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From: wanttaja@ssc-vax.UUCP (Ronald J Wanttaja)
Newsgroups: net.aviation
Subject: Aviation Good Reads
Message-ID: <426@ssc-vax.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 18-Dec-85 13:07:09 EST
Article-I.D.: ssc-vax.426
Posted: Wed Dec 18 13:07:09 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 23-Dec-85 04:20:22 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: Boeing Aerospace Co., Seattle, WA
Lines: 72

I had intended to post this a little earlier to Christmas, but, what the
heck....

Well, how 'bout some recommendations for books for aviators?  I have a
liking for historical type books, so here are some of my favorites.  Don't
remember the authors of some, but the titles should be accurate.  All but
a couple are available in paperback.

_YEAGER_  What else can I say?  A facinating book, full of detail of the
life of a test pilot in the post-war period.  Very frank, Yeager shows that,
for the most part, he wasn't the cool, calm, unflappable sky jock of his
reputation... nightmares concerning a bad stretch of X-1 testing, etc.  But
he is probably the closest thing to the image that ever existed.
Occasionally, the book suffers from this... you'll read a section, then a
little later, you'll go, "He did WHAT?" and have to turn back and reread
it.  Some of the stories he tells should be aviation classics.  If you
don't want to spring $18 for the hardback, be first in line when the
paperback comes out.

_THE_BLUE_MAX_  Forget the Peppard movie.  The main plot of this story is
that drunkards can be heroes, and Bruno Stachel is both.  A facinating
character study, and note that the movie ending was wildly different from
the book.  It also clears up some ambiguous points from the movie, such as
the downing of the British observation plane over Stachel's aerodrome.  The
movie implies that the rear gunner was coming back into action, but in the
book, Stachel is committing murder.  Author:  Jack Hunter.  Forget also the
sequel, _THE_BLOOD_ORDER_, unless you really like the first book.

_GOSHAWK_SQUADRON_  The  BLUE MAX of the British side.  Hilarious in
points, it very well points out the expected lifespan of pilots during WWI.

_PIECE_OF_CAKE_  Written by the same author as _GOSHAWK_SQUADRON_, it is
the WWII version, set in a Fighter Command squadron during the first year
of the war.  It starts in the Phony War, and ends on September 15, 1940.
One bad point about this book, the Phony War period is very much like the
real Phony War... Boring!  But the action sequences, and glimpses of life
within the squadron, are very well done.  This one should be out in
paperback soon.

_FLY_FOR_YOUR_LIFE_  The war biography of Robert Tuck, one of the British
aces of WWII.  A little melodramatic at times, it is a very good read.
Paul Brickhill's _REACH_FOR_THE_SKY_, about Douglas Bader, is similar, but
more heavily into the melodrama... and Brickhill seems to share Bader's
deep hatred of the Germans.  Read _FLY_FOR_YOUR_LIFE_ first.

_THE_GREAT_ESCAPE_  Ok, there's no flying in it, but the subjects are RAF
pilots.  Paul Brickhill's account of the mass escape of 78 POWs from Stalag
Luft III, and the subsequent murder of 50 of them.  Brickhill treats the
Germans a little more fairly in this one, especially when you consider he
knew the 50 who were killed... Brickhill was also a prisoner in the camp,
and was initially slated to be one of the escapees.  The movie simplified
the book enormously (as one must expect), but the depictions of camp life
were quite true to the book.

_FIREFOX_  A standard epionage thriller during the first half, the book
(and movie, incidentally) takes off when Mitch Gant takes off in the stolen
Firefox.

_FATE_IS_THE_HUNTER_ by Earnest Gann.  Again, forget the movie (Gann
demanded they remove his name from the credits), a good episodic account of
Gann's airline career.  Lotsa pucker-factor stories.

Well, that's it for now.  Stay tuned, boys and girls, and in a few weeks
I'll post a similar list of aviation movies to look for in the TV Guide/VCR
store. 

					    Ron Wanttaja
					    (ssc-vax!wanttaja)

"Are they good?  Sonny, Yeager and Hoover could
fly right up your ass and you'd never know why
you were farting shockwaves."