Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => Aircraft and Vehicles => Topic started by: Stoney on March 22, 2008, 09:48:23 AM
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Gents,
Can you guys list what, in your opinions, are the top 10 books on WWII aircraft/aviation. I know of a couple, but given the large amount of photos and resources you guys have, I thought it might be good to see them posted for everyone.
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Fly boys by Paul Bradley. (the author of Flags of our Fathers) I may have gotten the name wrong. But it's a good book. There was a really good AutoBiography on a P-39 pilot I read about a year and a half ago but I dont remember the name.
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Yea how about some good books on THe Dark Side. For the Luftweenie types as myself. Anything good out there?
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Here is Corky's list from the SAPP forum, it is P38 centric however.
This one's updated as I keep working on tracking down unit histories. Figured for the 38 nuts out there it might be a start These are what are in my collection. Hopefully other 38 fans can add to this list.
P38 Lightning-Reading List
Group or Squadron Histories:
“An Escort of P-38s-The 1st Fighter Group in World War 2” - John D. Mullins
“Attack & Conquer-The 8th Fighter Group in WW2” –John Stanaway & Lawrence Hickey
“The Eight Ballers: Eyes of the Fifth Air Force”-John Stanaway & Bob Rocker
“20th Fighter Group” – Ron MacKay
"Straight and Level-The story of the 33rd Photo Recon Squadron in WW2" J.B. Woodson Jr.
“The Fighting 33rd Nomads in World War 2 Volumes 1 & 2” -James E. Reed
“Cobra in the Clouds-Combat History of the 39th Fighter Squadron”-John Stanaway
“Protect & Avenge-The 49th Fighter Group in World War 2”-S.W. Furguson & William K. Pascalis
"The Only Way Home" 54th FS in the Aleutians" Robert Haynes Murray
“The 55th Fighter Group vs The Luftwaffe”-John M. Gray
“Adorimini-A History of the 82nd Fighter Group in World War 2” –Steve Blake with John Stanaway
“The 370th Fighter Group in World War 2” -Jay Jones
“The Geyser Gang-The 428th Fighter Squadron in World War 2” –John Truman Steinko
"Vampire Squadron-The saga of the 44th FS in the Southwest Pacific"-William Starke
"The 474th Fighter Group in WW2"- Isham Keller.
“Possum, Clover & Hades-The 475th Fighter Group in WW2”-John Stanaway
“The 479th Fighter Group in World War 2” - Terry Fairfield
Books on the P38 Lightning and it’s pilots
“The Lockheed P-38” – Warren Bodie
“Peter Three Eight-The Pilot’s Story” -John Stanaway
“P38 Lightning Aces of the Pacific and CBI” - John Stanaway
“P38 Lightning Aces of the ETO/MTO” - John Stanaway
“Lockheed P38 Lightning” -Steve Pace
“Lockheed P-28 Lightning” -Frederick A. Johnsen
“P-38 Lightning in World War II Color” - Jeffrey L. Ethell
“P-38 Lightning-Restoring a Classic American Warbird” –Jesse Alexander
"Forked Tailed Devil"- Martin Caiden
"Lightning Strikes" Donald Davis
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Yea how about some good books on THe Dark Side. For the Luftweenie types as myself. Anything good out there?
I think one of the best for the Bf109 is "The Fighting 109" by Uwe Feist, Norman E.Harms and Mike Dario. This book came out in 1978 and has a ton of Information on every version of the 109. It has 198 pages of Information and photos.
Also another one is called "The Great Book Of World War II Airplanes". Its a monster of a book with 632 pages, Over 400 Full-Color Illustrations and 24 Fold-Out Panels. It is by Jeffrey L. Ethell, Robert Grinsell, Roger Freeman, David A. Anderton, Frederick A.Johnsen, Bill Sweetman, Alex Vanags-Baginskis and Robert C. Mikesh. Now this book only list 12 aircraft, with 3 of those being the Bf109, Fw190 and Ju87. Each aircraft has about 50 pages to it and goes into great detail on each with many photos and Illustrations.
