For the aviation fans

[eddy]

LA Centre speedcheck. Too funny.

https://youtu.be/Lg73GKm7GgI

Every time I hear Brian Shul tell that story and the put down of the F18 pilot it reminds me of spending a good part of my national service in an officer's mess on a fast jet air base and the vlam-gat attitude to lesser beings - Neuro surgeons, Nobel prize winners, Olympic gold medallist, in fact every one not flying an Impala mk2 because they knew that one day they too would be at the pinnacle of human endeavour - in the cockpit of a CZ111.

[Lotus]

Catch 22 is one of them.

 

A few other books written by aviators ended up in the same pile: Roald Dahls' Over To You and Antoine De Saint Exuperys' Wind Sand and Stars. 

Here's a idea: a list of must-read aviation books and stories.

JDR's list kicks it off.

 

My add:

Robert Mason - Chickenhawk

Roald Dahl (all of them)

Len Deighton - Fighter, Bomber, Goodbye Mickey Mouse

Steven Coonts - Flight of the Intruder

Ken Follett - Night over Water

Dale Brown - Flight of the Old Dog

[patham]

Here's a idea: a list of must-read aviation books and stories.

JDR's list kicks it off.

 

My add:

Robert Mason - Chickenhawk

Roald Dahl (all of them)

Len Deighton - Fighter, Bomber, Goodbye Mickey Mouse

Steven Coonts - Flight of the Intruder

Ken Follett - Night over Water

Dale Brown - Flight of the Old Dog

 

Ticked off most of them.

 

 

Dale Brown started off well with that one, but his sequels and spin-offs were never as good. Likewise the sequel to Catch 22 was shockingly bad and pretty much unreadable. 

 

One aspect of Goodbye Mickey Mouse - I have not been able to confirm it, but I am sure it was published with 2 different endings over the different editions.

 

I can add Frederic Forsyth - the Shepherd (novella/ short story).

For humour, add Donald Jack - the Bandy papers (4 or 5 books, only bother with the first 3).

 

And, high literature it certainly wasn't, but as formative reading for youngsters - Biggles would be pretty important.

 

I must add, Catch 22 and Bomber i would re-read about every year until one year flooding from a catastrophic highveld thunderstorm ruined my wall of bookshelves. 

 

Douglas Reeman had a couple of good ones on WW2 naval aviators if I remember.

 

This is a good development on the thread, I need to get my brain cells casting back to see what I have missed.

[Lotus]

 

And, high literature it certainly wasn't, but as formative reading for youngsters - Biggles would be pretty important.

 

That's where it started for me!

[DJR]

..............I can add Frederic Forsyth - the Shepherd (novella/ short story)................

Yes, yes, very yes, the hair on the back of my neck stood up when I read your post!

[eddy]

Dam Busters and Reach For The Sky.....

[patham]

Yes, yes, very yes, the hair on the back of my neck stood up when I read your post!

 

 Its a great little story. The version I had was halfway to being a graphic novel, being filled with the black and white artwork that really set the scene.

 

Frederic was also a Vampire pilot, and I think that really came through to build up the depth of  protagonist's character and experiences.

 

I also have a thing for the Vampire. My earliest memory is being about 2 years old, and my father placing me in the cockpit of the Vampire gate guard at Thornhill (Gwelo/Gweru) (he was in the fire and rescue unit, so he would have known how to unlatch the canopy), and me screaming the house down! I recall how big and deep it felt and that I would never be able to get out by myself. Of course, you look into a typical fighter cockpit as an adult and its the other way round - you wonder how you would fit in....

[patham]

Dam Busters and Reach For The Sky.....

 

To extend to non-fiction, the First and the Last by Adolf Galland was a great book. As english speakers tend to believe that if it wasn't a Spitfire, its not worth talking about, its a really good book from the Luftwaffe perspective, and how professionalism was hindered by the political environment of the times.

 

That reminded me to add KG 200 by Gilman and Clive to the fiction list.

[Lotus]

To extend to non-fiction, the First and the Last by Adolf Galland was a great book. As english speakers tend to believe that if it wasn't a Spitfire, its not worth talking about, its a really good book from the Luftwaffe perspective, and how professionalism was hindered by the political environment of the times.

 

That reminded me to add KG 200 by Gilman and Clive to the fiction list.

I've been meaning to read the German perspective for a long time, but never gotten around to searching for books. I'll start with these.

 

As for "not a Spitfire", I recall looking at the tail section of the fuselage of an Me109 under reconstruction at Duxford workshops and thinking how incredibly small and fragile it looked. And remembering what a deadly opponent that fragile little aircraft was.

[Spokey]

 

I have enjoyed these. Viper Pilot is a memoir and covers the Wild Weasels in the Gulf War. He also wrote Hunter Killers, covering similar ops in the Vietnam War.

[Robbie Stewart]

I have read most of Stephen Coonts. Liked Flight of the Intruder.

 

On another tangent, my great-uncle who passed some years ago, was a SAAF pilot during WW2. He flew Spitfires. He was shot down on a sortie over Europe, and was captured POW. He ended up on a 600 mile march to the POW concentration camp. After 2 years, his family was notified of his survival by the Vatican, who due to some subterfuge, managed to get a letter he wrote out via a monk. He was eventually released after the war ended, and returned to SA via His Majesty's Kingdom's assistance.

[Lotus]

The reason I liked Robert Mason's Chickenhawk is because he tells the story of becoming a helicopter pilot and the Vietnam war in a really engaging way.

And it also shows how the helicopter evolved into a vital machine in war and peace, during and after that war.

[DJR]

https://journals.lww.com/jtrauma/Abstract/publishahead/Helicopter_MEDEVAC_in_the_Korean_War__Did_it.98402.aspx

 

Interesting, when you investigate firmly held beliefs, you often find them wrong. 

 

I "knew" that helicopters were first used for casevac work during the Korean War and always thought that they made a massive difference to the outcome of the wounded because it reduced the time between getting wounded and getting proper medical treatment. The term to describe it "the golden hour" was coined then and there.........but reading the above article it turns out I thought wrong........

 

It was only later, during the Vietnam War, that the helicopter came into its full right as a casevac tool! The lessons learnt there, are what our modern way of doing both civilian and military casevac is based on.

 

And so, I learnt something today about a subject I used to be involved in many moons ago and in another lifetime!

[kosmonooit]

And the troop carrier and attack, brings this scene to mind

 

[Lotus]

https://journals.lww.com/jtrauma/Abstract/publishahead/Helicopter_MEDEVAC_in_the_Korean_War__Did_it.98402.aspx

 

Interesting, when you investigate firmly held beliefs, you often find them wrong. 

 

I "knew" that helicopters were first used for casevac work during the Korean War and always thought that they made a massive difference to the outcome of the wounded because it reduced the time between getting wounded and getting proper medical treatment. The term to describe it "the golden hour" was coined then and there.........but reading the above article it turns out I thought wrong........

 

It was only later, during the Vietnam War, that the helicopter came into its full right as a casevac tool! The lessons learnt there, are what our modern way of doing both civilian and military casevac is based on.

 

And so, I learnt something today about a subject I used to be involved in many moons ago and in another lifetime!

What intrigued me in the Chickenhawk book was his description of heavy take-offs in small spaces, and the Huey's ability to literally chop open spaces in trees.

 

Add:

Layne Heath - CW2 (another good Vietnam helicopter novel)

Edited May 19, 2019 by Lotus

[Guest]

I think I read reach for the sky about 20 times. Bader was an amazing guy.