Aviation Books Thread

[artik]

I noticed there very few "book" threads and existing ones are very short... as if nobody reads around 

So. Lets start one, please put:

(a) the book you recommend (including full name and the author)
(b) why do you find it interesting

Note: you read a book you recommend and the book have to be in English or have an available translation to English.


There is my (partial) list:

Great Books:

Way of a Fighter by Claire Lee Chennault

Very interesting and unusual book written shortly after the end of WW2, Chennault is very critical of USAF establishment and tells the story of AVG and later US involvement in China.

Israel's Best Defense: The First Full Story of the Israeli Air Force by Eliezer Cohen

Probably the best book about the Israeli Air Force. Includes many "1st person" stories and covers a large scale of different topics from the beginning of the air force to the 1982 Lebanon war.

Fight for the Sky by Douglas Bader

Can't add more - biography of Bader. Very good view into BoB.

Enemy Coast Ahead by Guy Gibson

The biography on outstanding bomber pilot. Very good story of dumb-busters from his personal point of view.

Wings on My Sleeve by Eric Brown

The biography of a great test pilot. His service as FAA pilot during WW2 (served on Audacity) and his service as a test pilots are very-very interesting. His views on naval aviation, on German aircraft, his view of Seafire and Sea-Hurricane in comparison to Martlet (that he loved).

Samurai! by Saburō Sakai

Good reading about IJN - gives very good view on Japanese spirit.

Interesting Books

The Red Fighter Pilot by Manfred von Richthofen

Interesting reading about WWI combat experience - how it started.

Stuka Pilot, Hans Ulrich Rudel

A book by highly arrogant pilot and true Nazi... still interesting to read but requires some "mental filtering"

[icepac]

"The first and last" by Adolph Galland.

What I really want to see is if they ever translate Akamatsu's biography since I've heard there is on in japanese.

[bozon]

"Terror in the starboard seat" by Dave Macintosh.

The story of a mosquito intruder navigator. Macintosh is by far the best writer of the "personal memoir" kind of books that I have read (he was a journalist in his civilian life). Even though they never saw an enemy plane in the air he still manages to tell a very captivating story, very funny, cinical, and conveys the sheer terror he experienced on many of the missions - they had plenty of "boring" missions, a few odd ones, some V1 chasing, and one absolutely crazy very long range solo "day ranger" mission that won him and his pilot the DFC.

Excellent read.

[FLOOB]

[Interceptor]

This one is the best for wwii air history : it begins with Galland in a glider(early 30s) to a 262 in 1945...

"The first and last" by Adolph Galland.

What I really want to see is if they ever translate Akamatsu's biography since I've heard there is on in japanese.