Planelopnik Book Recommendations

"Jcarr" (jcarr) 07/30/2015 at 17:19 • Filed to: Planelopnik, Books

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Just discovered that I can get (another) free trial at Audible.com. This means that I have 2 credits to use. I have a hankering for a good non-fiction aviation book. Fighter Pilot by Robin and Christina Olds is at the top of the list, as well as Viper Pilot by Dan Hampton.

Any other recommendations?

HammerheadFistpunch > Jcarr 07/30/2015 at 17:25

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do they have ben rich’s book skunk works? It’s a winner.

My hovercraft is full of eels > Jcarr 07/30/2015 at 17:31

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I might already have recommended these to you / here:

Jcarr > HammerheadFistpunch 07/30/2015 at 17:32

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Yes, added to the wish list. Good idea.

Brian, The Life of > Jcarr 07/30/2015 at 17:33

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Father of the Mother Planes by Col. Fitz Fulton. He was my sister’s father-in-law and a childhood hero of mine. It’s an autobiographic look at his fascinating career as a test pilot. He was a “big plane” specialist who flew well over 200 different aircraft including: SR-71, YF-12, B-52, B-58, XB-70 and flew the mothership on a lot of the early X plane tests (X-1 to X-15) as well as NASA’s 747 that was adapted for glide test/transport the Space Shuttle.

ttyymmnn > Jcarr 07/30/2015 at 18:04

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This post reminds me of just how little jet-pilot-book reading I’ve done. I can recommend Chickenhawk by Robert Mason. Mason (a pseudonym) was a Huey pilot flying slicks (passenger helos, not guns) in Vietnam, and the book covers his training at Ft. Rucker through his tour of Vietnam. It’s been 30 years since I read it, but I remember being blown away by it.

If WWII interests you, there is an excellent, two-volume history of the war in the air, titled Airwar , by Edward Jablonski. I’ve read it twice. It does not read like a history text.

I’ve heard good things about, but have not read, The Flying White House: The Story of Air Force One written by Ralph Albertazzie, a retired AF colonel and former commander of AF1. Amazon has copies for dirt cheap, but it only goes up through the Carter administration.

Not pilot related, but The Long Gray Line is fantastic. It follows the USMA class of 1966 through school and to Vietnam. And another Vietnam history I have read multiple times is Once A Warrior King about a young West Point grad who was sent to Vietnam to be the leader of a small American unit embedded in a Vietnamese village, where he and his team were supposed to coordinate fighting by the locals, with predictable results. But it’s a fascinating angle on the conflict we seldom hear about.

f86sabre > HammerheadFistpunch 07/30/2015 at 19:54

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Came here to post this. Awesome book.

f86sabre > Jcarr 07/30/2015 at 20:01

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The Martian. Fiction, but a great audible book.

Silent Service - Good sub book.

The Right Stuff. Read it as a teen, but never listened to the audible book

An Astronauts Guide to Life on Earth - Chris Hadfields book. Nuff said.

Packing for Mars - a funny look at space flight prep.

http://www.audible.com/pd/Bios-Memoir…

You can tell a Finn but you can't tell him much > Jcarr 07/31/2015 at 11:20

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Not sure if there is an audio book or how well this one would work as an audio book, but it is a great read.

http://www.amazon.com/Boyd-Fighter-P…

StingrayJake > Jcarr 07/31/2015 at 15:36

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The two you mentioned are great reads. Dan Hampton is actually an Aggie grad, which was reall cool for me. Gig ‘Em, Dan.

Aces High — About Richard Bong and Thomas McGuire, the top two scoring American aces of WWII

Yeager — Chuck Yeager’s autobiography. I know he’s kind of a polarizing figure in some circles but I thought it was a good read.

The Right Stuff — Great book about the Mercury astronauts. Somebody else already mentioned it.

To Fly & Fight — Bud Anderson’s autobiography. He was in the same squad as Yeager and was an excellent pilot in his own right. It’s an excellent read and probably my favorite of the pilot books I’ve read. There’s some crossover in stories between this and Yeager and it’s interesting to see the differences.

Viggen > Jcarr 08/01/2015 at 19:09

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I highly recommend When Thunder Rolled by the late Ed Rasimus. It’s his memoirs of flying the Republic F-105 Thunderchief in Vietnam.

Also, I recommend Vipers of the Storm by Keith Rosenkranz, an F-16 pilot in Desert Storm.