Good military/aviation books

[Cell Dweller]

The Boyd bio was an okay read, with the high points being the simplified explanation of energy maneuvering and the development of theory behind third- and fourth-generation warfare. The author spends too much time justifying Boyd's family life as being a sacrifice of service, which seems to justify his ego-centrism and neglect of his family. The many of Boyd's works could stand to be elaborated on, and are indeed done in other books, but his personal life reads rather dismally, even if the author tries to gloss over it.

[Guest rd698605]

A while back I saw a show on the History Channel about a bomber crew that was shot down and captured. They were supposed to be sent to a POW camp, but instead they were sent to a German concentration/labor camp. They were later saved by a German Luftwaffe General and sent to an actual POW camp. Does anyone know anything more about this story, like the name of the show or if there is a book about it out there somewhere?

[Guest Sebastian]

A while back I saw a show on the History Channel about a bomber crew that was shot down and captured. They were supposed to be sent to a POW camp, but instead they were sent to a German concentration/labor camp. They were later saved by a German Luftwaffe General and sent to an actual POW camp. Does anyone know anything more about this story, like the name of the show or if there is a book about it out there somewhere?

Found this story: http://216.81.179.146/fdman.html

Couldn't find a book on him specifically although he is mentioned in The Americans at D-Day By John C. McManus.

http://books.google.com/books?id=4oNY5oJvI...htaZd3qPTkZDZmQ

There was also "Berga: Soldiers of Another War" a PBS documentary about a group of American Jewish soldiers who were segregated at a POW camp and transported to a concentration camp

Thank you google.

Edited September 14, 2008 by Sebastian

[BigFreddie]

No books on the Germans?

"The Blond Knight of Germany" - Erich Hartmann - only 352 kills in three years of flying for Germany. Great book covering his WWII exploits, his 10 1/2 years in the Gulags and then his fight against the F104 in the German Air Force.

"The First and the Last" - Adolf Galland - only 104 kills - German "General of the Fighters" at age 30 - great insight into the fall of an air force.

"Masters of the Air" - ??? - an account of the 8th Air Force in WWII - talks of their heroism and their losses which were greater than the entire US Marine Corps in WWII.

"With the Old Breed" - E.B. Sledge - view of the invasions of Pelieu and Okinawa from a private - one of the best books about the war in the Pacific.

"SOG" - John Plaster - if you liked Black Hawk Down or We Were Soldiers you'll love this book. About Army/AF/Navy special ops in Vietnam. Lots of great stories about heroic people against huge odds.

"Lone Survivor" - Marcus Luttrell - great book - no more to add but that Lt Murphy did receive the MOH for his actions that day.

I'm also looking into books about Ernest Udet from WWII - the most highly decorated person in the German military in WWII - flew 2500+ combat missions and at the end did it all on one leg.

BF

[brickhistory]

I'm also looking into books about Ernest Udet from WWII - the most highly decorated person in the German military in WWII - flew 2500+ combat missions and at the end did it all on one leg.

BF

Maybe Hans-Ulrich Rudel? Stuka pilot with those stats.

Ernst Udet was a WWI ace with 62 (second behind Richthofen) then the chief of aircraft design/procurement (rough translation of his title) for the pre-war Luftwaffe. Fall guy for Goering for the failure to develop heavy bombers or enough fighters. Committed suicide in November 1941.

[Guest ski&fly fast]

"3" on "Lone Survivor"

I was talking with a CCT student-in-training and he said that they are very strongly encouraged to read it. Just by coincidence, the next day, the book was given to me by a family member. What a powerful story Luttrell has to tell.

Closely related to "Black Hawk Down," I read "In the Company of Heroes." It's CW4 Mike Durant's account of "Black Hawk Down." After reading that, any ideas I had entertained of being a helo dude were dismissed. to those of you who do helo work.

I was only able to read a little bit of "Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War," but what I read was very good and had some good lessons in it, i.e. if you know you're right, stuck to your guns and don't let anyone convince you otherwise.

2- great book, I had to read the whole thing once I started.

Another great book, "The Shooter" by the top ranked Marine sniper- Jack Coughlin and Caset Kuhlman (not related to the movie). It's more of an auto-bio, but has some good insight into the "ways of the military" and o-e relationships--

[DuckHunter]

Just finished "Lone Survivor" myself. I also couldn't stop reading it once I started. Amazing story. Gotta love the SEALs.

[BigFreddie]

Maybe Hans-Ulrich Rudel? Stuka pilot with those stats.

