Warbird Information Exchange

Okay, I don't know if this has been mentioned before but I am looking to add some books to my library and was wondering if anybody had any ideas? I am intersted in mainly World war two aviation ( about any topic people, battles, aircraft). I have also been wanting to read up more on the korean war. So any ideas would be appreciated. Thanks

Wild Blue by Stephen Ambrose, any of the Mel Rolfe books (brilliant!) , First Light by Geoffrey Wellum about an 18 year old Spitfire pilot. My absolute favorite is Lions Rampant, the story of 602 Spitfire Squadron, by Douglas McRoberts. This squadron was the longest serving in the front line in the BoB, had the 2nd highest total of kills, shot up Rommels staff car, and was incidently the first to fly an aircraft over Mount Everest! Great read. If you are interested,and have trouble finding it, I will happily send it to you on loan, free of charge.

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If the first casualty of war is innocence, the second is sobriety - Hawkeye.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws - Plato.
Lies get halfway round the world before the truth has a chance to get it's pants on - Churchill
If you are going through he11 - keep going - Churchill

Here are some aviation titles I recommend:

ZEMKE'S WOLFPACK
By Roger A. Freeman
A really good book about P-47 ops in ETO.

ZERO!
By Masatake Okumiya and Jiro Horikoshi and Martin Caiden
The title says it all. Japanese pilots flying A6M fighters.

LADY'S MEN
By Mario Martinez
This book treats the story of the missing B-24 Lady Be Good.

FLYING TIGERS
By Daniel Ford
This book covers the American Volunteer Group (the real Flying Tigers) in China and Burma 1941-1942.

THE DOOLITTLE RAID -- America's Daring First Strike Against Japan
By Carroll V. Glines
This very good book treats the famous raid led by the famous flyer.

A word of caution regarding Stephen E. Ambrose's THE WILD BLUE:

The triple B-24/B-24/AT-24 mid-air collision related in this book never happened (page 100).

I don't know whether this was a mistake by Ambrose or the gang of graduate students he probably had helping him or an outright fabrication, but the collision in question, which occurred on 18 Aug 1944, was between a Martin AT-23 (42-43356) and a Consolidated B-24J (42-51482). There is no evidence of a triple B-24/B-24/AT-24 collision in the aircraft accident record. I have looked high and low for evidence of the accident as written but have found none. It is unlikely that all record of such a spectacular accident would have been totally lost to history. I was very disappointed when I discovered this error in the book. I have read most of Stephen Ambrose's work and it is usually well researched. For the record, there were five fatal triple mid-air collisions involving Army Air Forces airplanes in the US during WWII.

Good luck with your reading.

TonyM.

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"Welcome back Mr. Lasky."

I really enjoyed Masters of the Air by Donald L. Miller, an 8th Air Force history.

I just finished Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer by Brian D. O'Neill, which (mostly) follows a single B-17 crew of the 8th in the 303rd (Hells Angels).

And I'm currently reading An Ace of the Eighth by Norman Fortier.

There's a lot to admire in that generation that we're losing so quickly now.

I look forward to other book suggestions.

Bill

Here is a book that should not be left off of the list:


THE FIRST AND THE LAST
The Rise and Fall of the Luftwaffe: 1939-1945
By Adolf Galland

TonyM.

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"Welcome back Mr. Lasky."

Some of my many favorites off the top of my head are some of the ones I've read twice;

"I Could Never Be So Lucky Again", James Doolittle

"Warpath Across the Pacific", Lawrence Hickey (The Air Apaches, 325th Bomb Group History)

"The Lonely Sky", William Bridgeman (Test Flying)

"Whistling Death", Boone Guyton (Test Flying the Corsair)

"Pegasus Bridge", Steven Ambrose (British 6th Para D-Day Story)

I got more to come, just a few to start!
Jerry

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"Always remember that, when you enter the ocean or the forest, you are no longer at the top of the food chain."

A couple of books that has another 'angel' to WWII:

The Struggle for Naval Air Supremacy. (Clark G. Reynolds)

A book about Admiral John H. Towers. Deals with the 'behind the scene' work of the Admiral - up to and during WWII - to get naval airpower to work.

Fire in the sky: The air war in the South Pacific (Eric M. Bergerud)

About the air war in the South Pacific 1942 - 1944. A very, very thorough review of the air battle in the South Pacific from 1942 to 1944. On everything from tactics, industrial capacity, logistics, pilot training, the ability to develop new secon generation fighter and bomber aircraft. And the living conditions and diseases of the pilots

Take care

J

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Laughter is the closest distance between two people. (Victor Borge) - To err is human, to forgive, divine (Alexander Pope)

My books: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/14115381-jesper-jorgensen

If you want to read about a more obscure area of WWII aviation:

The Fighting Grasshoppers and Lightplanes at War by Ken Wakefield

Box Seat Over Hel! by Hardy Cannon

Ryan

P.S. As much as I appreciate (genuinely) the word filter, I think sometimes we need to self-filter so legitimate uses of a word are allowed!!!