Enjoy
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There are hundreds of "must have" books on WWII aviation. Some specifically deal with aircraft, others are histories of various types and subjects.
My collection touches on the aircraft of many nations, but the bulk are related to American aircraft. Of those, I will recommend several. Some are out of print, but can be found through online used book services like Alibris.com, and sometimes even Amazon. I'll provide only a few, lest the list become excessive. Here's 20 (23 if you get all volumes) books that belong in any WWII aviation enthusiasts library.
General technical and factual volumes:
1. America's Hundred Thousand by Francis Dean (Schiffer Books)
2. The American Fighter by Angelucci and Bowers (Orion Books, out of print)
3. United States Navy Aircraft Since 1911 by Swanborough and Bowers (Naval Institute Press, out of print)
Aircraft Histories:
1. Hellcat by Barrett Tillman (Naval Institute Press)
2. Republic's P-47 Thunderbolt by Warren Bodie (Widewing Publishing, out of print available from Alibris.com...Expensive)
3. The P-38 Lightning by Warren Bodie (Widewing Publications, hardcover out of print, softcover available)
4. The Corsair 1940-1970 by Bruno Pautigny (Histoire & Collections)
5. Supermarine Spitfire Owner's Manual: 1936 on, all marks by Alfred Price (Haynes)
6. Fortress in the Sky by Peter Bowers (Sentry Books; rare and out of print. Ex$pen$ive!!)
Unit Histories:
1. Protect and Avenge, the history of the 49th FG by Ferguson and Pascalis (Schiffer books)
2. 55th Fighter Group Vs the Luftwaffe by John Gray (Specialty Press)
3. The Black Sheep by Bruce Gamble (Presidio Press)
4. Flying Tigers by Dan Ford (Smithsonian)
Individual Pilot Biographies:
1. Tale of a Tiger by R.T. Smith (self published, hardcover. Out of print, available thru Alibris.com)
2. Thunderbolt by Robert Johnson (re-edited by Johnson in 1997, Honoribus Books)
3. Happy Jack's Go Buggy by Jack Ilfrey (Schiffer Books)
General Histories:
1. Clash of Wings by Walter Boyne (Touchstone Books)
2. Mighty Eighth War Manual by Roger Freeman (Cassel and co)
3. Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific by Eric Bergerud (Westview Press)
4. Black Cross Red Star (3 volumes) by Christer Bergstrom and Andrey Mikhailov (Pacifica Press, volumes 1 and 2 out of print, see Alibris.com)
My regards,
Widewing
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Just a top 10 off the top of my head. These are the ones that lead me to want to dig deeper. If I had to lose all my books outside of 10, these are the ones I'd keep and could survive on :) Keep in mind I read all of these from about age 7-17 and at 47 I still go back to them, some quite often.
"Flying Fortress" Edward Joblonski
"Log of the Liberators" Steve Birdsall
"The Mighty Eighth" Roger Freeman" (8th Air Force History)
"Flying Buccaneers" Steve Birdsall (5th Air Force history)
"Spitfire-Story of a Famous Fighter" Bruce Robertson
"Mustang at War" Roger Freeman
"Nanette" Edwards Park (Best WW2 pilot biography ever)
"Serenade to the Big Bird" Bert Stiles (Written at the time by a guy who didn't make it. Powerful)
"Air War over Hitlers Germany" Stephen Sears (The second book that kept me going)
"Great American Fighter Pilots of World War II" Robert Loomis (Book that got me started)
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one of the best books I've read, The Wrong Stuff, The Adventures and Misadventures of an 8th Air Force Aviator By:Truman Smith the way its written it makes you feel as if he's actually sitting there telling you face to face
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Autobriagphies par excellence are for instance:
Spitfire: A test pilot's story by Jeffrey Quill
Wing leader by James "Johnny" Johnsson
"Dancing in the skies" by "Tony Jonsson"
"Shot down in Flames" by Geoffrey Page
That's just the square root of a tiny part regarding only the RAF :D
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<snip>
3. Fire in the Sky: The Air War in the South Pacific by Eric Bergerud (Westview Press)
<snip>
This was a fascinating look into the air war without getting bogged down in air combat. I need to read it again one of these days.
