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What's your favorite aviation book?

Favorite Aviation Books

I second "Fate is the Hunter". If you like water flying, read "Success on the Step - Flying with Kenmore Air", Marin Faure. If you don't have a seaplane rating, this book will make you want to get one. A great read about the founder of Kenmore Air.
 
book

Angles of Attack by Peter Hunt.

A-6 Inturder pilot tells the story of his flights into Iraq during operation desert storm. Felt like I was in the cockpit with him. Great read.
 
SHUTTLE, HOUSTON.....we have a star among us.......

Those of you who subscribe to the Smithsonian Air and Space magazine may have noticed a review and interview with one of our own, Paul Dye, who wrote SUTTLE, HOUSTON about his time in the center seat of Mission Control. That book has been listed in this thread as a good read and I guess Air and Space agreeing should be a pretty good plug! Time to go buy that book!!:)
 
Came across this thread searching for something else, but I recently read “Indestructible” by John R. Bruning.

It’s the story of Paul “Pappy” Gunn in WWII and B-25 anti-shipping missions. I couldn’t put it down, highly recommend it!

Best regards,
Sam

finished it last night. that was a good one!

I haven't turned my TV on in a long time now. I may throw it away.
 
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"Fate is the Hunter" is well agreed to be required reading for career pilots.

"Chickenhawk" is a fantastic account of Robert Mason's helicopter flying in VietNam and his sequel "Back in the world" details his postwar troubles which were similar to those experienced by many Nam vets.
 
Just got The Propeller Under the Bed by Eileen Bjorkman, only a couple chapters in but so far it's enjoyable.

Heard her on the "The fighter Pilot Podcast" a few weeks back. She's a retired Col. was a flight test engineer in the USAF, very interesting and engaging.

What sold me was the book being about her father's experimental plane build late in his life but designed while he was in college, lots of love for EAB and lastly, her closing comment about wanting to finish the RV-8 that she'd bought the tail kit for years earlier.
 
Best book - WW II aviation, south pacific

"Indestructable" - It's about P. I. Gunn (aka Pappy), and what he did in the south pacific region during WW II. Great guy, great read!
 
“Failure is not an option” by Gene Kranz. An excellent book by one of Pauls predecessors.
 
The books in the “Outward Odyssey: A People's History of Spaceflight” series are uniformly excellent, they tend to focus on the overlooked/unsung stories of the space program. For instance, the Apollo 8 chapter of “In the Shadow of the Moon: A Challenging Journey to Tranquility, 1965-1969“ is told with a focus on the story of LMP William Anders, who took the famous Earthrise photo.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088T4M553?binding=paperback&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tpbk
 
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Just returned from reading the last few pages of this thread and a side-trip down Amazon's listing of Richard Bach's literary anthology, returned from that rabbit-hole to the Unread Threads index and I see one I haven't bothered to open since it appeared several days ago. My under-caffeinated inner voice tells me "That would make a great evocative title for Bach to run with if he ever chronicles the experimental side of aviation: 'Between Left and Right on an Andair Valve.' "

One can sense the mystery, the intrigue, the call of the unknown...
 
“Eccentric Orbits” is more space, business, engineering, nerdy but a great read on the Iridium system if you run low on atmospheric based books.

Tj
 
I need to get this:

The Friday Pilots
Walk into Hacienda del Sol on a Friday noon and you will see a table of anywhere between 12 and 20 men. They are older, late 60s to mid-80s, balding, for the most part trim, some lean forward to hear. Viewed from a distance, you would probably classify them as “duffers;” how wrong you would be.
These men are THE FRIDAY PILOTS

The Friday Pilots are a group of pilots that flew in the old days, the old airplanes and the early jets! They have been to war, have crashed and burned. They are fighter pilots, bomber pilots, airline pilots, corporate pilots and astronauts.

These men did something almost everyone talks about and few do; they wrote down their memories for their kids, grandkids, families and friends. They are an eyewitness account of the real stories behind the people who keep this great nation free!

https://www.amazon.com/Friday-Pilot...Don+Shepperd&s=books&sr=1-1&text=Don+Shepperd
 
Nobody mentioned Does That Mean I Fail? by Brooks Black yet. I would describe the book as an opportunity to learn from many bad examples. He has a cynical sense of humor as a guy who has probably seen it all. It has chapters called "You're Too Stupid To Be A Pilot" and "Assorted Atrocities".

Brooks was the DPE who conducted my private pilot checkride many moons ago. Yes, I looked through the book to see if it mentioned anything I did on my checkride, but since I passed on the first go, I guess I didn't make the cut.
 

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