snoopyeast 154 Report post Posted December 10, 2017 Little Toy Dog - Written by the two survivors of the RB-47 shootdown. Fulcrum - Soviet MiG pilot who stole a jet and defected. First Light - WWII Spitfire pilot. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
flyusaf83 303 Report post Posted December 11, 2017 It was done in this thread a few years ago, but I’ll put in a plug for “Bleeding Talent” by Tim Kane. Kane is a USAFA grad, was in intel officer for a few years, and then a successful entrepreneur. His ideas for revamping how the military handles things like assignments, promotions, and evaluations are very interesting. He basically wants to put market forces in how the military handles people, which he argues would result in less bleeding of talent in the officer ranks. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
HerkFE 141 Report post Posted December 11, 2017 I'm sure it's been mentioned in this thread but I'll mention it again. "Into The Mouth Of The Cat". Just read it a couple weeks ago. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DEVIL 150 Report post Posted December 13, 2017 Failure is not an Option - Gene Kranz. Saw the guy talk at KOSH last year with all the Apollo astronauts, it was great, he still drove the conversation and was the clear leader, when he spoke people listened. Hero of the Republic. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brickhistory 556 Report post Posted December 31, 2017 River of Doubt by Candace Millard About Teddy Roosevelt's post-presidency Amazon river discovery voyage. I knew he'd done such but figured it was a "gentleman's tour" complete with rest stops, etc so it wasn't too strenuous yet would make for a good drawing room story later on. Not at all. Truly a survival story. While the hero's of the book are largely Kermit, his son, and a Brazilian colonel who were the true brains and muscle, along with the Brazilian grunts, of the expedition, to be in your late 50s and battle it out in the jungle for several months utterly alone and in no contact with civilization is pretty bad-ass. It was a 50-50 on survival of the group. Excellent read, not overly dramatic. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DEVIL 150 Report post Posted March 14 My Secret War, Richard S Drury, A1 pilot in 'nam. Quick read, talks about night dive bombing, uncle ho's trail, uniform standards, awards and decs writing, and retention issues. All of our favorite things. 1 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ayz33 6 Report post Posted March 19 (edited) If you have Prime, "fighter pilot" by Robin Olds is free on audiobook collections under channels for prime. His memoirs and progression throughout his career through many airframes and how he dealt with certain types of "leadership" and other hardships in life Edited March 19 by ayz33 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
08Dawg 130 Report post Posted March 20 Not aviation related directly, but military...I'm on Vol II of Rick Atkinson's Liberation Trilogy about WWII in Europe. Volume 1 (An Army at Dawn) covers the North African Campaign, while Vol II (The Day of Battle) covers Sicily and the Italian campaign. Highly recommended for WWII history buffs. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
brickhistory 556 Report post Posted March 24 On 3/20/2018 at 12:03 AM, 08Dawg said: Not aviation related directly, but military...I'm on Vol II of Rick Atkinson's Liberation Trilogy about WWII in Europe. Volume 1 (An Army at Dawn) covers the North African Campaign, while Vol II (The Day of Battle) covers Sicily and the Italian campaign. Highly recommended for WWII history buffs. 2!! Very good series. Separate but related is nearly anything by James Hornfischer. He writes USN in the Pacific during WWII stuff. Haven't read a bad one yet. In particular, "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" is amazing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
08Dawg 130 Report post Posted March 24 16 hours ago, brickhistory said: Separate but related is nearly anything by James Hornfischer. He writes USN in the Pacific during WWII stuff. Haven't read a bad one yet. In particular, "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors" is amazing. Loved that one. Read it for a class in college. Very good! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ATIS 87 Report post Posted April 1 For a pure fun aviators read: Fighter Pilot’s Heaven by Donald Lopez JR. Great short read on testing the early jets after WW2 up until Korea. The aviation related content is great, what I found more enjoyable was the old school mindsets and other concepts that we would in no way get away with today (some of that is good and bad). Also: Cheers to the F-16 folks that have been flying CAP over the PBI area all Easter weekend. Been lounging by the pool or getting my fly fishing bugs wet looking up every 5-10 minutes when you come around on the orbit. At least the weather has been good for ya. ATIS Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
