Aviation Books

I enjoy the book especially about the air war situation at Leyte Island in the Philippines during October through December 1944. However, I wish the author had given a complete casuality list of the 49th Fighter Group in terms of the following items:

1) Killed in action by air combat.
2) Killed by ground fire or by gunfire from enemy ship.
3) Killed in flying accidents due to the conditions of the airstrip on Leyte Island or because of enemy action.

4) Orignial group who start off at the Leyte airstrip in October through December 1944 and how many were left?

5) How many replacements did the 49th Fighter Group recieved and how many died in action or in flying accidents due to enemy action or some other mishap during the same time period?

If they tried to emphasize these battles like a meat grinder, then please give a complete casuality list; otherwise, the only time I hear of a meat grinder battle is those fought by the Germans since we have no hestitation about printing the German dead, wound, and POWs.

They should have made books like this years ago. Then we would know the horrors of World War II instead of glorying it through our culture for the last 62 years.

In the book Kenney Reports, Colonel Merian Cooper, who was General Kenney Chief of Staff, had worried that we were sticking our necks out if we invade Leyte. After reading Jungle Ace and some other books about how the Army had failed to secure a quick capture of the island, Col. Cooper was right. The battle of Leyte Island went on for nearly three months which was just as long as the battle for Normandy. After their defeat at the Battle of Leyte Gulf, the Japanese had other chances to destroy our shipping and airfields in order to bring the American invasion of the Philippines to the point of defeat if they had use their air power more efficiently.

My uncle is the Stanley Johnson briefly referenced in this book, who went MIA in Nov '43 while flying as Maj Bong's wingman. Somehow I feel he would have been honored to read this book. I wish my grandparents (his folks) could have read it too. It helps me to better understand what his final months were like, and what he and the others there accomplished. Thank you, Mr Bruning.

Just finished reading this book a few days ago, and I've got to say that it's one of the best WWII non-fiction books I've ever read. Not only is it easy to read and exciting, but Mr. Bruning skillfully covers some of the more technical aspects of Johnson's air combat battles.

Good for hard-core WWII air combat nuts (like me!) as well as the average reader. Anyone with any interest in combat aircraft, WWII, or great reading material in general will love this book!

-Scott Rudi

What Bruning has done in "Jungle Ace" is remarkable: he manages figuratively to bring to full flesh-and-blood life a man who has been dead for nearly 60 years. When I finished reading this biography, I felt I knew and understood Gerry Johnson: felt the weight of the command burden he carried, the exhilaration of victory in combat, the self-doubt when losses occurred, the grinding boredom of life in the SWPA, and the never-ending homesickness. I also got a sense of what he would be like in different situations: as a friend, as a commander, as a classmate.

This is exceedingly hard to do, but Bruning has done it: he somehow got long-ago memories jumpstarted, got people talking. While I accept that some of the quoted conversations probably did not take place word for word as presented, I feel the approach helps the book make the man more real. Charles Martin, in his bio of Tom McGuire, did the same thing, and it worked for both authors.

Thanks, Mr. Bruning for bringing a too-little known hero to light. You can be sure that my children will read about Gerry Johnson. When will you write another aviation biography? How about Charles H. MacDonald of the 475th FG?

Col Johnson was probably the best pilot of WWII. He was a P-38 pilot in the South Pacific and became a full Colonel and had 24 victories by the time he was 24 years old. It is a compelling true story with a tragic ending. I am very pleased this book was written because so few people have ever heard of this great leader,

This is a great book for anyone considering building their own airplane, it goes into great detail about every facet of building your own plane, and excellent book!

An amazing amount of information for the homebuilder. Very well written, entertaining and up to date.

This is another great addition to my library. Very informative, I really like the case studies.

The book helped me most in the following areas:

1) What is involved in kitplane construction - risks and benifits, even the benifits of purchasing a used certified aeroplane.
2) Showed me how to think in terms of aviation building with safety as a priority.
3) Covers info from the kit purchase stage to the test flight.
4) Emphasized that it is helpful to understand all forms of construction (metal, wood) no matter what kind of aeroplane you are building. The book covers composite, metal, metal monocoque, wood construction.

This is a must buy for people who are wondering what it takes to build a kitplane and are undecided about whether they should build one.

This book is not biased in stating everyone can build a homebuilt. Infact early on Ron makes it clear that homebuilding is not for everyone. He takes you through the different construction materials as well as things that you don't think about. The case studies are what realy makes this book standout. These are planes being built by people with the same amount of aircraft construction as any person contemplating building.

