The book recommendation thread for all things B,P and T
Archive #28488680
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
B
C
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
The story is told with references and stories throughout about the fantastic aircraft and their daring test pilots who risked their all for our advancement.
F
G
H
I
This book is an excellent, amazing, humorous, insightful, intelligent, considered, realistic and spot on account of what the boys and girls whop fly the RAF's Chinook Helicopters have achieved over there. It has been a long time telling and Hammond's book is the first account of Chinooks fighting in that war.
From the seat of your pants start to the clever and amusing ending it is a roller coaster read. With terrifying accounts of missions deep into the heart of the Taliban strongholds with RPG and tracer flying around (and sometimes through) the helicopters - like a scene from Star Wars, to the belly laughs of stealing the American HUMMER's or freezing a colleagues pistol in a block of ice, this book keeps you gripped from start to finish. It is genuinely difficult to put this book down (it took me a day and a half to read it from cover to cover). Not only does it put you in the cockpit of 20 tons of heavy machinery, but it makes you feel like you are the one being shot at! These people are real and are doing an incredible job and they have been done justice, I believe. Finally, I noticed on the inside back cover that a percentage of the profits is being donated to Help For Hero's who support our wounded Service Men and Women. A very worthy cause.
I commend you to buy it and make up your own mind, but you won't regret it. A modern classic, with a big thumbs up!
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
"I've read aviation books for well over 30 years and when I read Goodson, was amazed by it. Before joining the USAF, Goodson piloted Spitfires in the RAF. While Goodson's narrative is chronologically ordered, he breaks off at points and discusses individual pilots with whom he's flown. Humor, terror and tragedy and finally redemption rolls off his pen as he pays tributes to his fallen comrades. Goodson's score of 32 kills puts him among the highest of Allied fighter pilots but as the Strafing King, his try at a Me163 rocket fighter sitting on an airfield brings an end to his career as a fighter pilot and the begining of his career as a kreige (PoW slang for prisoner of war). Only his wits keeps him alive since Goodson was to be shot by the Gestapo as a terror-fleiger. A masterful story teller, Goodson's book belongs on your shelf."
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Boats
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Trains
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S Slide Rule - Nevil Shute
Fantastic insight to the early development of aircraft and the building of the R100
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Use the following format. Title, Author, Short synopsis (I've taken mine from Amazon to save time).
Planes
A
- Apache Dawn by Damien Lewis.
- Airborne by Neil Williams.
- Ace of the Eighth by Bud Fortier.
B
- Bomber Boys by Patrick Bishop.
- Black Hawk Down by Mark Bowden
C
- Chickenhawk by Robert Mason.
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
- Dr. Eckener's Dream Machine by Douglas Botting
E
- Empire of the Clouds: When Britain's Aircraft Ruled the World by James Hamilton-Paterson
The story is told with references and stories throughout about the fantastic aircraft and their daring test pilots who risked their all for our advancement.
F
- Fate is the Hunter by Ernest K. Gann
- Fighter Boys by Patrick Bishop
- First Light, Geoffrey Wellum
G
H
I
- Immediate Response by Major Mark Hammond
This book is an excellent, amazing, humorous, insightful, intelligent, considered, realistic and spot on account of what the boys and girls whop fly the RAF's Chinook Helicopters have achieved over there. It has been a long time telling and Hammond's book is the first account of Chinooks fighting in that war.
From the seat of your pants start to the clever and amusing ending it is a roller coaster read. With terrifying accounts of missions deep into the heart of the Taliban strongholds with RPG and tracer flying around (and sometimes through) the helicopters - like a scene from Star Wars, to the belly laughs of stealing the American HUMMER's or freezing a colleagues pistol in a block of ice, this book keeps you gripped from start to finish. It is genuinely difficult to put this book down (it took me a day and a half to read it from cover to cover). Not only does it put you in the cockpit of 20 tons of heavy machinery, but it makes you feel like you are the one being shot at! These people are real and are doing an incredible job and they have been done justice, I believe. Finally, I noticed on the inside back cover that a percentage of the profits is being donated to Help For Hero's who support our wounded Service Men and Women. A very worthy cause.
I commend you to buy it and make up your own mind, but you won't regret it. A modern classic, with a big thumbs up!
J
K
L
M
N
- Not Much Of An Engineer by Sir Stanley Hooker
- Never In Anger by Anthony "Bugs" Bendell
O
P
- Phoenix Squadron by Rowland White
- Phantom over Vietnamby John Trotti
Q
R
- Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut by Mike Mullane
- The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe
- Red Star in Orbit by James E Oberg
S
- Safety Last: The Dangers of Commercial Aviation - An Indictment by an Airline Pilot by Brian Power-Waters
- Skunk Works by Ben Rich.
- Stranger to the Ground by Richard Bach (of Jonathan Livingston Seagull fame)
- Sea Harrier Over the Falklands.
T
- Tumult in the Clouds by James Goodson
"I've read aviation books for well over 30 years and when I read Goodson, was amazed by it. Before joining the USAF, Goodson piloted Spitfires in the RAF. While Goodson's narrative is chronologically ordered, he breaks off at points and discusses individual pilots with whom he's flown. Humor, terror and tragedy and finally redemption rolls off his pen as he pays tributes to his fallen comrades. Goodson's score of 32 kills puts him among the highest of Allied fighter pilots but as the Strafing King, his try at a Me163 rocket fighter sitting on an airfield brings an end to his career as a fighter pilot and the begining of his career as a kreige (PoW slang for prisoner of war). Only his wits keeps him alive since Goodson was to be shot by the Gestapo as a terror-fleiger. A masterful story teller, Goodson's book belongs on your shelf."
- Team Tornado by Flt Lts John Peters and John Nichol
- Tail end Charlies: The last battles of the bomber war 1944-1945 by John Nichol & Tony Rennel
U
V
- Vulcan 607, Rowland White.
W
- Wings on my Sleeve. C
X
Y
Z
Boats
A
B
C
D
- Das Boot by Lothar-Günther Buchheim
E
F
G
H
- Hood and Bismark - The Deep-Sea Discovery of an Epic Battle by David Mearns and Rob White
I
- Iron Coffins by Herbert Werner.
J
K
L
- Left for Dead by Nick Ward
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
Trains
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
- Red for Danger by LTC "Tom" Rolt
S Slide Rule - Nevil Shute
Fantastic insight to the early development of aircraft and the building of the R100
T
- The wrong side of the rails by Christian Woolmer
U
V
W
X
Y
Z