Author Topic: Aces High Book Club  (Read 1258 times)

Offline Hoffman

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Re: Aces High Book Club
« Reply #15 on: April 30, 2012, 09:07:15 PM »
Panzer Commander by Col Hans Von Luck
Panzer Leader by Gen Heinz Guderian

Superb books, read them back in high school, they're what got me heavy into military history.

Quote
Panzers on the Eastern Front by Gen Erhard Raus
Goodbye to all that by Robert Graves (WWI UK officer)
The Road to Serfdom by FA Hayek (Nobel prize)
McCampbells Heros by Edwin P Hoyt (Cpt David McCampbell, MOH USN, F6F pilot)

Just to name a few...

Boo



You should check out Panzer Battles by Von Mellenthin, interesting experiences on the eastern front.

Offline texasmom

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Re: Aces High Book Club
« Reply #16 on: April 30, 2012, 09:57:54 PM »
Ender's Game is a classic.  There is more to the Ender series then just Ender's Game, might want to pick up the next book.

I liked Enders Shadow as much as Enders Game. I'm getting ready to read those again.
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Offline Banshee7

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Re: Aces High Book Club
« Reply #17 on: April 30, 2012, 10:03:32 PM »
A Question of Honor:  The Koscuiszko Squadron:  Forgotten Heroes of World War II  Lynne Olson, Stanley Cloud

Awesome read!  Thanks Masherbrum/Karaya for recommending it to me!

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Offline zack1234

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Re: Aces High Book Club
« Reply #18 on: May 01, 2012, 12:35:04 AM »
"Cat in the Hat" by Dr. Seuss - Stuck on the second page, will keep you all posted!

+1 fantastic
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Offline bozon

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Re: Aces High Book Club
« Reply #19 on: May 01, 2012, 08:31:08 AM »
"Cat in the hat comes back" is almost as good.
Higher budget, brighter explosions and less flowing rhymes. Another classic.
Mosquito VI - twice the spitfire, four times the ENY.

Click!>> "So, you want to fly the wooden wonder" - <<click!
the almost incomplete and not entirely inaccurate guide to the AH Mosquito.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGOWswdzGQs

Offline VonMessa

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Re: Aces High Book Club
« Reply #20 on: May 01, 2012, 09:07:25 AM »
The most recent on my Kindle carousel...

The Great Gatsby - F. Scott Fitzgerald
Physics of the Impossible - Michio Kaku
The Nibelungenlied
The Home Distiller's Workbook - Jeff King
Naked Lunch - William S. Burroughs
For Whom the Bell Tolls - Ernest Hemingway
Braümeister und Schmutziger Hund von JG11


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Offline CZCH64

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Re: Aces High Book Club
« Reply #21 on: May 01, 2012, 11:16:53 AM »
JG26..Top Guns of the Luftwaffe.
 Great book. I actually had a hard time putting it down.
http://books.google.com/books/about/JG_26_top_guns_of_the_Luftwaffe.html?id=v60DAAAACAAJ
aka....... SCRATCH

Offline pembquist

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Re: Aces High Book Club
« Reply #22 on: May 01, 2012, 12:09:52 PM »
AH related: "Piece of Cake" by Derek Robinson

THE vietnam helicopter memoir: "Chickenhawk" by Robert Mason. ( I think there is more than one edition, the one I read had an afterword that just slapped you in the face.

Great novel about a boat trip by a premier american stylist "The Sea Runners" by Ivan Doig

What it takes to be an entrepreneur in india, in which getting your stake takes murder and turning your back on your family who will have to face the music: "The White Tiger" by Aravid Adiga

Pies not kicks.

Offline bozon

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Re: Aces High Book Club
« Reply #23 on: May 02, 2012, 09:31:37 AM »
AH related: "Piece of Cake" by Derek Robinson
Is that what they based the TV mini-series (same name) on? It was very good.
Mosquito VI - twice the spitfire, four times the ENY.

Click!>> "So, you want to fly the wooden wonder" - <<click!
the almost incomplete and not entirely inaccurate guide to the AH Mosquito.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RGOWswdzGQs

Offline shiv

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Re: Aces High Book Club
« Reply #24 on: May 02, 2012, 08:14:41 PM »
Is that what they based the TV mini-series (same name) on? It was very good.

Yeah. book is great, mini-series pretty good too. Goshawk Squadron was Robinson's WW1 novel, and is pretty great. A Good Clean Fight has P40s in the desert war, also excellent.
You are in a maze of twisty little passages, all alike.


Offline Butcher

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Re: Aces High Book Club
« Reply #25 on: May 03, 2012, 12:57:11 PM »
Just bought the book Shattered Sword, it goes into detail why the Japanese lost the battle of Midway.

I have admiration for the Japanese, but this book clearly shows in detail.

Here's some info:
Many consider the Battle of Midway to have turned the tide of the Pacific War. It is without question one of the most famous battles in history. Now, for the first time since Gordon W. Prange’s bestselling Miracle at Midway, Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully offer a new interpretation of this great naval engagement.

Unlike previous accounts, Shattered Sword makes extensive use of Japanese primary sources. It also corrects the many errors of Mitsuo Fuchida’s Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, an uncritical reliance upon which has tainted every previous Western account. It thus forces a major, potentially controversial reevaluation of the great battle. The authors examine the battle in detail and effortlessly place it within the context of the Imperial Navy’s doctrine and technology. With a foreword by leading WWII naval historian John Lundstrom, Shattered Sword will become an indispensable part of any military buff’s library. Winner of the 2005 John Lyman Book Award for the "Best Book in U.S. Naval History" and cited by Proceedings as one of its "Notable Naval Books" for 2005.
« Last Edit: May 03, 2012, 12:59:15 PM by Butcher »
JG 52

Offline PFactorDave

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Re: Aces High Book Club
« Reply #26 on: May 03, 2012, 08:00:01 PM »
Just bought the book Shattered Sword, it goes into detail why the Japanese lost the battle of Midway.

