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REQUEST: Good aviation/military books

HeyJoe

HeyJoe

Fly Navy! ...or USMC
None
Super Moderator
Contributor
Swanee said:
Every Man a Tiger by Gen. (ret) Chuck Horner and Tom Clancy- Yes it's an AF book but it's fairly detailed about how Horner became in charge of the AF and how they worked Desert Storm. Good stuff and I really haven't heard anyone say anything bad about Chuck Horner.

Fighter General- The Story of Adolf Galant- not sure who it's by, but it's a great read about the Luftwaffe and one of their leading aces in WW2.
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Swanee!! Did you read Every Man a Tiger? Horner did not "become in charge of the Air Force". Ask your dad or Google that and read his bio. Like the caveman says in the Geico ad "Do a little research".

As to Galland (not Galant, that's a car BTW), good book and it's by Toliver and Constable who have done a lot of good writing on Military aviation history topics

Adolf Galland

adolf_galland_2.jpg



This is a picture of a Galant

galant1.jpg
 
HH-60H

HH-60H

Manager
pilot
Contributor
heyjoe said:
Swanee!! Did you read Every Man a Tiger? Horner did not "become in charge of the Air Force". Ask your dad or Google that and read his bio. Like the caveman says in the Geico ad "Do a little research".
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I think what he meant is that Horner was in charge of the AF in Desert Storm. Reading his bio, I think he was CENTAF then.
 
J

jmac12

Registered User
Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell should be mandatory reading for anyone going over the beach in OEF/OIF. Doesn't talk about aviation, but everyone should know what the guys on the ground are going up against.

Guests of the Ayatollah by Mark Bowden - Know your enemy (Past, present and future) read here.

Yeager
 
FastMover

FastMover

NFO
None
^^^
Lone Survivor is next on my list. Should be pretty good.

Roger Ball by Donald Auten is very good as well. It chronicles the career of "Hawk" Smith. He started out as an F-4 RIO with VF-102 and was then selected for pilot training and went on to fly with VF-103.

It also talks a lot about the development of the F-14 (Hawk was at VX-4 while they were doing the IOT&E for the Tomcat), NFWS, etc. Very good read.

51JKN2KKGML._AA240_.jpg
 
R

red1323

Registered User
Lone Survivor is EXCELLENT, it has a very conversational tone and is guaranteed to make whatever BS you are going through seem minor. I'm working on From Beirut to Jerusalem now, it's somewhat dated but a good way for young'uns like me to read up on the buildup of hostilities between Israel and the Muslim nations from a first hand account.
 
Godspeed

Godspeed

His blood smells like cologne.
pilot
Just wanted to echo those thoughts on Lone Survivor. Probably one of the most profound books i've ever read. I was lucky enough to be in the same OCS class as his twin brother Morgan (also a SEAL, and referenced in the book several times). By far the most squared away SOB i've ever met.
 
Swanee

Swanee

Cereal Killer
pilot
None
Contributor
heyjoe said:
Swanee!! Did you read Every Man a Tiger? Horner did not "become in charge of the Air Force". Ask your dad or Google that and read his bio. Like the caveman says in the Geico ad "Do a little research".

As to Galland (not Galant, that's a car BTW), good book and it's by Toliver and Constable who have done a lot of good writing on Military aviation history topics

Adolf Galland

adolf_galland_2.jpg



This is a picture of a Galant

galant1.jpg
Click to expand...

Yeah, it was a mistake of words. Horner was never AF Chief of Staff, but he was a 3 star at CENTAF, and as HH-60H said, in charge of the AF during Desert Storm. It talks about lessons learned from Korea and Vietnam. A part that hits home in that book is when he says that he asked God to make him a better husband in Heaven because he's done a crap job of it here.


I have a Galant :eek:; Galland and Galant sound similar right? :eek:

Last time I read that book was in high school. Embarassed to say that it's sitting on a bookself next to my computer back in Va, but I couldn't look at it to get it right. This guy got shot down twice in one day!

But alas, where would I be if it weren't for those guys who look over my shoulder.
 
Mr. Blonde

Mr. Blonde

My ass is a motherfuckin' champion
pilot
"The Second Luckiest Pilot"

Written by a fighter pilot who survived a bailout over the Pacific, it chronicles stories of incredible aviation survival stories (and a few heroic ones that didn't survive), mostly on the military side.
 
Swanee

Swanee

Cereal Killer
pilot
None
Contributor
Rescue of Streetcar 304

Anyone read Rescue of Streetcar 304? I saw it in the bookstore today and wondered if I should pick up a copy for myself. It is about an A-7 guy who gets shot down in Laos and spends 40 hours on the ground before being rescued.
 
FlyinSpy

FlyinSpy

Mongo only pawn, in game of life...
Contributor
If you're interested in such things, and don't mind (or deliberately seek out) primary source reporting, check out the story of Boxer 22: http://www.pjsinnam.com/VN_History/Boxer22/Boxer_22.htm (The Boxer 22 Documents at the bottom of the page are the primary source stuff.)

The thumbnail: Largest CSAR effort of the war, with epic amounts of ordnance dropped. Unfortunately, only one of the two crew of the USAF F4C was rescued; the pilot, Captain Ben Danielson, was lost and not recovered for 38 years. (Backstory here: http://www.kare11.com/news/ts_article.aspx?storyid=254241) His son later grew up to be a Prowler ECMO and a good dude; he ended up going with the POW/MIA recovery team into Laos.
 
Swanee

Swanee

Cereal Killer
pilot
None
Contributor
FlyinSpy said:
If you're interested in such things, and don't mind (or deliberately seek out) primary source reporting, check out the story of Boxer 22: http://www.pjsinnam.com/VN_History/Boxer22/Boxer_22.htm (The Boxer 22 Documents at the bottom of the page are the primary source stuff.)

The thumbnail: Largest CSAR effort of the war, with epic amounts of ordnance dropped. Unfortunately, only one of the two crew of the USAF F4C was rescued; the pilot, Captain Ben Danielson, was lost and not recovered for 38 years. (Backstory here: http://www.kare11.com/news/ts_article.aspx?storyid=254241) His son later grew up to be a Prowler ECMO and a good dude; he ended up going with the POW/MIA recovery team into Laos.
Click to expand...


I love this kind of stuff. I really get into rescue and survival stories. Being an avid sailor and mountaineer/rock climber (among other things) I like reading about people who beat the odds or who don't and why they didn't. Books like Godforsaken Sea about the around the world nonstop solo sailboat race (in which a few people have died) or The Last Run about a rescue at sea in the North Pacific.

I know we have a good military book thread going, but what about just good books in general? It looks like Streetcar 304 is a book I will be picking up tomorrow.
 
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