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-   -   What's your favorite aviation book? (https://vansairforce.net/community/showthread.php?t=11441)

Bob Axsom 10-03-2006 05:59 PM

What's your favorite aviation book?
 
I received the September 22, 2006 General Aviation News today and on page 33 Thomas F. Thorton list Must Have Books/10 Books to Treasure. They are:
Stick and Rudder by Wolfgang Langewiesche
Wind, Sand and Stars by Antoine de St. Exupery
Night Flight by Antoine de St. Exupery
A Hostage to Fortune by Ernest K. Gann
The Bridges at Toko-Ri by James Michener
Flight of the Intruder by Stephen Coonts
Sailors to the End by Gregory Freeman
Straight On Till Morning by Mary S. Lovell
The Battle of Britain by Richard Hough and Denis Richards
Tale of a Tiger by R. T. Smith
This seems pretty lame to me - I doesn't even include "The Spirit of St. Louis" by Charles A. Lindbergh which is my personal favorite. What is yours?

Bob Axsom

n5lp 10-03-2006 06:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Axsom
I received the September 22, 2006 General Aviation News today and on page 33 Thomas F. Thorton list Must Have Books/10 Books to Treasure. They are:
[indent]Stick and Rudder by Wolfgang Langewiesche
Sand Wind and Stars by Antoine de St. Exupery
...

This seems pretty lame to me - I doesn't even include "The Spirit of St. Louis" by Charles A. Lindbergh which is my personal favorite. What is yours?

Bob Axsom

Agreed; and it is "Wind Sand and Stars," not "Sand Wind..."

jcoloccia 10-03-2006 06:29 PM

My top three...

Anyone who's a homebuilder should read
"You Want To Build And Fly What?" by Dick Starks

"Instrument Flight Training Manual" by Peter Dogan

And of course...
Stick and Rudder - W.L.

yarddart 10-03-2006 06:44 PM

Flight of passage it a great read :cool:

parashak 10-03-2006 06:49 PM

Gann
 
Fate is the Hunter

Rosie 10-03-2006 06:52 PM

"Fate is the Hunter" by Ernest Gann

Kyle Boatright 10-03-2006 07:21 PM

As others have said "Fate is the Hunter" is unquestionably the best aviation book of all time.

Others on my must read list are "Biplane", "Nothing by Chance", and "A Gift of Wings" by Richard Bach.

Bryan Wood 10-03-2006 08:03 PM

Favorite Book
 
This one is easy. "I could never be so lucky again" which is the biography of my life hero Jimmy Doolittle. I thought this man could walk on water before reading it, and after reading it I'm even more impressed. Any one of his accomplishments would give an ordinary man lifetime bragging rights, but this man lived the life of at least a dozen great men. Examples:

Professional Boxer
Mining Engineer (entered silver mines to rescue numerous miners Virginia City)
Army Pilot/Instructor Pilot
Air Racer
Test Pilot
Worked with Sperry to develope the first gyros
Flew first instrument flight with the canopy covered (T/O, closed course, LDG) which brought aviation into the modern age
First PHD in Aeronautics (MIT)
Largely responable for the developement of 100 oct gas for aviation
Medal of Honor among other awards, B25 raid on Tokyo caused Japans Navy, specifically naval aviation to become a defensive force and changed the direction of the war
Major General, Commander 13th and later the 8th Air Force (Army)
Largely responable for seperation of the Air Force from the Army
Board of Directors Shell, Mutual of Omaha among others
Advisor to more Presidents than I can count on one hand
Raised a son who is a sitting US Congressman


One time I took my wife to Monterey for dinner and we pulled up behind a big yellow Cadillac at a red light. My first thoughts were that this little old man who was looking between the top of his dash and the top of his steering wheel would be slow to react when the light turned green. At this point of my life and being young and having little patience I noticed these kinds of things. (I'm not proud of it now.) Sometime before the light turned green my eyes made it down to the license plate which did not list a state. Accross the top of the plate where the state would usually be listed it said "Congressional Medal Of Honor" and where the numbers and letters would normally be it said "007." As the light turned green and the General slowly pulled away I sat there in awe as the person behind me must have thought "What an idiot." It was clearly me that was slow to leave the light.

Best,

gbrasch 10-03-2006 08:06 PM

Favorite Book
 
Mine is the FAR/AIM. :D :D :D Dont' forget Illusions by Richard Bach.

mgomez 10-03-2006 08:11 PM

"Stranger to the Ground," by Richard Bach
"Thud Ridge," by Jack Broughton

...and assuming novels are OK:

"Space" by James Michener
"The Wild Blue," by Walter Boyne
"Rolling Thunder," by Mark Berent, and its sequels
"The Right Stuff," by Tom Wolfe


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