Recommend the must read books on the topics of Boats, Planes and Trains. Mods would you sticky this thread.

Use the following format. Title, Author, Short synopsis (I've taken mine from Amazon to save time).

Planes

A

Airborne by Neil Williams. Long out of print, copies still available on eBay. A collection of essays by one of the definitive British competition and display aerobatic pilots of the latter half of the 20th Century. Worth it alone for his description of his first Spitfire flight.

B

C

Chickenhawk, Robert Mason.

A stunning book about the right stuff in the wrong war.

As a child, Robert Mason dreamed of levitating. As a young man, he dreamed of flying helicopters - and the U.S. Army gave him his chance. They sent him to Vietnam where, between August 1965 and July 1966, he flew more than 1,000 assault missions. In Chickenhawk, Robert Mason gives us a devastating bird's eye-view of that war in all its horror, as he experiences the accelerating terror, the increasingly desperate courage of a man 'acting out the role of a hero long after he realises that the conduct of the war is insane,' says the New York Times, 'And we can't stop ourselves from identifying with it.'


D

E

F

Fate is the Hunter, Ernest K. Gann

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Phantom over Vietnam, John Trotti.

An ex-Marine Corps fighter pilot vividly recounts his twelve years with the Corps, detailing his many missions during two tours of duty in Vietnam where he experienced the many horrors of war, the adrenalin rush of combat, and the emotional drama of saving lives.

Q

R

SSafety Last, Captain Brian? Powers. Development of safety in commercial airlines (or lack of it).

TTumult in the Skies, can't remember author, description of air combat in mustangs.

U

V

W

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Boats

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

Iron Coffins, Herbert Werner.

This is a story of triumph, disaster and eventual survival - against all odds. Herbert Werner was one of the few U-boat commanders whose skill, daring and incredible luck saw him safely through to the end of the war. His is an epic and chilling description of the fearful havoc wrought by one small U-boat on the Atlantic convoys. But easy success ebbed away in the face of ever-improving Allied detection and attack techniques. The hunters became the prey, to suffer appalling losses. Of 842 U-boats launched 779 were sunk, 'iron-coffins' to 28,000 men. Herbert Werner's graphic account of war waged from beneath the sea, of horror and cold, cruel death, is dedicated to the seamen of all nations who died in the Battle of the Atlantic.

J

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Q

R

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T

U

V

Vulcan 607, Rowland White.

Though the effectiveness of the Vulcan raids remains one of the lingering debates of the Falklands conflict, the tale of how this Cold War bomber was summoned from the brink of retirement to carry out a series of 8000 mile return missions in the twilight of its career is fascinating in itself. The Black Buck raids launched from Ascension Island over the Falkland Islands in 1982 were brave in the extreme, given that a lone Vulcan would require in-flight refuelling many times in order to complete its mission, and fly almost the entire distance over water. For the most part Vulcan 607 doesn't disappoint: describing the build up to the missions and the surprising number of hurdles that had to be overcome well. Rowland White's attention to detail and excellent research shows in every chapter.

W

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Trains

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B

C

D

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F

G

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Q

RRed for Danger, LTC "Tom" Rolt. Detailed yet readable account of the development of safety on the railways, broken down (no pun) into sections for ease of understanding. A good read even if you don't like railways!

S

T The wrong side of the rails, Christian Woolmer - fking good book this

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