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Hey Widewing- is that P-47 book by Bodie actually titled "Republic's P-47 Thunderbolt From Seversky to Victory"?
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Hey Widewing- is that P-47 book by Bodie actually titled "Republic's P-47 Thunderbolt From Seversky to Victory"?
My copy says "Republic P47 Thunderbolt" Warren Bodie
The bible for the Jug just as his book on the 38 is the bible for the 38 guys.
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My copy says "Republic P47 Thunderbolt" Warren Bodie
The bible for the Jug just as his book on the 38 is the bible for the 38 guys.
This what the cover looks like?
(http://images.alibris.com/isbn/9780962935916.gif)
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This what the cover looks like?
(http://images.alibris.com/isbn/9780962935916.gif)
Thats it. Apparently it doesn't say that on the spine as that's what I looked at while sitting here responding :)
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Thats it. Apparently it doesn't say that on the spine as that's what I looked at while sitting here responding :)
Cool- just makin sure.
Wow. I got that at the Barnes and Noble store here locally years ago....for 15 bucks. Worth a ton of money now- that's nuts!
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"the few" is a book I just finished reading. Really good read.>
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hehehehe Rebels posting Jug porn! :)
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hehehehe Rebels posting Jug porn! :)
Mmmm......Juggie.......
(http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/AirShows/Chino2004/Sampler/RazorbackP47.jpg)
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So the top 10 consists solely of books about allied planes? Sounds like a true non-biased approach to subject. :rolleyes:
-C+
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So the top 10 consists solely of books about allied planes? Sounds like a true non-biased approach to subject. :rolleyes:
-C+
Okay- name me one book for axis aircraft that even approaches America's Hundred Thousand, or Bodie's Thunderbolt book.
Just one.
I'll make it easy on you- there aren't any- at least, none that I know of. Data for axis fighters is generally much harder to get a hold of. Indeed, the best resource we have for information on 109's and 190's is from the flights/fights that Hannah had.
Not biased at all, it's simply based on what is available. You may have a ton of information (both bad and good i.e. Jane's and Bodie) for the allied fighters, but the axis fighters' data is plauged by rarity, and even then the majority of it all is anecdotal. Russian a/c data is, shall we say.....skewed a bit. But don't let Oleg hear that. :p
Japanese fighters are generally well documented simply because that's the way the imperial war machine rolled. That and we got a zero basically undamaged, tested the hell out of it, and made a plane to beat it- helloooo hellkitty!
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So the top 10 consists solely of books about allied planes? Sounds like a true non-biased approach to subject. :rolleyes:
-C+
I have some pretty good books about Russian planes, but they're in Russian. Hard to put them on a list for Anglisch speakers.
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So the top 10 consists solely of books about allied planes? Sounds like a true non-biased approach to subject. :rolleyes:
-C+
Certainly there is a bias :)
You'll note that my list doesn't include USN stuff either. Doesn't mean I don't have a bunch of stuff on the Luftwaffe, but my main interest has always been USAAF/RAF stuff.
If I were to add a book to the list just to put a Luftwaffe book on it, it would probably be "Luftwaffe War Diaries" by Cajus Bekker.
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Fly boys by Paul Bradley. (the author of Flags of our Fathers) I may have gotten the name wrong. But it's a good book. There was a really good AutoBiography on a P-39 pilot I read about a year and a half ago but I dont remember the name.
its James Bradley.
and his book Fly Boys is very good. i just read part of a book about the History of the Russian Air Force, and right now Duel of Eagles its about the authors experience in the Battle of Britain
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i have a book that has most of the comon us planes and there structure and a few of the experimental planes to
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Nyaaahh!!
I want to read ALL of these...
Problem is, I'm 16, have exams coming up, and no clue where to start :O :O
Any hints?
<S>
Yossarian
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Book lists are always the usual American,Anglo,Axis lists. Shame there isn't more available from Soviet,Japanese,Italian etc.
