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Author	Topic: Fav' WWII Aviation Novel?
Flash Gordon Pilot	posted 06-27- 04:01 PM Probably been posted before but shrug. Mine's Derek Robinson's Piece of Cake. Covers the exploits of a (fictional) Hurricane squadron from just before the invasion of Poland, follows them to France where they sit through the Phoney War, then the German drive into France, the subsequent evacuation and ends when the Germans switch horses and decide that bombing London is a swell idea. Great description of battle although overdoes the 'debunking of myths' a little. Good solid read and describes pretty well what a 20 mm cannon shell can do to the pilot of Hurricane when he doesn't have any back armor. Any others? IP: Logged
Jerry Pilot	posted 06-27- 04:47 PM Have to agree with "Piece of Cake". "12 O'Clock High" is another good one. IP: Logged
silas Pilot	posted 06-27- 05:43 PM I really enjoyed Terror In the Starboard Seat by Dave McIntosh He flew 41 intruder operations in a Mosquito as a navigator ------------------ silas Demon's Runway Fortes fortuna adiuvat IP: Logged
Jaguar Pilot	posted 06-27- 07:06 PM Ok, it's not an avation novel, but it is WWII......The Machine gunners! It's about a group of british boys who steal a machine gun from a german bomber when it crashed in their town. They set up a bunker with the gun preparing for the invasion of england. If you have the oppertunity READ IT! Also there was this other book, about a young B-17 gunner I read in Junior High. I can't rember the name, or even much of the story, all I know is that I really liked it. Anybody know the name? ------------------ Cheers! Lt. Col. Jaguar The FS Hangar IP: Logged
Tailslide Pilot	posted 06-27- 11:10 PM Eric Hammel's "Aces Speak" series. I literally stayed up all night reading the pacific one I couldn't put it down. Interviews with aces about their battles organized in chronological order with maps and a narrative of whats going on in the war between each story. Some of my other favourite reads are in the "Books" section of my site. TS ------------------ Patch It! TS Aircombat IP: Logged
Jeeves Pilot	posted 06-28- 12:18 AM Well... My favorite was recommended to me by pops (the old bartender )-- Those Who Fall by John Muirhead-- great book if you like bombers! ------------------ Brought to you by the campaign for a better Dauntless! IP: Logged
semmern Pilot	posted 06-28- 02:52 AM Hey, Jag. I've read The Machine Gunners, too. Cool one. My fav books are "We Landed By Moonlight," 'bout them Lysander drivers working for the Special Air Service. Real cool one. Had me immersed for days! The other's Fly For Your Life, by Larry Forrester. Robert Stanford-Tucks autobiography, y' know. IP: Logged
Flash Gordon Pilot	posted 06-28- 07:04 AM Not WWII but some other good books are: Goshawk Squadron and War Story, both also by Derek Robinson, dealing with WWI aviation. Goshawk deals with a British squadron flying SE5a's in 1918, War Story deals with a British Squadron flying Fe2b's in 1915. Goshawk suffers a bit from some sketchy research - SE5a's having only the Lewis gun (although I guess with warmtime shortages, it's possible) and the RAF being called the RFC after the RFC and RNAS combined to form the RAF. The SE5a is also referred to derisively by its pilots as a 'clapped out one gun flying coffin' which is odd since it was one of the most effective designs of the war. War Story is well researched with a lot of attention to detail. All three novels have some recurring themes, one of them being the strafing of ground troops that goes horribly wrong - the guys doing the strafing end up getting shot down and instead of the German infantry taking them prisoner, etc., the pilots end up getting bayonetted or shot by the understandably pissed off ground troops they'd just been shooting up. Anyway, three well written 'gritty' novels that deal with the air war in WWI and WWII. Any other decent wartime aviation novels out there? Flash IP: Logged
Whirlwind Pilot	posted 06-28- 11:35 AM 'Thousand Plane Raid' by someone I can't remember the name of. It documents the conceiving, planning, men, execution, and aftermath of the bombing of Cologne. It has enough details to keep you interested. IP: Logged
Tailslide Pilot	posted 06-29- 01:17 PM "The Big Show" (Le Grande Cirque?) Pierre Closterman Autobiography, he flew all the way from the beginning of the war to the end.. early Spits up to the Tempest. Great read but out of print. TS IP: Logged
Mighty General	posted 06-29- 01:27 PM Not a novel, but the book Zero by Masatake Okumiya and Jiro Horikoshi with Martin Caidin was fascinating. It's about the Pacific theatre from the Japanese side. It's amazing what those men had to endure. Also, I enjoyed God is my Copilot. Lots of interesting info about the Flying Tigers. And when I was a kid I enjoyed reading The Big E, about the Enterprise. IP: Logged
Jerry Pilot	posted 06-29- 02:08 PM "God Is My Copilot" captures the thrill of flying better than anything I have read. When he is flying over the Himilaya's and describes what he sees and feels it gives you goosebumps. It's absolute poetry! IP: Logged
Aladar Pilot	posted 06-29- 04:37 PM DEFINATLY "BAPTISM OF FIRE" Its the story of the Me163. It is a novel! You should read it, its the only book I read all the way thru. ------------------ "Don't move, if we scatter, he'll pick us off! Stand Together!"~~Aladar Thats 13 times to see Disneys Dinosaur and counting!! IP: Logged
weasel Pilot	posted 06-30- 09:32 PM I read The Forked Tailed Devil by Martin Cadin. Some non-WWII flight novels that are exelent are written by Dale Brown (ex. Flight of the Old Dog...). weasel ... IP: Logged
closterman Pilot	posted 07-02- 07:20 PM Bonjour! My favorite, in order: 1-The Big show (Le Grand Cirque) of course... 2- Rendez vous avec la chance (I don't know tne exact title in english but the translation is : Meeting with luck. Biography of Typhoon pilot 3-Chasseur de nuit (Night Fighter) Robert Writh. The autor is a radar operator during the WW2 for the famous pilot John Cunningham (later chief test pilot for De Havilland) 4- Feu du Ciel (Pierre Clostermann) Package of some of the great air battle of the WW2 5- I forget the title but is the Autobiography of Adolf Galland 6- Autobiographie of Rudel (Stuka pilot) I forget the title too!! 7- Les Briseurs de barrage (Dam buster) The history of the famous mission with the making of the Grand Slam bomb 8- And many other great book.... IP: Logged
mposis Pilot	posted 07-03- 12:40 PM The Fighters by Colin Willock ------------------ IP: Logged
Isatheprophet Cadet	posted 07-24- 06:29 PM Hi I read the Yeoman series as a kid, it about a young pilot who fought in a hurricaine from over france until then end of the war. yeh i know he switch to spits late on. Cool books. Also reading a book by Jean Offenbury, it is his diary, pretty funny and very sad, he was killed in 1942 i think. IP: Logged
Spanky the Mad Dog Pilot	posted 07-24- 11:06 PM Spanky here... The Big show also, Someone should make some movies out of these suckers but they would mess them up bad. IP: Logged
Flash Gordon Pilot	posted 07-25- 12:47 AM I just remembered another book that I read - not a novel but an autobiography. Flying Solo by Roald Dahl (yep, the same guy who wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory). He was an RAF pilot in WWII stationed in the Med., flying Hurricanes. Great book. Starts just before the war when he was working as a colonial administrator somewhere in Africa. It's quite interesting as the British were heavily outnumbered - they basically sent out one fighter against each German raid in order to husband their forces! Don't know how I forgot about that book. IP: Logged

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