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#4334521 - 02/03/17 11:47 PM Re: Please recommend good aviation/air combat story books ***** [Re: Juggernaut]  
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Lifer

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Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

Someday your life will flash in front of your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.
Inline advert (2nd and 3rd post)

#4415539 - 04/09/18 09:01 PM Re: Please recommend good aviation/air combat story books [Re: Juggernaut]  
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Tanker Pilot by Mark Hasara really is outstanding. Highly Recommended!
ISBN 978-5011-8166-5

[Linked Image]

Quote
From a veteran air-refueling expert who flew missions for over two decades during the Cold War, Afghan War, and Iraq War comes a thrilling eyewitness account of modern warfare, with inspirational stories and moral lessons for people on the battlefield, in boardrooms, and in their everyday lives.

Get a glimpse of life in the pilot’s seat and experience modern air warfare directly from a true American hero. Lt. Col Mark Hasara—who has twenty-four years experience in flying missions around the world—provides keen and eye-opening insights on success, failure, and emphasizes the importance of always being willing to learn.

He provides twelve essential lessons based on his wartime experience and his own personal photographs from his missions during the Cold War, Gulf War, and Iraq War.


Service To The Line,
On The Line,
On Time

US Army Ordnance Corps.
#4415682 - 04/10/18 02:44 PM Re: Please recommend good aviation/air combat story books [Re: Juggernaut]  
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The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain - Stephen Bungay

[Linked Image]
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Most-Dangerous-Enemy-History-Britain/dp/1845134818

An modern view of Battle or Britain, washing out several of their myths.

#4464668 - 03/09/19 08:51 AM Re: Please recommend good aviation/air combat story books [Re: Juggernaut]  
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I''ll have to check that out Sokol1.

I can recommend anyone to read;
With Wings Like Eagles - A History of the Battle of Britain by Michael Korda

Although its not a 'fighter pilot's' or 'combat narrative' type of book. Its more of an behind the scenes overview of the what, why and how of the battle. Notwithstanding its short sections on some of the chronology of some critical days events.

I briefly reviewed here at SimHQ:
With Wings Like Eagles - Michael Korda

Basically the Korda book is very short but also has some myth debunking.

Quote

"..Although it is usual to portray the Battle of Britain as a kind of.. David and Goliath.. The reality is that.. (aside from the nearly 1000 serviceable bombers avialable to the Germans.. August 10,1940. ) the number of single-engine fighters.. available..

805 serviceable Bf 109's vs Dowding's 749 Hurricanes and Spitfires..

...the additional 224 Bf110's ..far from being an asset, would themselves require the protection of the single-engine Bf 109's to survive in air combat..

(and)
Quote


..In pilot strength, ...
...The actual number of German Fighter Pilots available was roughly similar..

As far as the author's credibility and research; its top-notch.
I doubt very much anyone who reads this book thoroughly will be missing the actual facts of the exact why and exactly how the battle was in fact won by the RAF / Britts.
..including critical factors like the weather and timing, misconceptions etc.
Especially made clear are the all-important role of both Sir Hugh Dowding and his foresight and genius.

Quote

"Throughout 1936 and 1937 Dowding painstakingly built the foundations of his strategy to protect England, putting pieces together like those of a gigantic three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. Almost as soon as he took command he sent in a modest request for (L)500 to construct his Operations Room at Bentley Priory.. to give him something that had existed before only in the form of sets for a futuristic film like 'Things to Come'..
..in the mid 1930's it was the only things of its kind in the world.


As well as the shortcomings of the enemy and specifically key points of how their bad their planning, timing and illogical objective changes were.

