I'm pleased to see that Derek Robinson has been mentioned, but only in regards to his "Piece of Cake".
I actually found his "A Good, Clean Fight", about the airwar in the desert of North Africa during WWII, at least as good. He has other titles too, about aviation in the First World War.
And most of the titles mentioned previously bring back terrific memories. I think Johnson's description of flogging his shot-up Thunderbolt back home( in the book with the same name), with every Luftwaffe plane along the way courteously taking turns shooting at him until they had expended all there rounds, until finally a bullet even carries away the movement from his wristwatch, leaving the strap intact, with so many holes in the wings that he can hear the screaming sound his plane is making and see the ground going by beneath, while feeling the armor-plated seatback jumping constantly as it did its job is one of the most enthralling stories I have ever read, and a great tribute to an unbelievably-sturdy bird.
IIRC, there were nineteen bullet holes in the prop blades alone. He couldn't bail out as the canopy rails had been smashed by a cannon shell that opened up the fuselage behind the cockpit like the foil top on a plate of microwave popcorn.
Two excellent books about flying Sabres in the RCAF were written by Chick Childerhose, but I can only recall the title of one at the moment: Splash One Tiger.
British publisher Ian Allen has a series called "From the Flightdeck" and I have three of them: an un-numbered one about flying the Harrier, number 2 about "flying" the Space Shuttle, and number 5 about the Concorde. One of the others is about the BaE 146, I believe.
David L. Bashow's book about his ( and his squadron mates') experiences flying the Starfighter in Europe is both fascinating and hilarious, with such antics as unintentionally lobbing a "shape" ( a concrete simulation of a nuclear weapon) right outside the boundaries of the range on the North Sea and scoring a direct hit on a Russian elint-gathering "trawler" and getting lost in the European haze and wandering around until sighting an airfield, only to recognize rows of Migs!
A book that I loaned out and was never returned is called "The Plan: Memories of the BCATP". Very interesting read about the sudden gearing up and flooding of Canada with airfields, buildings, staff and airplanes almost overnight, with plenty of reminiscenses (sp?) from flying instructors and cadets. An insight: before Pearl Harbor, the US could not be seen to be helping any nation at war, so there was a steady stream of new Texans flying from California up to the grass strip at Sweetgrass, Montana, which is located and oriented such that the centre of the runway was the border. The North American ferry pilot would egress, a team of horses would drag the new airplane to the north side of the runway, which just happened to be Cutbank, Alberta, and a uniformed RCAF pilot would strap in and fly it to one of dozens of training fields across the nation.
Murray Peden's "A Thousand Shall Fall". I can't say enough about this book; those that have read it will understand. Lancasters in WWII. "Boys, Bombs, and Brussel Sprouts" is close second.
Bert Stile's "An Ode to the Big Bird". B-17's in the Mighty Eighth, and the book just comes to the most-jarring stop, not even an end, as Bert was writing it as he flew missions, and he just didn't come back from one, and the book was published just like that.
No one has yet mentioned the novels by John J. Nance, although they are mostly airline-oriented, and have led me to have a too-short sleep more than once on a layover, as they're hard to put down. Much like Stephen Coonts and the Intruder, his description of flying the 767 or 747 can only come from one who has actually been there. The tale of a wounded 747 dragging its tail by the control cables down the runway somewhere in mid-Atlantic while being repeatedly targetted by an armed bizjet is compelling stuff. Or force-landing a 767 on a frozen lake in Northern Canada in the dark and during a snowstorm, fixing it, and actually taking off again: well, what more can I say.
A satirical series based on aviation in the First World War was informally referred to as The Bandy Papers, and the descriptive scenes of his encounter ( getting trapped, actually) in a long decommissioned bathtub and test-jumping different parachute designs while drunk ( his CO was actually hoping he would be killed) or force-landing his biplane on top of his commanding officer can only be topped by his description of the first time he laid eyes on the woman who would become his wife: she had the vacant smile of the truly stupid. All I can remember is that each of the titles had the word "Me" in it somewhere, and two of them were, "That's Me in the Middle" and,"It's Me Again".
"Gunship" by Zwebel is another one that I cherished but a "friend" chose not to return. Terrific real-life experiences flying Herk gunships along the HoChiMinh trail every night.
"Down to a Sunless Sea", about the ultimate horror: a total nuclear exchange, and what happens to the aircraft over the Atlantic in the dark when it occurs. The ending is as heart-wrenching as "On the Beach".
Charles Lindbergh's "Spirit of St. Louis" was not mentioned, I believe.
Guy Murchie's "The World Aloft" has already been mentioned, but I confess that, although I have had it for many years and read it several times, he leaves me in the dust towards the end, talking about spirituality, existentalism, other-worldly stuff. I don't even know what it's called, being just a dumb airplane builder...
Scott in Vancouver