Old Book Gems

[rwanttaja]

In a separate thread, Aaron Novak posted about finding an old book about EAA Oshkosh, dating back in the '80s.

I love going through old book stores, and you can find some real gems. One book was written by current EAA author Budd Davisson, called "The World of Sport Aviation." It was published in 1982, and is a really neat snapshot of homebuilts, antiques, classics, and ultralights. You can often find this book in the used book stores...scarf it up!

Janes published a Guide to Homebuilt Aircraft in the 60s or 70s, and have been keeping my eyes open for a copy.

What other "book gems" have folks come across...or neat books to watch for?

Ron Wanttaja

[Victor Bravo]

A Gift of Wings, by Richard Bach. It was (truly) a life-changing experience for me in high school. I even got to shake his hand and thank him a couple of years ago. If you ever run across a copy in a used book store, snap it up, even if you have ten copies of your own. Makes a great gift, and can change someone's life.

[WLIU]

I second that recommendation. Richard Back's early stuff about being a fighter pilot and then discovering the joys of general aviation are wonderfully raw and genuine.

Best of luck,

Wes
N78PS

[Kurt Flunkn]

In my personal collection are:

Fluid-dynamic Drag by Hoerner $$$
Aircraft Structures by Peery $$$
Aircraft Structures by Bruhn $$$$
Airframe Structural Design by Niu $$
Aircraft Performance Stability & Control by Perkins & Hage $$
Aircraft Design (vol. 1 - 8) by Roskam $$$$
Theory of Wing Sections by Abbott & Von Doenhoff $

....which is more than enough info to design just about anything. :)

But some of my non-technical favorites include "The Great Book of WWII Airplanes" and a bunch of stuff by Bill Gunston (who has written over 350 books!).

[dewi8095]

Don't forget Frank Kingston-Smith's Week-End Pilot first published in 1957 with subsequent editions. And for the x-country aficionados, I recommend Rinker Buck Flight of Passage and Mariana Gosnell Zero 3 Bravo all guaranteed to make us wish all we had to do was fly around the country coast-to-coast.

Don

[Victor Bravo]

X2 on Flight of Passage !

Where the hell are all those movie rights buyers when we need them?

[Joe LaMantia]

Hey Ron,

I've got "Log Book" by Foster Lane of "Lane Aviation" 1977, and an all time favorite for EAA'ers "KitPlane Construction" by some unkown guy named Ron, 1991!

Joe
;)

[cub builder]

How about a new book, "Yardarm and Cockpit", now available on Amazon. Chronicles both the sailing adventures and aviation adventures of a guy that has flown just about everything with wings and a round engine. I thought it was a fascinating read.

-CubBuilder

[Tom Charpentier]

Flight of Passage was one of my favorite books growing up and probably my biggest inspiration to stay interested in aviation through my adolescence. I just finished rereading it for probably the tenth time. The book does a great job of capturing the innocent romanticism of flying a vintage airplane across the country, and it's that kind of thing that really drew me, and I suspect a lot of other people, to flying.

In an odd coincidence, a few years ago while I was working on my private I found out that Rinker and I both went to the same tiny college (this was after I had already graduated).

I too am looking forward to the movie someday!

[Adam Smith]

Students of the history and culture of EAA will find "This is EAA" by Duane Cole to be an interesting read, covers the first 20 years. An eye-opener for me was learning how the hardcore homebuilders tried to throw Paul Poberezny out when he started broadening the scope of EAA to include other types of aircraft...

[BeagleOne]

I have a 1943 copy of Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo. Pretty cool.

[Ken Mercer]

"Nothing by Chance" by Richard Bach is my all-time favorite, but Gordon Baxter's "Bax Seat: Log of a Pasture Pilot" got me into aviation (when they first appeared as columns in Flying mag)...

[danielfindling]

All time favorite aviation book: Fate is the Hunter

Best used bookstore find: Flying the Old Planes by Frank Tallman.

Daniel

[Victor Bravo]

Tallman autographed a copy of his book to me when I was a kid. Wonderful look back into the personalities of old airplanes.

Another real gem is "Wings of the Weird and Wonderful" by Eric Brown. One of the great British test pilots, flew all of the classic WW2 aircraft and then some. The book is about his exploration of the oddballs and downright strange experimental flying machines, as well as a few conventional but funky greats like the Fieseler Storch. Wonderful reading!

His description of the delightful little Winter Zaunkonig German runabout being as close to "idiot-proof" as possible is very interesting. Kind of like a Heath Parasol or Pober Pixie, but done with European flair and very docile handling.

[Dana]

Ditto on Richard Bach's early stuff, especially "Biplane". Any of Ernest Gann's flying books. Lindbergh's Spirit of St. Louis. Flying the Old Planes by the late great Frank Tallman. Anything by Saint-Exupéry. Some overlapping books by Don Dwiggins about the barnstormers (the only title i can recall is The Air Devils). I'm still looking for a copy of Wolfgang Langeweische's A Flier's World that I read in high school (and, of course, every pilot should have a copy of his Stick and Rudder). His son William's Inside the Sky is a fascinating account of (among other things) deliberately going IFR into truly bad weather just for the experience. Some I've read recently, can't recall the authors and too lazy to go over to my bookshelf, are Global Flyer (around the world in an ultralight), On a Wing and a Prayer (ditto, but across the southern US), Propellerhead (guy learns to fly to impress girls).

[skier]

A few of my favorites:

The Al Mooney Story: They All Fly Through the Same Air by Gordon Baxter
Wings of Tomorrow by Juan De La Cierva
Flight of Passage by Rinker Buck
From Autogyro to Gyroplane, The Amazing Survival of an Aviation Technology by Bruce H. Charnov

Though I don't know German, this is one of my most prized books. I want to find someone to translate it for me someday. The autobiography of the designer of the BV-141
Weltumspannende Memoiren eines Flugzeugkonstrukteurs by Richard Vogt

I may add more to the list later.