The Airlife's Airliner series of books cover individual commercial aircraft types in an interesting, in-depth manner.

Each volume of this British series covers a unique commercial aircraft type from its design, production, entry into service, its usage by airlines, and in some cases eventual demise.

Each volume features plenty of color and black and white photographs of the subject aircraft along with a complete construction list (accurate to date of publication for aircraft types still being built).

This volume covers the Lockheed L1011 TriStar widebody airliner ... including all of its variants and provides an interesting look at the genesis of this long-range airliner.

Considered the most advanced jetliner ever produced (even to this day) the Lockheed L1011 is the story of mis-steps ... production snafus and the lack of proper market analysis. Unfortunately hese wonderful and comfortable machines are becoming harder and harder to find as they are replaced with the current generation of airliners ... however, the photos provided in this volume will help one remember a time when the giant tri-jets rules the skies of the world.

The L-1011 was the most advanced airliner of its era. Advanced aerodynamics,avionics found on other planes only after 10 years, and a thoroughly designed structure, all these features were peculiar for the TriStar, and are well described in this well researched book. Mr. Birtles write in a fluent but authoritative style, and the book is also filled with many colour photos, albeit some on the grained side. A nice work for all the "TenEleven" fans.

Of all the airliner types I have ever flown, the L-1011 remains my all time favorite. The Lockheed beauty was the most graceful, yet agile plane I ever flew, and I miss her every time I take to the sky. In this book, Philip Birtles does the L-1011 justice with an in-depth look at the history of the program, operators, technical specifications, a production list, and a concise accident summary.

In general, the "Airliner Color History" series is quite good, but this volume on the L-1011 sets the bar. This is the gold standard of TriStar books. Anyone from an aerospace historian to a pilot, to an L-1011 devotee will love this book. It features very accurate and fairly detailed information (although not to the level of a Pilot Operations Manual, of course), and superb photography, mostly in color.

To me the L-1011 will always be the Queen of the Sky. The TriStar was the best designed, safest, best flying plane ever built, and many of the systems (like the DLC and Autoland) are still unrivalled for technical excellence. Whether you are an old TriStar fan, or you just want to learn about Lockheed's greatest marvel, this is a great addition to your library!

This title is an excellent begining to anyone who wants to understand the L-1011. From its inception to its continued airline service and service with the RAF, the program is detailed to the nth degree. Filled with wonderful and lovely color photos as well as numerous technical illustrations, this book is turely and avaition afficinatos tribute to a wonderful and beautiful aircraft. They don't make them like this anymore.

A wonderful book detailing the development and uses of the Lockheed L-1011 Tristar.. Sadly, most Tristars are disapearing from the skies due to their age and fuel consumption. This book explains the history and development of the aircraft very well. It is loaded with pictures of many of the carriers which were fortunate enough to fly this wonderful aircraft. A great book, I really enjoyed it.

Slat's was my Grandmother's brother and I used to really look forward to his visits. When the book was initially published she read it and told me it was all false - but then she went back to reread it and I remember her talking to herself about how she remembered it. i believe every word.

Slat's was a memorable character and this book would certainly made an excellent movie.

I am doing research on Slats Rodgers and would like to contact some of the above reviewers who knew Slats. If anyone out there would like to discuss Slats, please email me at: nickm@rgv.rr.com

My first encounter with the book came about through a pilot/mechanic friend who knew Slats pretty well back in the day, and loaned me an original copy in the early 1980's.
I was so taken with the story,it's humor and narrative honesty I asked to borrow it again, and have fantasized for years since about trying to arrange a proper screenplay and justly present it. Unfortunately I'm not aware of any skills in that regard. Nonetheless I would be thrilled to be involved in it.
My friend has since died, however I know other people who knew Slats as well also, and are still living and get excited every time his name is mentioned.
His story is a treasure, and he is truly one of my all time heros........

My Grandfather knew Slats and I still have an autographed copy of the book. Every summer from 1955 until 1962 my family would trek from Oklahoma to the cottage at Port Isabel, TX. Old Soggy No. 1 was always the first book I read that vacation. From this book I developed a life long love of aviation. I concur with one of the other reviews, this book should be made into a movie. It would be a very tough movie to do well, though.

Slats is my grandfather by marriage when he married my grandmother and his adopted son still lives in San Marcos, Tx and adopted daughter in Temple, Tx. His worldly ways has inspired his living family. We are all so proud of him and his contribution to the aviation history here in Texas. We would like to know more of his escapades from friends of long ago. This book only touches his highlites and I am sure there are many more stories to be told. We would like to hear about them.

