Aviation Books

Kofschip said:
I used to read the Dutch translations in grade school, but in high school I rapidly switched over to the original English ones. They really helped me to learn the English language and they were FUN to read.:d
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I did the opposite when I finally got out of Dutch language school and over in Belgium. Comic books in Dutch taught me a lot on how the language is actually used. (more into Asterix and Lucky Luke at the time though)
 
Back on topic with the books. I find the reproduction Air Ministry Pilot's Notes booklets interesting reads on how the aircraft was actually operated. I've only got the one for Spitfire XIV & XIX, but need to get more for other RAF and FAA aircraft that I like to fly in FS as well. The AH Spit XIX can be flown pretty close to the book.

Also available for some American aircraft that Britain used as well as the Focke Wulf Fw 190 and Messerschmitt Bf 109 (I'm assuming these were for captured aircraft).
 
No new aviation books here, but I did preorder a book about the first hundred years of Dutch aviation. Hope it will arrive before christmas!

I'm also looking at good books about the 'Nachtjagd'; there's these two books in English by Theo Boiten (http://www.aviationmegastore.com/?s...f20716c&action=prodinfo&parent_id=0&art=78648 and http://www.aviationmegastore.com/?s...f20716c&action=prodinfo&parent_id=0&art=78649 ) which will set me back about €86/$112/72GBP, or alternatively there's this book in Dutch (Hussars of the night; http://www.aviationmegastore.com/?s...f20716c&action=prodinfo&parent_id=0&art=73701) which is part 1 of a two or three part series. This one is only slightly more expensive if there will be two books and a lot more if there will be three.
:)
 
Ferry, I have Nachtjagd by Theo Boiten. It is outstanding and I can recommend it. I bought it a long time ago, when it was more reasonably priced.:d

There is another book that is rather interesting, especially for Dutch people with past ties to Nederlands Oost Indie. It is "The Dutch Naval Air Force against Japan" (The Defense of the Netherlands East Indies, 1941-1942) by Tom Womack. It is by far the most comprehensive English language account of the Allied Naval air war in the Netherlands East Indies. The publisher is McFarland and ISBN 0-7864-2365-X. I obtained it a couple of years ago in Canada and it was I believe $39.50.
 
Thanks for the info; I found Womack's book too, but right now I'm more interested in the Nachtjagd. Former Fliegerhorst Deelen (And the 'Diogenes' command center) is less than 10 miles from here which make it slightly less 'ver van mijn bed'. ;)
What's weird is that about 7,500 aircraft, both German and allied, were shot down over Holland but yet there is almost nothing to be found about it in museums etc. There are one or two museums which have a small expo about recovered aircraft but that's it.

BTW another book on my short list is the autobiography of Wolfgang Falck: http://www.aviationmegastore.com/?s...f20716c&action=prodinfo&parent_id=0&art=44915

:)
 
I finally nabbed a copy of "European Transport Aircraft Since 1910". Won it on Ebay for $54.51 US. :applause: An early Christmas present.
 
Ferry, after WW II in The Netherlands there was no big drive to start museums relating to the war, in spite of the facts that the Dutch are probably the best collectors in the world, such as sigaren bandjes, etc. and have the most museums per capita. You will find the best museums relating to WW II in countries that were not occupied during that period. In Holland, the aircraft wreckage is considered more with a reference, a memorial to the crew members, at least that was the case in the '40s, '50s, and early '60s when I lived there.
 
Moses03 said:
I finally nabbed a copy of "European Transport Aircraft Since 1910".
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It's been a great help to me with some of your mysteries, and you paid a fair price - it's becoming very hard to get, as I'm sure you know.

I nabbed a spare copy of J.M.Bruce's Putnam 'British Aeroplanes 1914-18' for £36 on the Bay. Last copy I saw in my specialist bookshop was selling for a staggering £175.

Now have a little nest-egg of Putnams for eventual resale - a much better investment than most everything else these days. We old pensioners have to survive somehow !

Incidentally,the Bruce is one of the few books I have bought over the years that have the cigarette smoke problem. I have found that the tumble-dry sheets are quite effective in combating this (we call them Bounce here - don't know what they are in the States).
 
Well Santa brought no aviation books - except the ones I bought myself !

A 4-volume set of Heinz Nowarra's 'Deutsche Luftrüstung 1933-1945 now sits on my shelves. All I have to do now is learn some more German !

Also picked up on the Bay 'RAF and RCAF Nose Art' for about half its cover price. Interesting stuff.
 
Bit late in posting but haven't had interet on my computer for most of the holiday.

