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Good Reading: Any Aviation Books out there?

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KnowledgeSeeker said:
Beryl Markham's 'West With the Night'. She was the first person (male or female) to fly solo, against the prevailing winds, across the Atlantic ocean. It is the best book I have ever read, aviation or not. There is some discrepancy on whether or not Beryl wrote it herself, but either way it is amazingly written.

This is a letter written about it to maxwell perkins....
"Did you read Beryl Markham's book, West with the Night? I knew her fairly well in Africa and never would have suspected that she could and would put pen to paper except to write in her flyer's log book. As it is, she has written so well, and marvelously well, that I was completely ashamed of myself as a writer. I felt that I was simply a carpenter with words, picking up whatever was furnished on the job and nailing them together and sometimes making an okay pig pen. But (she) can write rings around all of us who consider ourselves writers. The only parts of it that I know about personally, on account of having been there at the time and heard other people's stories, are absolutely true...I wish you would get it and read it because it is really a bloody wonderful book."

I am not usually one who cares about reviews on the back of books, but that was a letter to Mr. perkins written by Ernest Hemingway.

At the time the book was written, she was married to a writer, and rumor has it that a little affair was taking place with St. Expurey. Having read most of St. Ex's stuff, I would bet money that he wrote it.

www.bdkingpress.com
 
I just ordered a few from BD King awhile back. Defnitely check out his site for Gann and others' books.

"By The Seat Of My Pants" by Dean Smith was a great book that I almost overlooked.

"Island In The Sky" (Gann) is a good one too. It tells the story of the plane that he briefly talks about in "Fate Is The Hunter" that goes down in northern Canada, how they survive, and how they are found.

I just got to the "flying" part of "A Hostage To Fortune," but I've still enjoyed it so far.
 
A couple of oldies but goodies:
A Gift of Wings, By Richard Bach and Samurai, by Saburo Sakai.
 
Flight of Passage was great!! 2 thumbs up
And I think Fate of the Hunter should be read by any aviation enthusiast!!! it is a classic!

One of my favorite quotes
You can always tell when a man has lost his soul to flying. The poor bastard is hopeless commited to stoping whatever he is doing long enough to look up and make sure the aircraft purring overhead continues on course and does not suddenly fall out of the sky. It is also his bound duty to watch every aircraft within view take off and land. -Ernest K. Gann, Fate Is The Hunter"
 
Flyboys too was great! ;)
 
"Wind, Sand and Stars" by Antoine De Saint Exupery

Also "Yeager"
 
The Unfriendly Skies by Captain X is great. It is written by a deregulated airline pilot in the late 80's. Some great insights into the industry at that time.
 
MTpilot said:
"Wind, Sand and Stars" by Antoine De Saint Exupery


I completely second that. Beyond being a great aviation book, it was also one of the top three adventure books of all time according to National Geographic.
 
emergency, crisis in the cockpit.

a few stories about survived airplane emergencies that could have been worst
 

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