In my search to learn more about the era and the war I almost joined, I've read a lot of book about the war in Vietnam, including many specifically about the air war, and the pilots who fought it. "On Yankee Station" stands out from the pack. It's not the usual "There I was at 20,000 feet.." memoir; this is a critical look at the global strategy and the local tactics of the Vietnam war told by someone who had a unique view from the cockpit. It's also a blistering critique of the men who sent them to Vietnam, and manuy of those who commanded them- men that the authors see as dangeous amateurs, incompetant in the art of war, who needlessly wasted lives with arbitary rules. Well worth reading.

This remains one of the best books about the Vietnam War and the Air War in particular. I read this book again and again. All Naval Aviators (including us Marines) should have this book in their library. Find a copy before it becomes impossible to do so. I don't think I have read a more honest, focused and reasoned book about the war. Good combat descriptions, artfully done. Excellent comments about morale. And brutally accurate accounts relating to wartime leaders, and specific consequences of their folly.

This work is a clear-headed, no holds barred look at the Vietnam air war from the naval perspective. Don't let its even tone fool you. It cuts to the bone and damns by simple observation, with no need for editorializing by the authors. It points up the facts, fictions, failures and achievements of the naval air war against North Vietnam in a quick, easy style, with superb organization and excellent supporting material in the appendices. Any student of the Vietnam air war who misses this title is not a serious person. It is required reading on the subject, and should be complemented by Marshal Michel's "Clashes" for the USAF side of the story.

John Nichols, callsign "Pirate," folded his wings in September 2004. OYS remains his testament to those naval aviators who follow in his slipstream.

I never had a better friend. And neither did anyone else.

This book on the naval air war over Vietnam should be required reading not only for all military pilots, but for every military and civilian official who is involved in planning strategy, tactics, or military weapon procurement.
But don't get the idea it's a boring book; besides giving the reader a clear view of what happened in the air over Vietnam, the author makes his points in a very readable fashion, not by preaching but by simply pointing out what we did, and why we could have done so much better -- in the conduct of the war, in providing better (often SIMPLER) equipment, and in better training.
It's definitely worth obtaining from an out-of-print dealer or from your library. Even if you have no connection with the military, this will expand your understanding of that period in US history.

Should you consider reading only one book about the U.S. helicopter pilots in South-Vietnam that bravely fought almost 40 years ago, then, "Pucker Factor 10" is the best choice.
Mr. James Joyce there flew the two most used types: "slicks" and "gunships" thus covering two major aspects of the tactical helicopter warfare successfully used in SEA. This is what this book tells you.

I had to choose a war memoir for a term paper this semester in my english class...and I was very happy that I chose to read Pucker Factor 10. The book is very enlightening, and an interesting read. I found myself always WANTING to read more. James Joyce is a wonderful writer and he reveals emotions and specifics of war that you dont even realize. I highly suggest this book to everyone. I normally dont read memoirs like this but after reading his I want to read more!

James Joyce has written a truly excellent book. Mr. Joyce has successfully included every human emotion possible. His real life experiences are a combination of both desperate hours and uplifting moments, with a side of unmistakable humor. I would recommend this book to anyone remotely interested in the Vietnam era. Definately a MUST READ.

As a woman reader I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I learned so much in this book, about flying, Vietnam, rats (UGH) I knew it was hard over there but didn't really realize some of the hardships till I read this book. The author's writing is very easy to understand, you don't need a dictionary beside you, and the humour was great. You got some really good laughs and some sadness also. I would highly recommend this book to anyone.

I'm not normally a reader of non-fiction war stories, especially in first person, but "Pucker Factor 10" caught my attention from the beginning all the way to the very end. Joyce brings the reader into the realm of realism, from family history, personal apprehensions, his somewhat inadvertant role as a helicopter pilot during the heat of battle, his impressions of soldiers and his humanity toward the enemy which brings chills to the reader. Meanwhile, just when I least expected, I found myself belly laughing his wit. This book is a must for anyone who enjoys true-to-lie accounts of how it was in the air trenches.

I am a retired fighter pilot with over 5000 hours of fighter time including 1200 in the Thud. I find Col Broughton's books to be required reading for those wanting to be a fighter pilot or for those that think they are. While his books are outstanding narratives of fighter pilot action they are more than that. They talk about leadership, loyalty, professionalism and a personal code of standards. I was a Fighter Wing Commander and I hope I exhibited some of those traits that Col Broughton expoused. Well done - Col Broughton!