I got four books for christmas.

Westland Wessex Warpaint series.

Putnam Hawker Aircraft Both of these are very good as you would expect.

Control in the Sky L.F.E. Coombs An excellent book, has especially helped with my uni project on cockpits too.

Scorpions Sting:The story of 84 sqn Don Neate (Air Britain) This ones a really interesting read, I got it because our whirlwind was with them out in cyprus but the other bits I've dipped into are very good too. They have actually never been based on the uk mainland.
 
Added Picture History of Aviation on Long Island 1908-1938 by Dade and Strnad to the library. Found it for $7 at the local discount reseller. Filled with dozens of rare photos of American and foreign aircraft. (Savoia-Marchetti SM-55 docked in NY harbor for example). This one is right in my wheelhouse with my near obsessive interest in 1930's transports & airliners of late. Covers a lot of the comings and goings at Floyd Bennett Field.

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Can't say too much else because there will be some mystery planes pulled from it down the road. ;)
 
Gulp ! Just bid for a bound Aircraft Profiles 205-222 on the Bay, and it went for a mind-boggling £51 ($74), over three times what I thought it was worth.

Someone really wanted that book.............
 
This arrived in the mail today; The Last Flight of Bomber 31. Can't wait to get started on it. Always been interested in the far corners of WWII and the Aleutians were about as far as you could go. Covers the long-range Ventura & Harpoon missions over Japan in some of the worst conditions possible in any theater.

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A NOVA special on PBS first brought this story to my attention.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/bomber/
 
Finally bought myself the 'Nachtjagd war diaries' volume 1&2 written by Theo Boiten, and published by Red Kite. Had to drive all the way to Schiphol and back, but I managed to get the last complete set available!

I could have ordered the books online and had them delivered to my house, the last time I did that the idiot that was supposed to do that dropped an expensive book in the hallway in the apartment building where I lived because I was't at home at the time. Fortunately it was still there when I came home late that night but if I get half the chance I rather drive the 120+ miles and pick them up myself!

Great books btw, very detailed information on the nightfighters' operations. :applause:
 
For those of you who wondered why so many problems dogged Bomber Command and its equipment during WW2 I would thoroughly recommend 'The Relentless Offensive: War and Bomber Command' by Roy Irons.

This book details doctrine, research and armament development, and the foresight or lack thereof by individuals and various committees involved in making the Command a fighting force.
 
Picked up a couple of books at Waddington.

Rotorcraft of the Third Reich (not the mushroom one, the big thick one). Its one I've wanted for a while and it had about a third off. Haven't had time to read properly but looks excellent, as you'd expect it covers the main types in much more depth than the mushroom one (which is excellent as a quick reference) as well as covering a much wider range of types.

The other is the old Air Britain Hoverfly File. So far seems up to their usual standards which are pretty high.

Also got the new book from the author of Vulcan 607 but I'll post something about that if I ever get time to read it!
 
Picked up an interesting book today in a second hand bookshop (only cost £6.50 too)

Its called an introduction to Aeronautical Engineering- volume one: mechanics of flight.

The interesting thing is that its from 1936 (original edition was 32). Makes interesting reading how they explained things as opposed to modern textbooks. Obviously its largely similar, theres one or two things which are not technically correct like why the air accelerates over an aerofoil but on the whole its all very familiar right down to the diagrams. The confusing bit is numbers they use, I'm used to drawing in feet and inches and quoting knots and feet but have always converted to SI for calculating things, this is all in lb/ft3 etc.
 
I've just been working thru the list from Canav Books.
http://www.canavbooks.com/Booklist/
Mostly Larry Milberry stuff but there are a couple of others that I recommend - My Life in the North: Jack Lamb; Bush to Boardroom, Duncan McLaren - PWA

ALL of Don McVicar's books - From ferry command to making an airline, to racing Mossies postwar
http://www.donmcvicar.com/

and I've been looking for a set of three 'juvenile fiction' books from the 40's:The Steve Knight Flying Stories Series consisted of three volume series, set during World War II, and published by Grosset & Dunlap in 1941 and 1942. Author Ted Copp
They show on a couple of booksellers pages but then the page is dead or I've had no reply
 
Rob, you would have been proud of me. I just missed on Putnam's Canadian Aircraft Since 1909 over on Ebay last week. Tough one to track down.

In the meantime I have been slowly filling out my Juptner collection. Picked up U.S. Civil Aircraft Vol 2 for cheap.

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I like the later volumes better as the early ones tend to have a lot of Wacos and Travel Airs that all look the same.
 
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