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Good military/aviation books


M2

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"Yeager: An Autobiography" and "Wild Blue: Stories of Survival from Air and Space." The latter is a collection of short stories featuring Gann, Exupery, Lindbergh and others.

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"Phantom Over Vietnam", John Trotti

He was a USMC F-4 Pilot who breaks down air combat in detail. He even mentions hangar queens/erroneous charts.

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Quote M2: "am I being too tough, or is it that these books are targeting John Q. Public and not someone who has been in the military??"

I thought the same thing when I first started it, but it gets better. There are still dry patches as you move along, full of stuff you already know. I am only about 3/4 the way thru but its not too bad.

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"Into the Mouth of the Cat: The Story of Lance Sijan" is a good read about a MOH winner. "Starship Troopers" is a great leadership read that a commander once had me read (the movie has almost nothing to do with the book). I agree with the Andy McNabb books...love em! I also have a book by Paul Tibbets, pilot of the Enola Gay called "The Return of the Enola Gay" (autographed...good read). And if you've never read "The Right Stuff", you're doing yourself an injustice.

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Tibbets' grandson is now a Lt Col up at Whiteman with the 509 BW. He was the 8AF/CCE when I was his counterpart down here for MG Wright. We were also in the same SOS class, but I never met him at Maxwell. Paul IV is a really good dude, although I haven't talked with him in years. If I recall correctly, he started out in B-1s before going to B-2s...

Cheers! M2

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Guest RaptorKeeper

Recommend "Road to Gold" by Lt Cdr William Labarge... it's a great book about getting the gold wings of a naval aviator. Fiction, but a great read.

Road to Gold, 1993 (Sweetwater Sullivan tells a first-person tale of joining the navy, going through flight school, and hunting drug smugglers. Suffers from a high improbability factor.)

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I can't believe the helo guys haven't mentioned "Chickenhawk" by Robert Mason. It is a fantastic read about Huey slicks in Vietnam.

On a non-flying note, "On Killing" by Lt Col Dave Grossman is definitely interesting.

wacky

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  • 1 month later...
Guest mikedjp

"See No Evil: The trues story of a ground soldier in the CIA's war on terrorism" Robert Baer

"Sleeping With the Devil: How Washington sold our soul for Saudi Crude." - Robert Baer

"Ghost Wars: The secret history of the CIA, Afghanistan and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 11, 2001" -Steve Coll

All three books are not aviation related but they are fascinating insights to the wars we are fighting now. Check them out.

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I can't believe the helo guys haven't mentioned "Chickenhawk" by Robert Mason. It is a fantastic read about Huey slicks in Vietnam.
100% agree about "Chickenhawk", and if you like that, check out "Low Level Hell" by Hugh Mills. It's a great book about LOH pilots in Vietnam...those guys were either completely nuts or had huge brass ones.
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Originally posted by viperpunk:

Once a fighter pilot by Jerry Cook, Fast Movers by John Sherwood, and Wings of Fury by Robert Wilcox are all good reads. Warthog: Flying the A-10 in the Gulf War was written by William Smallwood, the same guy who wrote Strike Eagle and is also pretty good.

I second that on "Once a Fighter Pilot" by Jerry Cook. A great book about an F-4 pilot. Starting from before pilot training through his whole career. Very personal and written in the form of short stories about his experiences.

Also, "The Mamoth Book of Fighter Pilots"

A HUGE collection of autobiographical and biographical letters and memoirs of fighter pilots from the very 1st in and before WW1 including the Red Baron and Max Immelman, Chenalult's Tigers, and british and american pilots who are the foundation of all that is today. It goes through to about the 1990's. An awesome book about the history of fighter pilots in their own words and the ones who fought beside them.

[ 18. March 2006, 15:36: Message edited by: egochecks ]

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Originally posted by busdriver:

"Flying Through Midnight" by John T Halliday LtCol (ret) USAF, about his time as a FAC in Laos in a C-123.

I second this one, It was a great book and a great story about our spec ops predecessors. That is it really shed light onto the idea that sometimes the rules will get you killed.
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  • 1 month later...

I know M2 did a "what are you reading" post about a year ago, but Bendy got me thinking about this on another post; I thought I'd ask folks what their favorite flying-related tomes were?

Books I wouldn't be caught dead without, in no particular order,

Stick and Rudder (Langwische)

*Jonathon Livingston Seagull (Bach)

*A Gift of Wings (Bach)

North Star Over My Shoulder (Buck)

*Flight Discipline (Kern)

*Redefining Airmanship (Kern)

Artful Flying (Charles) (www.artfulflying.com)

Flying the Midnight Sun (Muenchen)

Blind Trust (Nance)

Weather Flying (Buck)

Professional Pilot (Lowery)

The High and the Mighty (Gann)

Fate is the Hunter (Gann)

Going Downtown (Broughton)

Thud Ridge (Broughton)

Flight of Passage (Buck)

Flights of Passage (Haynes)

*Stanger to the Ground (Bach)

Proficient Pilot Vol I-III (Schiff)

Fly the Wing (Webb)

*Books that changed my life

Try this link:

www.abebooks.com

[ 12. May 2006, 23:09: Message edited by: LJDRVR ]

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Guest nikes45

"When Thunder Rolled" by Ed Rasimus

"War for the hell of it" by Ed Cobleigh

"Vipers in the Storm" by Keith Rosenkranz

"Phantom over Vietnam" by John Trotti

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Guest Rainman A-10

"I Could Never Be So Lucky Again" by James Doolittle

"God Is My Copilot" by Robert Scott

"Chickenhawk" by Robert Mason

ATENTION: If you only read one book and you want to know what to do to avoid being a SNAP you must read...

"My Secret War" by Richard S. Drury

I absolutely love that book. I think I've read it 20 times.

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Originally posted by Rainman A-10:

"My Secret War" by Richard S. Drury

I absolutely love that book. I think I've read it 20 times.

Yeah Rick also happens to be the quitessential airline pilot too. He rtired from FedEx last year on the MD-11.

Rick's latest book

[ 13. May 2006, 08:13: Message edited by: LJDRVR ]

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Guest slyny

"Unknown Rider" by Scott Anderson.

Scott was an F-16 pilot at the 148th in Duluth, MN. He was also a test pilot for Cirrus Design. Unfortunately he was killed while testing a Cirrus back in 1999. Super guy that also accomplished many significant things outside of aviation. The book is a quick read, but very well written and will keep you engaged.

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The Hunters

by James Salter

Fictional account of an F-86 squadron in Korea. Not really a feel good ending, but captures some of the competion and dynamics of a wartime squadron. The first novel by Salter, a Korean war pilot, 1956. He's still writing, though his other novels are not aviation related.

West with the Night

by Beryl Markham

Memoirs of an elegant female aviation pioneer, Beryl Markham, flying in Africa in the 1930's. Combines the starkness and splendor of Africa with the simplicity and adventure of early aviation.

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Guest Gainesy

Hello Folks,

A couple from this side of the Pond:

Think Like A Bird, Alex Kimbell

(Army Air Corps fixed wing pilot).

Pablo's War, Pablo Mason

(GW1 RAF Tornado pilot).

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