Really enjoyed this - maybe because I'm an old fighter pilot from the Vietnam/NATO era also. This remembrance doesn't have the riveting narrative of the first two tales from Thud Ridge, but the anger is no longer so strong all these years later.

I still chafe with the repulsive attitude of senior USAF leaders that sacrificed Broughton and his Wing Commander for politics. Only the traitorous Congress that deserted the RVN when Nixon's attention was diverted by Watergate was worse. Shame, shame. Never forget, never forgive this disgrace to American history.

Col. Broughton has done a superb job sharing the rest of his aviation career with aviation enthusiasts. This book details the MANY assignments he was fortunate (and unfortunate enough, in some cases) to have throughout his incredible career as a warrior/fighter pilot and HERO.

Those who have read the classics "Thud Ridge" and "Going Downtown" know well of his efforts for this country in the Thud. This latest treasure will leave you shaking your head with amazement and, yes, envy, at the roads he has traveled.

Of particular interest are the no-frills details of many of the difficulties higher echelons created. Common sense had no relevance to many of these "superiors" as they sought to get the necessary boxes checked with little regard for common sense or even, their men.

As ex-AF, I can say the book is a truly endearing no-nonsense, genuine description of life in the AF -and against- the powers-that-be, both in and out of the military.

Many thanks for sharing these stories of an incredible career.

I met "Thud Ridge" in the Grand Forks AFB library while in high school, just before Dad retired at nearly 22 years and that many thousand hours, most of them spent telling tanker pilots where to go. It was a long wait for "Going Downtown", and this latest was also worth the wait. Col. Broughton tells it like it was, and unfortunately often is, and after all, that's bureaucracy. One great anecdote concerns...heck, they're all good reading.
From a shop steward in another bureaucracy, fighting to improve efficiency despite the "overhead", as we in the field called them in the USFS...

This is the third book by Colonel Broughton that I have read (the first being "Thud Ridge" and the second, "Going Downtown"), and as always, I found it extraordinarily well written. His previous books provided us with the real soundtrack of flying combat missions over "The North". With "Rupert Red Two", Col. Broughton gives depth and colors to a true Air Force warrior pilot. I couldn't put that book down and, in fact, ordered several copies for friends and family members alike. All in all, I found the book thoroughly enjoyable and learned a lot about the 50's and 60's U.S. Air Force. Honor, Duty, Country - those aren't just words for men like Broughton, they are the very meaning of their lives. And they all paid a price for it, sometimes, at the hands of their own chain of command... A must read!

The "Saving Our Teen Drivers: Using Aviation Safety Skills on the Roadways" book was one of just a few excellent reference sources for my safe driving CD "Mind the Road - Mind the Road: Waking Hypnosis for a Conscious Commute. The advice and recommendations from this book reinforces the suggestions my audio CD gives to drivers as they start their drive to have a safe and focused drive. I would highly recommend this book with my audio CD to help drivers be prepared for what potentials the road may present to them.

Teens as well as their parents will find John Loughry's Saving Our Teen Drivers an excellent life saving resource. Loughry's use of aviation safety skills in relation to the teen driving issue brings a fresh, unique approach beyond the typical driver's education that most teens will experience. It is packed full of information to help keep your teen driver alive. As someone who has worked with teens in the education of safe driving, I would highly recommend this book and consider it a must read for parents as well as teens.

This book offers easy to follow advice on how to keep our kids ALIVE behind the wheel. Today's teens have more distractions than ever while driving. And they think they're invincible. We grown ups know better. I loved the examples and descriptions. Really useful information. Your kids should read this the month BEFORE they get their permits.

As parents of five young children, my wife and I have decided to make this book required reading prior to allowing our kids to get their permits. These pilot awareness concepts and training techniques are a perfect application for helping all drivers stay safe while on the road.

We have all read text books, instructional publications or technical manuals that are just plain boring. This author's style of intermixing stories from his flying experience keeps the book entertaining and makes it easy to relate to real life experiences. This is not the standard dry, preachy, recitation of the same old driving rules. This book should be manditory reading not only for new drivers but anyone with a less than stellar driving record regardless of age.

This brief, handsome, book explains a few of the basic mathematical principles governing speed and efficiency of flight. You don't need anything more advanced than high school algebra to comprehend the material but you, like me, may have to work a little bit if you haven't used math in a while. The author focuses on birds and jets but mentions insects, human powered aircraft, gliders, kites, and even pteranodon's. I found the treatment of the force triangle obscure (the skating analogy didn't help). I also wish the author had developed more topics (for example, I was left wondering why an angle of attack of 6 degrees is common).

