Aviation Books?Novels

[theblakeness]

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

I actually really enjoy bookx about the Vietnam War. Some of my favorites have been those written by SEALs..ie "The Element of Surprise", "Death in the Jungle"...Really puts into persepective just how well trained those guys really are.

 

[galaxiexl]

Bubba 716, I'll rattle off just a few I've read and would recommend.
"Flight of the Old Dog" (Bomber pukes love this one) "Flyboys" here what being a Naval Aviator and Surviving on the ground is all about,"Goodbye Mickey Mouse" An American P-51 Pilot in WWII England,"30 Seconds over Tokyo" The true story of the Doolittle raid,"Blacksheep Squadron" Major Greg "Pappy" Boyingtons biography,his time in POW camp and how he got the CMH."The bridges over Toko-Ri" Naval Aviators in Korea get some and lose some.Try the BOOKS link @ Military.Com and find out what the Smithsonian stocks and recommends. Sempers to all the MARINES out there,it's my first post here. :icon_zbee

 

[HeyJoe]

I recommend reading both Boyd books side by side and each uncovers details the other doesn't but both are superb. I stumbled on Boyd and his crew in late 70s in the Pentagon and can attest to his intensity. I even sat through one of his briefs....worth reading to understand a truly unique man and the genius of his contributions and the fights he had to fight with the establishment to give us EM theory, the F-15 and F-16, OODA loop, etc.

As to Ward Carroll, he started out drawing Brownshoes in Action for Approach and then went to Pensacola as an intstructor. He as then tapped mid-tour to be the next editor of Approach. His Punk's War series are very edgy and in tune with aviator culture. He has a new series coming out soon so stand by.

I also recommend "The First Team" by Lundstrom. He covers fighter combat post Pearl Harbor to Midway in incrediable detail (not just combat but what happened in between major fleet encounters...LTJG becoming a Fighter Squadron XO on Yorktown after flightdeck mishap). He also has a sequel out in this series taking same approach to Guadalcanal. See: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0870211897/102-1985096-3228948

 

[bunk22]

II also recommend "The First Team" by Lundstrom. He covers fighter combat post Pearl Harbor to Midway in incrediable detail (not just combat but what happened in between major fleet encounters...LTJG becoming a Fighter Squadron XO on Yorktown after flightdeck mishap). He also has a sequel out in this series taking same approach to Guadacanal. See: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0870211897/102-1985096-3228948

I'll jump on this one and agree that Lundstrom does excellent work. The detail of air combat, the pilot's involved and actual events is amazing. Unfortunetly (or maybe not) several our pilots who claim to be aces are not, at least according to his reasearch.

 

[HeyJoe]

I'll jump on this one and agree that Lundstrom does excellent work. The detail of air combat, the pilot's involved and actual events is amazing. Unfortunetly (or maybe not) several our pilots who claim to be aces are not, at least according to his reasearch.

Lundstrom also does a great job with his account of Thach and O'Hare developing the Beam Defense Maneuver when they hear about how maneuverable the Zero is compared to their Wildcats. I believe he was first to beak the story in print of Thach using matchsticks on his kitchen table to work out the formation and tactics that became better known as the "Thach Weave". If you like this era and tactics development, "Reaper Leader" is a recent book on Thach's contemporary Jimmy Flatley who commanded the original "Grim Reapers" and also had a significant impact on fighter tactics development at same time as Thach.

Meanwhile, further to the weat another group of Amercians were dealing with maneuverable Japanese Army fighters over Burma and China and developed their own tactics with great success. I notice a lack of anyone suggesting reading any one of a number of books on the American Volunteer Group (AVG) better known as The Flying Tigers. I recommend RT Smith's and Charlie Bond's accounts as well as General Robert Scott's "God is my Co-pilot" and Daniel Ford's "The Flying Tigers". How many of us would have left our assignments to embark on such an adventure as did so many Army, Navy and Marine Corps pilots? Even though they resigned their commissions to join the AVG, they become a "Joint" outfit later swallowed up into the Army Air Corps (those who stayed at least, but that's another story). Even with the later examination of claims made versus actual Japanese losses lowering the success ratio, they still remain one of the most successful units of all time.