<S>...-Gixer
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Somewhat surprised that noone has mentioned this one:
"The Warplanes of the Third Reich" William Green, 1970
IMO this is the definitive technical book on Luftwaffe aircraft. Seven-hundred 11" x 9" hardbound pages of Luft-Geek Nirvana.:aok I bought it in 1973 for $25 and consider it the most valuable book in my collection.
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Yea how about some good books on THe Dark Side. For the Luftweenie types as myself. Anything good out there?
"Horrido! Fighter Aces of the Luftwaffe" -Trevor Constable
"Luftwaffe Fighter Aces" -Mike Spick
"JG26: Top Guns of the Luftwaffe" -Donald Caldwell
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Have Bodies books on the 38 and the 47. The 38 though is paperback.....couldn't find a hard copy.
Fire in the Sky by Eric Bergerud was suggested to me by Widewing....an excellent and informative read.
I ordered Fire in the Sky from Borders......I was lucky they had 2 copies.
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If it hasn't been mentioned, there's a book simply called Complete Book of World War II Combat Aircraft wiht full color illustrations of every fighting plane from 1933 to 1945, including bombers, fighters, assault aircraft and many more (ISBN 88-8095-445-8) by Enzo Angelucci, Paolo Matricardi, and Pierluigi Pinto. You know it's Italian from the typo on the front. :D
Anyway, 414 pages of data, info, and mostly two-page profiles for each of 176 aircraft. I picked it up off Amazon for less than $5 because it had a small boxcutter wound in the jacket.
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I just checked out a good book on the 109 called "ME-109, Willy Messerschmitt's Peerless Fighter". Great book :aok :salute
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Book lists are always the usual American,Anglo,Axis lists. Shame there isn't more available from Soviet,Japanese,Italian etc.
<S>...-Gixer
It's there, you just have to look a bit harder to find it. I suppose it has to do with wanting to actually sell some copies. The folks interested in the other stuff you mention are a much smaller group. You tend to find info on those birds in more general books.
There is a guy named George Mellinger who is from the Twin Cities that has always been a Soviet AF junkie. He's done some of the Osprey stuff on Soviet aces. I know he's done a lot of articles on them too.
There is a website out there that is nothing but Japanese WW2 Aviation.
It all comes down to how hard you want to look in the end, though I would agree it's harder to find the stuff you are interested in.
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Alfred Price's Spitfire: The Complete Fighting History was always one of my fave aircraft reads. It had the serial number of practically all Spitfires built - WWII and post war. It had articles about every test we've seen on WWIIaircraftperformance.com and had thousands of pages of pics.
If you guys had to choose 2 books (about the P-38 and the F4U) which would come close to the amount of detail about those planes as Alfred Price's book does to the Spitfire?
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Dueling Eagles, Great book about the Battle of Britain.
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If it hasn't been mentioned, there's a book simply called Complete Book of World War II Combat Aircraft wiht full color illustrations of every fighting plane from 1933 to 1945, including bombers, fighters, assault aircraft and many more (ISBN 88-8095-445-8) by Enzo Angelucci, Paolo Matricardi, and Pierluigi Pinto. You know it's Italian from the typo on the front. :D
Anyway, 414 pages of data, info, and mostly two-page profiles for each of 176 aircraft. I picked it up off Amazon for less than $5 because it had a small boxcutter wound in the jacket.
checked it out on amazon.. New starting at $28, used starting at $44 :huh :huh :huh
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Alfred Price's Spitfire: The Complete Fighting History was always one of my fave aircraft reads. It had the serial number of practically all Spitfires built - WWII and post war. It had articles about every test we've seen on WWIIaircraftperformance.com and had thousands of pages of pics.
If you guys had to choose 2 books (about the P-38 and the F4U) which would come close to the amount of detail about those planes as Alfred Price's book does to the Spitfire?
Warren Bodie's book on the P38 is the only game in town for development and history. EB Morgan's book on the Spit is more comprehensive then Price's which is a good book. Bruce Robertson's book, though dated, is still my favorite on the Spitfire however.
No clue on the F4U. I've looked for one on the Hog for a long time without seeing one. This book on the RN Museum F4U "Corsair KD431" is the one I have that I really enjoy on that bird.