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Aerial Photographer with Red Wing Aerial Photography currently based at KRBD and tailwheel CFI.
Websites: Texas Tailwheel Flight Training, DoolittleRaid.com and Lbirds.com.

The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD. - Prov. 21:31 - Train, Practice, Trust.

Sigh for a Merlin by Alex Henshaw

VL

Serenade to the Big Bird by Bert Stiles...my all-time favorite!
Duel of Eagles by Peter Townsend...very thourough.
To Fly and Fight by Col Bud Anderson...well done.
The Mighty Eighth by Gerald Astor...good read.
The First and Last by Adolph Galland...good read.
Horrido! by Raymond Toliver...good read.
Semper Fi in the Sky Gerald Astor...good read.

Some of my favorites amongst the more than 500 I have. Yeah, I need a life and a girlfriend

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Earn my respect and never lose it.
Demand my respect and never gain it. -Me

...just another plane dreamer.

"Serenade to the Big Bird", Bert Stiles... Anyone with even a casual interest in history should have this book, it is my all-time favorite.
"The First Team from Pearl Harbor to Midway", John Lundstrom - a weighty but outstanding book covering the early days of the Pacific war
"A Question of Honor", Lynne Olson/Stanley Cloud - What an incredible book... don't be surprised if you find yourself wanting to punch Winston Churchill in the throat by the end of the book though.
"Dresden: Tuesday, 13 February, 1945", Frederick Taylor - an examination of the bombing attacks on Dresden as well as a look at the cold science of how best to incinerate a civilian population. A sobering but worthwhile read.
"Escort To Berlin", Jeff Ethell/Garry Fry - a great and very detailed account of the 4th Fighter Group
"Tumult in the Clouds", James Goodson - another good 4th FG read
"Schnaufer: Ace of Diamonds" and "The Lent Papers" by Peter Hinchliffe - excellent, in-depth coverage of two of the Luftwaffe's greatest night fighter aces
"Laurels for Prinz Wittgenstein", Werner P. Roell - Another excellent book on a high-scoring Luftwaffe night fighter ace... the Prinz was definitely an interesting character.
"Fly For Your Life", Larry Forrester - Biography of W/Cdr R.S. Tuck, a cracking good read.
"Baa Baa Black Sheep", Gregory Boyington - Not sure how accurate it is, but this is another great read.
"Sole Survivor", George Gay - The autobiography of Ens. George Gay, sole survivor of the TBDs of VT-8 at Midway
"The Blond Knight of Germany", Raymond Tolliver/Trevor Constable - The original biography of Erich Hartmann, I read this as a kid and it's still one of my all-time favorites

There are hundreds more, but these are ones which leap immediately to mind as being some of the absolute best in my collection for one reason or another.

Lynn

Go to www.alibris.com for the best book shopping, rare and out-of-print books, new, etc.

I really would like to read Sole Survivor. I will be on the look out for it.

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If the first casualty of war is innocence, the second is sobriety - Hawkeye.
Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws - Plato.
Lies get halfway round the world before the truth has a chance to get it's pants on - Churchill
If you are going through he11 - keep going - Churchill

They may be hard to get a hold of but 2 excellent books written by WWII fighter pilots are; "Heaven Next Stop," which was a book written by a German fighter pilot immediately after the war when memories were still fresh and unromantized...his name is Gunther Bloemertz. The other book is "Fighter Over Finland," by Eino Luukkanen, an excellent account of the David vs Goliath battle that Finland was engaged in with Russia from the fighter pilots' perspective. In both cases these books have English editions and the story puts you in the pilot's seat.

Might mention my own books, "Warplanes to Alaska" & "Wings Over the Wilderness," both about the Alaska-Siberia ferry route of WWII...but hey, that would be opportunistic;-)

Blake Smith

James Reed's "Fighting 33rd Nomads" two book series of the 33rd FG in North Africa and then on to China/Burma. Out of print but still available.

Also, new book "He!! Hawks" by Robert Dorr. Stories from pilots of the 365th FG in ETO flying P-47's. Just got my autographed edition from Bob.

Can be reached at robert.f.dorr@cox.net. Tell him I sent you.

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"There are old pilots and bold pilots but few old, bold pilots."