I have admiration for the Japanese, but this book clearly shows in detail.

Here's some info:
Many consider the Battle of Midway to have turned the tide of the Pacific War. It is without question one of the most famous battles in history. Now, for the first time since Gordon W. Prange’s bestselling Miracle at Midway, Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully offer a new interpretation of this great naval engagement.

Unlike previous accounts, Shattered Sword makes extensive use of Japanese primary sources. It also corrects the many errors of Mitsuo Fuchida’s Midway: The Battle That Doomed Japan, an uncritical reliance upon which has tainted every previous Western account. It thus forces a major, potentially controversial reevaluation of the great battle. The authors examine the battle in detail and effortlessly place it within the context of the Imperial Navy’s doctrine and technology. With a foreword by leading WWII naval historian John Lundstrom, Shattered Sword will become an indispensable part of any military buff’s library. Winner of the 2005 John Lyman Book Award for the "Best Book in U.S. Naval History" and cited by Proceedings as one of its "Notable Naval Books" for 2005.

That's of interest of me, I think I'll see if I can pick up a copy of that soon.

On a slightly related note, I have always been fascinated by Japanese culture and how it is so frequently misinterpreted by Westerners.

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Offline Buckaroo

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Re: Aces High Book Club
« Reply #27 on: May 03, 2012, 10:22:45 PM »
Was speaking to CorkyJr last night, and it made me wonder why aces high never had a book club, basically people lists what books they have or currently reading so others can get an idea what to read if they are interested.
Here's a list I just ordered or have begun reading as of lately (its not my entire list):

Samurai! the autobiography of Saburo Sakai
Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose
The Battle of the Bulge by John S.D. Eisenhower

I have ordered these books as of lately - its a little heavier tone in the Luftwaffe department, but some books are rare to come by:

Escape from the Deep: A True Story of Courage by Alex Kershaw
The Black Sheep by Bruce Gamble
Greates Fighter Missions Of The Top Navy and Marine Aces by Edward Sims
Best Little Stories from World War II by Brian Kelly
Luftwaffe Fighter Aces: The Jagdflieger by Mike Spick
The World at War 1939-45 by Reader's Digest
Eagles of the Third Reich: The Men Who Made the Luftwaffe by Samuel Mitcham
The Luftwaffe War Diaries by Cajus bekker
The World War II - 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Figures by Howard Langer
The Few by Dilip Sarkar

Without actually doing combat I got a really good feel reading, "With The Old Breed" .  Another good book, "Semper Fi, Mac".  My wife's uncle was on Okinawa at the Battle of SugarLoaf in 1945.  He and about 5 guys were all that was left of his regiment.  "With The Old Breed," is written by a retired science professor, his autobiography as a Marine fighting there.  Uncle was a Marine in a mortar crew.  He and I talked as I was the only other military in our family.  He only opened up to me within our family.  Me training to Camp Geiger to Camp LeJeune as a Seabee is the only common bond we had.  It was tent city in 1944.  I was there in 1976.  What started our talks, is, I asked him if he remembered the war?  He told me, "like it was yesterday!"  31 years later.  After he died, I got his stuff.  I researched quite a bit about his unit.  I need to visit the Marine Corps museum to Quantico.   

Offline Butcher

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Re: Aces High Book Club
« Reply #28 on: May 03, 2012, 11:37:34 PM »
That's of interest of me, I think I'll see if I can pick up a copy of that soon.

On a slightly related note, I have always been fascinated by Japanese culture and how it is so frequently misinterpreted by Westerners.

The book gives a rare insight to what went wrong, the book "Fire in the Skies" gives a pretty good account far as the Air War is concerned. Americans for example had ingenuity, a prime example was the battleship bombardment of Henderson Airfield on Guadalcanal.
Most aircrafts were destroyed on the ground or damaged, a lone officer went around putting together a crew to repair the aircraft (VT-8) - they ripped apart a dozen aircraft to patch together a TBF Avenger.
When I say patched together, literally nobody wanted to fly the aircraft because it was such a hack job, instead the officer hopped in and they loaded bombs on it, he took off and bombed some japanese artillery positions.

Where this differences in the Japanese culture, for example Wewak was a japanese fighter base, most of the fighters were suffering down time due to lack of spare parts, the aircraft belonged to the royal family, to "butcher" one aircraft to repair another was just an insult.

In reality, they could of butchered one aircraft and repaired 2-3 to flight status, however the discipline would not allow it. The americans on the other hand used ingenuity to hack together 4-5 to piece together one regardless of the costs.

I'd source this information but i'm a bit to tired, it showed up in a magazine a while back thats all I can remember.
JG 52

Offline Scherf

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Re: Aces High Book Club
« Reply #29 on: May 04, 2012, 06:52:23 PM »
Catch 22
Terror in the starboard seat

The latter is a missed classic. By far the best read of any of the aircrew memoirs that I read. Unlike most of these "personal account" books, the Mosquito navigator who wrote it is a very talented writer (and a poor navigator by his claims).
I just cycle these two and occasionally read something new in between.

That's the book that got me in to this whole Mosquito mularkey in the first place. I've managed to trace details of some of the stories he tells, some not.
... missions were to be met by the commitment of alerted swarms of fighters, composed of Me 109's and Fw 190's, that were strategically based to protect industrial installations. The inferior capabilities of these fighters against the Mosquitoes made this a hopeless and uneconomical effort. 1.JD KTB