Ernst Udet was a WWI ace with 62 (second behind Richthofen) then the chief of aircraft design/procurement (rough translation of his title) for the pre-war Luftwaffe. Fall guy for Goering for the failure to develop heavy bombers or enough fighters. Committed suicide in November 1941.

You sir are correct - I was just looking into his history the other day and got his name mixed up...

Other good books:

"Cheating Death" - great Vietnam story about A-1 Skyraiders

"Above the Treetops" - O-1 pilot's story

[Guest dogs_bar_larks]

Carrying The Fire by Micheal Collins - Command Module Pilot on Apollo 11.

Written with great style, humour, and attention to technical detail. Excellent read.

Always Another Dawn by Scott Crossfield - North American project test pilot on

the X-15. Excellent. I have not read this book since flight training 30 years ago!

Piece of Cake was referenced a few times on previous post. I can strongly recommend

one book which offers a far better account of flying Spitfires during the Battle of Britain.

The Last Enemy by Richard Hillary is an aviation classic.

Good reading,

DBL

[Guest L Unit]

DAMNIT, I knew there would already be this topic.

The Terrible Hours by Peter Maas

The Terrible Hours

Good read about the development of submarine rescue techniques. Specifically relates to the sinking of the US submarine Squalus in peacetime. Goes along with . . .

Escape From the Deep by Alex Kershaw

Escape From the Deep

The story of the US submarine Tang during ops against the Japanese in WWII.

Absolute must reads for any jarheads or wannabe jarheads. May remind flyboys about the poor sucker on the ground:

Helmet for My Pillow by Robert Leckie

Helmet for My Pillow

Leckie recounts his times as a Marine machine gunner, significantly during Guadalcanal.

With the Old Breed by E.B. Sledge

With the Old Breed

Sledge talks of his accounts as a mortarman during the Peleliu and Okinawa campaigns.

And on the other side:

So Sad to Fall in Battle by Kumiko Kakehashi

So Sad to Fall in Battle

An account of the assault on Iwo Jima from the Japanese perspective. Even the 'bad guys' can really be 'good guys.'

You all know of:

MiG Pilot by John Barron

MiG Pilot

The tale of Victor Belenko, famous for defecting to the West with his MiG - 25.

An inside to Cold War aircraft development:

Skunk Works by Ben Rich

Skunk Works

An inspiration for engineers and pilots alike. Development of the U-2, SR-71, F-117, and other projects.

And finally:

World War Z by Max Brooks

World War Z

If you are fascinated by zombies, this is for you. I promise you will dream zombies for a week. Good military lessons when applied to global conflicts of a non-military nature.

Edited October 15, 2008 by L Unit

[F16Rooster]

Flyboys by James Bradley

Biggest Brother by Larry Alexander

And my personal favorite Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

[LJDRVR]

This is going to be quickly merged with the book thread, but for what it's worth:

Contrails over the Mojave

The Golden Age of Jet Flight Testing at Edwards Air Force Base

By George Marrett

The author is a 1964 graduate of AFFTC, after graduation he flew four years of fighter test, followed by a SEA assignement flying Spads out of NKP.

He does a great job of putting you in the cockpit. Of note are his descriptions of pulling nuke alert at Hamilton AFB in F-101's during the Cuban missle crisis. Amazing stuff.

[brickhistory]

Flyboys by James Bradley

With respect, ugh!

One of the WORST books ever. His apology for US actions in WWII, his 'understanding' of the Japanese, and his complete disregard for historical accuracy made me throw this in the trash.

His "Flags of Our Fathers," about his dad being one of the Iwo Jima flag-raisers was very good, but it was so obvious that he had a bunch of left over material from the research on that one that he cobbled together this POS.

B-25 "Billy." Indeed.

[Guest IncompletePete]

I really cannot recommend Robert Coram's book 'American Patriot: The Life and Wars of Colonel Bud Day' enough.

My words cannot do the book justice, but all I can say is that you'll feel truly humbled after reading it.

[Alpharatz]

St-Exupery NIGHT FLIGHT for a reminder of when things can really go wrong

[LockheedFix]

Sorry if this is a repeat, but "John Warden and the Renaissance of American Air Power" by John Andreas Olson.

Obviously it's for anyone into the bigger picture and how air power is/should be used at strategic and tactical levels. Pretty recent, written in 07.

For those of you who still buy into Warden's vision of precision airstrikes bringing an enemy to its knees by knocking out a few key targets, this book is a great read.

