For your reading pleasure

Flight Journal, Feb 2001 by Boyne, Walter J

The only real advantage to being a geezer is that you get to look back and see how things have changed. In my youth, it was possible, even on a very modest income, to buy every aviation book as it was published because there were so few. Today, dozens of excellent books appear almost daily, and it is impossible to keep up. For that reason, I thought it might be fun to go back in time and to select just one or two of the bestin my opinion-books from each of the main eras of flight. The choices were difficult to make, but space precludes a more comprehensive list. Before WW L The number of really readable books from this era is small, and they tend to be of an "early technical" nature.

* "Vehicles of the Air" by Victor Lougheed-a good reference published in 1909 and reprinted in 1995. This amazing compendium covers lighter-than-air and heavierthan-air craft and gives extensive details on engineering, materials and construction techniques used and flight capabilities. It surveys the major existing aircraft types and describes their unique qualities; home-builders found it a superb guide.

* "Monoplanes and Biplanes" by Grover Loening-an interesting alternative. World War I. This era engendered a host of personal memoirs.

a "No Parachute" by Arthur Gould Lee. * "Sagittarius Rising" by Cecil Lewis.

* "Winged Victory" by V.M. Yeates-a fast-paced, entertaining story of young pilots in an RAF Sopwith Camel squadron. It's curious that even though this is "fiction," I think it's the best book on WW I flying; it gives genuine insights into the life of an average fighter pilot. Yeates was ill when he wrote it, and he desperately needed money, but his novel didn't sell. Only in later editionslong after his death-did it begin to see the critical acclaim it deserves. The Golden Age. Was any time in aviation more exciting or more productive of truly beautiful aircraft? * "Spirit of St. Louis" by Charles Lindbergh immediately comes to mind.

* "Slide Rule," an autobiography by Nevil Shute Norway, resembles Lindbergh's book in the way that it depicts the simple joys of flying at the time, but it isn't as wellknown and presents a broader picture.

These fliers were also writers-the best combination. The great Ernie Gann's novels are most evocative of this "Golden Age," and Nevil Shute's work runs a close second. World War II. This generated many excellent memoirs; in fact, there are so many accounts by fighter pilots that

one might be tempted to think there must have been laptops in the cockpits!

* "Global Mission" by General of the Air Force Henry H. Arnold is one of the best. * "A Time For Courage" by John Terraine set the standard for WW II air reporting, and it's a gripping history of the Royal Air Force in the European war. * "A Thousand Shall Fall" by Murray Peden details his experiences as a student pilot in Canada and describes a career that saw him flying Short Stirlings over Germany. Terraine's book takes a broader look at the War, while Peden's work makes you understand just how brave the men of Bomber Command were-particularly if they served on Stirlings.

In my opinion, the two best personal memoirs are:

* "Tumult in the Clouds" by Lt. Col. James Goodson.

* "To Fly and Fight" by Col. Clarence "Bud" Anderson. The superior British school system created many fine pilot/authors, but the best of their memoirs is:

* "To War in a Stringbag," by Charles Lamb-a beautifully told story of flying the ancient but deadly Fairey Swordfish. And what of German writers?

* "The First and the Last" by the late, great Adolf Galland is excellent but tantalizingly fragmentary because at the time he wrote, "Dolfo" did not feel free to express himself fully.

The most stirring account by a WW II fighter pilot is: * "The Big Show" by Pierre Closterman. His descriptions of aerial combat are unsurpassed; you almost feel the G-force and inhale the oxygen as you read.

Fictional accounts of WW II are generally less satisfactory, but there's none better than Len Deighton's "Bomber"-a chilling, even-handed account of both sides of the air war. Postwar years. We're faced with a plethora of excellent non-fiction books of every sort, but if you have an interest in airline history, you can do no better than to consult any of the works by the prolific R.E.G. Davies, whose books become classics the moment they hit the stands. Filled with detail and beautifully hand-drawn maps, Davies has covered most of the world's airlines, and those he has missed, he will cover soon. A good start is: * "Airlines of the United States" by R.E.G. Davies.

The Korean War generated fewer books than might be expected, and I regard this one as indispensable:

* "The United States Air Force in Korea" by Robert F. Futrell.

In contrast, the bitter war in Vietnam generated many books. For sheer thrills, try: * "Low Level Hell" by Hugh L. Mill-a true warrior's story of bare-knuckle treetop fighting in the Army's OH-6A "Loach" helicopter.

* "My Secret War" by Richard Drury takes a more lyrical look at combat in the tale of a Skyraider pilot in Laos.