It's a pity that Tennekes moved to the USA, State College, Pennsylvania. If he had stayed in Holland and become a professor in Delft, graduating in aerospace engineering would have been much easier for me. This guy loves aircraft more than mathematics ! The best place to read this book is during a long trip on a 747

General readers interested in learning the basics behind the physics of flying won't need to look any further than this slim volume from Prof. Henk Tennekes. In addition to being a fine introduction to how things fly, the book is a quick and easy read at only 130-odd pages.

The book's final chapter, devoted to the Boeing 747 and its competitors, makes a compelling argument that the 747 is the most most efficient and well engineered plane in history.

Since years I love the aviation, only for curiosity I bought this book, and in one morning I've enjoyed too much and learnt a lot about aerodynamics, fuel consumption, the migration of birds(really interesting), the forces in skating! etc. It is a book with of 120 pages really educative and comprenhensible, all questions I made in my mind reading the book were answered a few pages ahead. If you are interested in planes, want to know how simple they fly, even loose the fear, and learn all this in easy way and learn about more things you never thought in relation with planes, this is your book. Is any commision for me??hahaha.
Enjoy it.

This delightful little book is an introduction to some major aspects of flight. Not all of them. There isn't much on strength of materials, for example. This book concentrates on the fundamental issues of how much power it takes to fly and what size a flying machine ought to be to make optimal use of its power. What makes the book so much fun is the inclusion of flight characteristics of birds and insects.

Tennekes starts with a chart of weight versus cruising speed for the insects, birds, and planes. Next, he discusses wing sizes. Then fuel consumption, strategies for takeoffs and landings, and gliding.

The author concludes with some praise for the design of the Boeing 747. All commercial passenger planes are best off flying as fast as possible without getting too near the speed of sound, so Mach 0.9 is best. These planes are best off flying high enough to take advantage of the cooler air and good weather: a height of 10 kilometers is ideal. To match the cruising speed with the optimal wing loading at that height, one gets an airplane which is roughly the size and shape of a Boeing 747.

I highly recommend this book.

I love to read about women war workers of WW2. I have many books about the subject and this is hands down my favorite. Perfectly written. Very descriptive. Detailed. My only complaint....it's not 500 more pages! It left me wanting more...much more. If the author ever reads these comments, I want to thank her for her service during the war. Way to go!

"Slacks and Calluses" was exactly what I'd hoped it would be and then some. The honest, unvarnished depiction of daily life for young women war workers at a bomber factory. The two women recount the insane process for getting their jobs (after an interview that consisted mainly of being asked, "Are you available? Good, you're hired.") and the many stations and stamps and officials that they were required to endure. Their training in building bombers was scant - they were responsible for not terribly important parts at first, but the parts still had to go on, and the factory had to have bodies to put them there.

Co-workers were - then as now - a collection of the hard working, the working hard at hardly working, the brilliant and the stupid. Bosses were much the same, but more to be listened too. Life outside the plant - the officers who were no gentlemen for refusing to give up bus seats to these women who were building 'their' bombers, the sadistic woman ice-cream vendor who flat out refused to serve the women, the never ending attempts to wash all the dirt, aluminum dust, grease, and oil from skin and hair, and the inability to have any time for a real life outside of work.

The authors were two high school teachers, who subjects - English and Art - made them the perfect duo to write this book.

Too often books are written solely because the author wants to; this book would have been missed by the world if not written.

LOVED this book. The author is the mother of one of my book club members and she came to the club meeting after we read the book. She is even more delightful in person, if you can believe it, even 60 years later. What a gem this book is and what a delight the author continues to be.

This is a wonderful little book! Written in an easy and unpretentious style, it has merit not just for "women's studies" readers, but for anyone interested in the nuts and bolts of period airplane manufacturing and indeed, the whole spirit of Homefront America in World War II. This book is both very entertaining and a real slice of "you are there" in a bygone era. Good history and good writing.

This book is a find--a first hand account of two Rosie the Riveters. The contemporaneous memoir of two school teachers who spent the summer of `43 building B-24s in San Diego fascinates with details--getting hired, what was security like in wartime factories, how were these two educated women treated differently when they donned slacks and became factory workers? The writing is quick and humorous, like Betty MacDonald's The Egg and I which has remained popular since 1945. Constance Bowman Reid's epilogue, written in 1999, is a touching finale. You'll want to know what she's been up to in the intervening 50 years.