a laptop - say, of How to survive a crash or repeating certain parts of Airplane. Discovery Channel docummentries on plane crashes seem to really excite people too!

-Brad

[Deputy]

And, a nice repeating video of the TWA 800 flight would sure stir things up, wouldn't it?

[BMan1113VR]

sorry for replying so late craig, was just a little to lazy to walk half way to the other side of the house to get the books

my two favs factual ones are currently:

Aviation: An Illustrated History- By Christipher Chant (very pretty cover too, has a beautiful lightining on it)

and

A Century of Manned Flight: A Pictorial History of Powered Aircraft- By Richard Townshend Bickers

i don't really have a favorite fictional aviation book, but my 15 year old brother is telling me a book called The Last Mission by Harry Mazer. He says it is WW2 B-17 in Europe

[Tequila Sunrise]

(fiction)Firefox and Firefox down are good, North Cape by Joe Poyer is good (Kinda like Firefox down but better).
(non-Fiction)Aircrew by Bruce Lewis (crews accounts of Bomber Comand and 8th Airforce ops in WWII, Fight Pilots by John E Lewis, pilots acounts from WW1 to the Gulf both combat ops and POW expeiriences, Fighter Wing by Tom Clancey.

And if you really want to get confused, Fighter Combat Tactics and Maneuvering by Robert L Shaw. Written by a fighter pilot for fighter pilots

[Whitey]

Thanks for all the suggestons.  I'm really looking for a fiction one.  I'm buying 'Piece of Cake' by Derek Robinson later on...sounds pretty good...loads of folk raving about it on Amazon.co.uk.  I'll check out 'The Last Mission' as well Andrew.

Just checked out 'Last Mission' at Amazon...they're all raving about it too...LOL...might haveto get a few books whle I'm on the look out.

[Ivan]

a recent 'JANES all the world aircraft'

[ATI_7500]

Tom Clancy:Fighter Wing

very interesting book about the 366th fighter wing,USAF.