Air Power: The Men, Machines, and Ideas That Revolutionized War, from Kitty Hawk to Iraq by Stephen Budiansky

Gives you a good idea of why he got sent back to Washington in shame after briefing Chuck Horner on his Instant Thunder plan in Riyadh. Desert Storm is just a short chapter at the end of this book, which is all around a great read on just what the title says.

[Guest airfieldguy]

"Raid on Qaddafi: The Untold Story of History's Longest Fighter Mission"

the Air Force's role in the 1986 bombing of Lybia, America's first strike against Terrorism. I can't believe this book has not been mentioned. I have also read:

Faith of my Fathers by John McCain

Return With Honor

and just started "I could never be so lucky again"

[Guest Sakesan13]

Chickenhawk is a great book for all you Helo bubbas out there.

[jango220]

"Goin' Downtown," "Thud Ridge," and "Rupert Red-Two," all by Col. Jack Broughton.

"Thud Ridge" was mentioned way back on this thread, but it is an outstanding book. Most of the book is the transcripts off of Col. Broughton's in-cockpit tape recorder when he was Vice Wing Commander, leading strikes into North Vietnam.

The other two books chronicle the rest of his time in the Air Force, from Korea all the way up until he was court-martialed and forced into retirement. Too much to even list. All in all, an outstanding autobiography (albeit broken into three books).

[Guest L Unit]

I looked for a copy of Always another Dawn, but the only copies left are 70+ dollars. Anyone know another source besides half.com and amazon.com?

One more I'd like to recommend:

To Fly and Fight

It's been many years since I've read this, but I remember it as a good read.

Edited October 23, 2008 by L Unit

[Insubordinate & Churlish]

This book is not military related, rather it is about GA. I still think everyone (read: every pilot) here can appreciate it, though.

Unlike any other book, Gordon "Bax" Baxter captures the humor, poetry, and beauty of flying. This is one of the few books I can go back to and read again and again. Some of his stories will honestly have you laughing out loud, while others will make you appreciate being a pilot more than you could ever imagine. It is a collection of all of his articles from "Flying" magazine, put into a book, so it's a great toilet book, as very little of the writing is sequentially based.

I could not recommend one book any more than "Bax Seat."

Bax Seat

[pawnman]

I don't know if it's already been mentioned, but Winged Victory by Geoffery Perret is pretty good. It starts with Billy Mitchell in WWI and traces the development of the Army Air Corps up to WWII, then it becomes a history of the air war during WWII.

Man, you think the Army, Navy, and Air Force snipe at each other now...

[jango220]

One more I'd like to recommend:

To Fly and Fight

It's been many years since I've read this, but I remember it as a good read.

2 on that!

I met Col. Anderson this past summer at an airshow. Awesome guy and his stories are amazing, especially about how he got his 1/4 kill. Read that book in about 16 hours.

[brickhistory]

"Guests of the Ayatollah: The First Battle in America's War with Militant Islam," Mark Bowden, 2006. About the hostage crisis of 1979-1980.

Same guy did "Black Hawk Down," "Killing Pablo," and some others (I highly recommend those other two as well.)

Although a little long (600+ pages), it is incredibly thorough. Views of/interviews with the hostages, families, terrorist "students," military, political figures of the time, and so on.

Well put together, perhaps even too detailed, but that's minor.

The Desert One mission is a highlight: Guys went in undercover, scoped out Tehran, and the desired landing spot.

Other guys flew a recce mission to put a Twin Otter on the desert to see if it actually was a good spot for the rescue staging area. USAF combat controller set up a LZ using IR markers, etc, etc.

Good description of the attempt and mishap that ended it.

Made for a very jaw-tightening read to see how America was humiliated.

Makes me dislike Carter even more than I did.

Good descriptions of the hostages reactions - some collaborated, some resisted, some in between.

US 'do-gooders' went to Tehran to help - criticized the US as evil, said the terrorists were justified for taking hostages, etc, etc. Like Hanoi Jane, part deux. Examples of other attention whores trying to get on the media stage; the press being the press, etc, etc.

Good, if long, read.

Edited December 3, 2008 by brickhistory

[Guest r6pilot]

I picked up "That Others May Live: The True Story of a PJ, A Member of America's Most Daring Rescue Force" by MSSGT Brehm and Pete Nelson.

http://www.amazon.com/That-Others-May-Live...t/dp/0609806769

Also, I grabbed Tom Clancy's "Fighter Wing: A Guided Tour of an Air Force Combat Wing".

http://www.amazon.com/Fighter-Wing-Airforc...c/dp/0425149579

Edited December 8, 2008 by r6pilot