Aviation Books?Novels

[Blutonski816]

Probably would have cost his publisher, as well as probably the Navy, much more then they were really willing to spend as well.

Hey, the Navy probably saw it as a recruiting tool. They would rather present the idea that you can get jets rather than follow a guy who got Helos or Props. I actually remember a part about the author talking about guys who were 'forced' to go into jets...

Anyone know of something like that actually happening?

 

[Jedj]

I got 'In the Company of Heros' for xmas but havnt gotten the chance to open it up.

Try to do so, its a good book and has some interesting stuff in it that is not really exposed in black hawk down, or other accounts. At least I enjoyed it.

 

[Super18Ordie]

Flight of the Intruder and the Intruders was pretty good, In my opinion though I thought all the rest sucked. Stay away from the Patrick Robinson book Nimitz class, it is terribly inaccurate.

 

[zab1001]

Flight of the Intruder, I will agree on.

But the Intruders??? Oh man, that was the basis for every BAD late night 'Stars!' low budget military movie with Lorenzo Lamas and Cory Haim. "Oh look, somehow I'm flying in a USMC squadron"

"Oh no, shot down ! Again! Good thing my BN is a former Recon guy who happens to fly with a machete...."

ah well, suspension of disbelief, it is just a book I guess...entertainment value and all.

 

[dufault.2]

I've got to give Durant's book some props too. I think it's a must read if you read/enjoyed Black Hawk Down.
I'm assuming no one has put "The Right Stuff" down yet because everyone has already read it.
"From the Cockpit" by a Navy Korean War pilot named Atkinson is a good one. The writing isn't great (he rambles a bit), but some of the stories about the early days of Naval aviation training and fighting are wicked intense. I know Atkinson was actually signing copies of the book at the Mainside commissary a couple months ago. Not sure if he still is though.

 

[Super18Ordie]

Oh I forgot to mention David Poyer's Dan Lenson books are pretty good too

 

[ChuckMK23]

If you want a read on the real politics of the military... and a real eye opener to how things really work... read "Boyd." The biography of Col. John Boyd... you'll never think of the military the same way again.

Patmack is right on target - Boyd is a great story - truth - about oneman and how a fighter pilot brought his intelligence and vision to bear and transform the way the military does business. A post script to John Boyd's story - the service that emraces his intellectual thought and teachings themost at the General Officer level isn't the Air Force, but the Marine Corps!

Other books about Naval Aviation that are must reads are:

Feet Wet by Rear Adm. Paul Gillcrist, Presidio Press

and

Gold Wings, Blue Sea by Capt. Rosario Rausau, Naval Inst. Press

I read and reread Capt. Rausau's book in high school and dreamt of flying the A-1 Spad - so much so that I built every model kit of the A-1 I could get my hands on. Still if I could go back in time and be assigned to a VA squadron circa 1966 I would do it in a heartbeat! That is the epitome of Naval Aviation in my humble opinion.

 

[dustydog]

I'm suprised that no one has mentioned Chickenhawk, it's a great book about the Vietnam War, and Low Level Hell is also a great book about LOCH pilots in Vietnam. Those books really put things in perspective as a modern day pilot.

Dustydog.

 

[invertedflyer]

read Punk's war by Ward Carroll and With Hostile Intent by Gandt... solid books.. alot of definitive information... a good read for my fellow fp wannabees

 

[ChuckMK23]

Wasn't Ward Carrol the guy who did the comics on the back of Approach? "Brownshoes in Action" or some such....

 

[Blutonski816]

Brownshoes in Acton Comix
Fun stuff, even though Carroll (a Tomcat RIO) focuses mainly on the jet community...

 

[ChuckMK23]

omg i just fell off my chair reading some of this stuff. Good memories!!!!

 

[Dunedan]

Stockdale

Being a bookworm, I'm really liking this thread...

Lately I've been reading "Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot" by ADM Jim Stockdale. It's pretty heavy stuff, and very good for the brain. I don't think anything could rattle this guy's cage. Even better for those who have been to SERE...

 

[Blutonski816]

J.B.Stockdale is one Tough Assed SOB.

'nuff said.

 

[Punk]

the entire Punk series by Ward Carroll is great (Punks War, Wing, Fight)

BOYD was an amazing book and I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in aviation

BHD has been mentioned as well as In the Company of Heroes


a good fictional series about Vietnam is Rolling Thunder, Steel Tiger, Phantom Leader by Mark Berent who had three tours in Vietnam as an AF pilot, very detailed, very realistic, excellent series