#4464769 - 03/09/19 10:30 PM Re: Please recommend good aviation/air combat story books [Re: Juggernaut]  
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If I have not mentioned this book I apologize, it is a gem

https://www.amazon.com/Little-Friends-Fighter-Experience-England/dp/0394584341


What kind of car is that? What does it matter? When I drive it, I'm Steve McQueen
#4464871 - 03/10/19 08:32 PM Re: Please recommend good aviation/air combat story books [Re: oldgrognard]  
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Originally Posted by oldgrognard


Yes, this is not just a good read, it's the very best fighter pilot memoir I have ever read or ever hope to read, by a wide margin. Best to get the unabridged edition - when I got this I was very disappointed the find my 1970s paperback left out not just biographical and training details (like a humorous incident with an instructor in a Tiger Moth) but some significant air action. Nobody with an interest in WW2 in the air should miss out on reading this book. The air to air and air to ground actions are described wonderfully - it's like you are there, seeing and experiencing what Clostermann saw and experienced.


SimHQ Battle of Britain II screenshots thread
CombatAce Mission Reports
"Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth." (attributed to Marcus Aurelius)

#4466958 - 03/22/19 02:07 AM Re: Please recommend good aviation/air combat story books [Re: Juggernaut]  
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Has already mentioned Open cockpit and No Parachute by Arthur Gould Lee are must reads,The big show is excellent along with classics like Enemy coast ahead.

My personal favourite in WW2 is this..Scramble,its a fantastic book.

This is a fighter pilot’s memoir of four tumultuous years, 1938–1942, when he was first trained, then fought and survived in not one but two of the biggest aerial campaigns of the war, the Battle of Britain and the equally epic, but lesser known, Siege of Malta.

When the Germans were blitzing their way across France in spring 1940, Pilot Officer Tom Neil had just received his first posting – to 249 Squadron. Nineteen years old and fresh from training, he was soon to be pitched into the maelstrom of air fighting on which the very survival of Britain would come to depend. By the end of the year he had shot down thirteen enemy aircraft, seen many of his friends killed, injured or burned, and was himself a wary and accomplished fighter pilot.

Out of the frying pan and into the fire, Tom was then shipped off to the beleaguered island of Malta to face a second Luftwaffe onslaught. Again heavily engaged, he shot down another enemy fighter and survived a number of engine failures and other emergencies.

Now ninety-six, he is one of only a handful of Battle of Britain veterans still alive and this vivid memoir is his last word on his fighter pilot experiences.





[Linked Image]


They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
#4468098 - 03/29/19 09:21 PM Re: Please recommend good aviation/air combat story books [Re: Juggernaut]  
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I have two excellant books dealing with the air to ground war during and after the Normandy landings. One is by a British Spitfire pilot who flew with the 2ND Tactical Air force. Spitfire Diary. It's by E.A.W. Smith. It doesn't show the whole affair as an exciting adventure. Rather, he paints a, sometimes sobering, picture of a dangerous wartime assignment. Another is in the same vain but is by an American P-47 pilot with the 9TH Air Force. P-47 Pilots: The Fighter Bomber Boys. They are both very detailed accounts of the life of a WW2 fighter bomber pilot.


"From our orbital vantage point, we observe an earth without borders, full of peace, beauty and magnificence, and we pray that humanity as a whole can imagine a borderless world as we see it, and strive to live as one in peace."
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#4511774 - 03/19/20 08:06 PM Re: Please recommend good aviation/air combat story books [Re: Juggernaut]  
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I have read a few books on The Battle of Britain that I recommend.

The Battle of Britain, by Richard Hough and Denis Richards

The Few, by Alex Kershaw

A Summer Bright and Terrible, by David Fisher

Thought A Summer Bright and Terrible one of the best written. Good background information, and how Britain prepared for the coming air war.

#4515094 - 04/07/20 11:20 AM Re: Please recommend good aviation/air combat story books [Re: KingKat2]  
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Stuka Attack by Any Saunders - details the contribution of the Stuka to the Battle of Britain. Dispels the odd myth.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Stuka-Atta...+paperback&qid=1586258416&sr=8-1


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Always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
Elie Wiesel. Romanian born Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, Holocaust survivor. 1928 - 2016.

Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. C.S. Lewis, 1898 - 1963.
#4517178 - 04/19/20 11:06 AM Re: Please recommend good aviation/air combat story books [Re: Sokol1]  
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Originally Posted by Sokol1
The Most Dangerous Enemy: A History of the Battle of Britain - Stephen Bungay

[Linked Image]
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Most-Dangerous-Enemy-History-Britain/dp/1845134818

An modern view of Battle or Britain, washing out several of their myths.


I heard about this book and I'll read it for sure
Thank you for recommendation

Last edited by JonathanHouse; 04/22/20 08:26 PM.
#4518967 - 05/01/20 09:59 AM Re: Please recommend good aviation/air combat story books [Re: Juggernaut]  
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Hi all,

Don't Let Them Bag The Nines.

I have just come across this book which is based on the diaries of a first world war bomber pilot. A different view from the many scout/ fighter books. I thought it worth posting, especially because the Kindle edition is very cheap on Amazon at the moment. Published in 2019.

From the blurb:

UNDISTURBED in an old First World War trunk were medals, logbooks, plane parts . . . and an old manuscript. This was the memoir of Captain Frederick Williams, who flew D.H.4s in photo reconnaissance and bomber raids over Germany.

Starting when he was stationed in Nancy in 1918 and ending with his return home with a Croix de Guerre and a DFC to his name, Captain Williams’ vivid descriptions place the reader right in the air alongside him, relaying the thoughts running through his head as events unfolded around him. It is an important insight into the early development of bomber raids within the RAF.

[Linked Image]

RedToo.


My 'Waiting for Clod' thread: http://tinyurl.com/bqxc9ee

Always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
Elie Wiesel. Romanian born Jewish writer, professor, political activist, Nobel Laureate, Holocaust survivor. 1928 - 2016.

Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts. C.S. Lewis, 1898 - 1963.
#4527702 - 06/27/20 04:48 PM Re: Please recommend good aviation/air combat story books [Re: Juggernaut]  
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1. Not a "combat" book but a great aviation book; "Hollywood Pilot "- Life of Paul Mantz. I knew is son Roy. He was my CO in 1966 here in Pensacola
2. "Flack Bait". Story of B26's in WWII. My uncle story is in the book. They were shot down an ditched in the Med
3. "Rickenbacker" his story- what a man! I have a signed copy of the book which was my dads
4. " I flew for the Fuhrer " story of a German Me 109 pilot from the Battle of Briton to the end of the war. Was shot down several times.


Pop
#4556239 - 02/15/21 08:03 PM Re: Please recommend good aviation/air combat story books [Re: Juggernaut]  
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A Thousand Shall Fall: The True Story of a Canadian Bomber Pilot in World War Two
by Murray Peden


I ran across a non illustrated epub edition on the net. Great narrative with intriguing wit.

#4557317 - 02/23/21 12:19 AM Re: Please recommend good aviation/air combat story books [Re: Wireman]  
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Originally Posted by Wireman
A Thousand Shall Fall: The True Story of a Canadian Bomber Pilot in World War Two
by Murray Peden


I ran across a non illustrated epub edition on the net. Great narrative with intriguing wit.


Wireman who?? winkngrin

Good to see ya alive a kickin man.


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#4567195 - 05/04/21 10:37 PM Re: Please recommend good aviation/air combat story books [Re: Juggernaut]  
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Lifer

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Nice to see Wireman. It’s been a while.


Good people sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.

Someday your life will flash in front of your eyes. Make sure it is worth watching.
#4569440 - 05/21/21 07:44 PM Re: Please recommend good aviation/air combat story books [Re: Juggernaut]  
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"Apache" by Ed Macy

and

"Dressed to Kill" by Charlotte Madison (first british Apache pilot).

They are both about the "Jugroom Fort" incident in Afghanistan.

Highly recommend.

Andy


Andy's simpit: http://www.simpit.me.uk
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