A Few Good Books

[crazyivan]

A couple of great flying books (and a DVD) if anybody is looking for some winter reading:

Cannibal Queen is an autobiography by Stephen Coonts (author of the book Flight of the Intruder...the book is awesome by the movie sucked) about the summer when he flew his Stearman around the lower 48. I've read it twice, once before I started Navy flight school and just recently after 2500 hours and my tailwheel signoff. Each time it was a new book because of my different perspective.

The other is Island Bush Pilot about Roy Franklin, the founder of San Juan Airlines and the builder of Friday Harbor Airport. An honest and nice guy who was successful through his own hard work and skill as a pilot. An entertaining, easy read.

Sparky Imeson's Mountain FLying Bible. My mistake was trying to read it as a night-stand book. It's a textbook to be studied with notetaking, quizzes and an final exam.

DVD -- Jim Clark's Out There Flying. Very entertaining trip through the canyonlands of Utah and a few remote strips. Cool stuff, but when is he going to release the sequal? Us east-coast flatlanders need more.

[mtv]

Read anything Richard Bach wrote before he tipped over the edge. His Airplane books: Biplane, Stranger to the Ground (fantastic), Nothing By Chance (my all time favorite Bach book), and Illusions (a little over the edge, but a really fun read).

Sled Driver by Brian Shul (SR-71-need I say more? This isn't a specification book or how it was built, its a story by a guy who flew them operationally, and loved it).

My Secret War, by Richard Drury (Spads out of NKP, on Sandy missions).

By Gann: Band of Brothers, High and Mighty, Gentlemen of Adventure, Blaze of Noon, Island in the Sky (nobody, but nobody, has captured the soul of aviation like Gann did. Gentlmen is sort of his autobiography, and it's fantastic) .

Going Downtown, Jack Broughton (F-105s to Hanoi, and politics of the VN air war) .

Wilbur and Orville, Fred Howard (the definitive book on the brothers who started this whole deal) .

Noel Wien, Alaska Pioneer Bush Pilot, Ira Harkey (if you want to read about the REAL Alaskan aviators, this is the real deal).

Ordinary Wolves, Seth Kantner (not a flying book but a good read on rural Alaska).

Get done with those, and I'll give you another list

MTV

[crazyivan]

I with you when it comes to Bach...he really got weird after a while.

[willyb]

Flight of Passage by Rinker Buck about two 16 yr old brothers who rebuild a cub and fly from PA to Ca and back

Glacier Pilot by Beth Day story of Don Sheldon's father in law Bob Reeve

Last of the Bush Pilots by Harmon Helmericks{He did a lot of his flying with a 170B)

Bent Props and Blowpots by Rex Terpinen about early Canadian bush flying with Fokkers,Fairchilds,Bellancas

Mike you are right on about Gann! I think I have read most of the books.Harmon (Bud)Helmericks has several books about flying in AK and the Arctic.The titles of the others escape me.

[PATRICK GARVEY]

Float plane.. My favor is "Success on the Step" by C. Marin Faure The history of Kenmore Air and the many great flying stories that they had in the Northwest from 1946 to the present. "A company without a business plan".

" Forever Flying " R.A. " Bob" Hoover autobiography of the greatest pilot. A must read.

"Ralph Edwards of Lonesome Lake" by John Edwards.. An unbelievable life of a pioneer in early central BC , Canada ..He started flying floats when he turned 60 years old. Credited with saving the Trumpeter Swan".

[willyb]

Patrick I read Ralph Edwards story it is a good one.

[hotrod150]

Wings of the North by Dick Turner. He was a trapper & freighter in the Liard River country of BC & NWT, when he decided in 1958 to buy an airplane & learn to fly in order to get his furs to market early each year while the prices were still high. He went on to become quite a bush pilot & hunting guide.
There's another book called Heroes of the Horizon (by Gerry McGruder, I think?) which is brief histories of quite a few early Alaska & northern Canada pilots.

Eric

[mtv]

Eric,

The author is Gerry Bruder. He's a current pilot for Kenmore Air, and a good author.

MTV

[hotrod150]

That's the guy. I remember a few years after I read Heroes of the Horizon, he wrote an article for GA News about an incident he was involved in when (as I recall) a turbine Otter on floats he had just fired up crept forward at the dock & chewed up the tailfeathers of another float plane. He said that it had happened some time ago and it had took him that long to get his embarassment under control enough to write about it. He sounded like a pretty good guy.

Eric

[punkin170b]

3 amazing historical books:

1.) "A Hostage to Fortune" is Gann's autobiography. The man did EVERYTHING: from drawing cartoons for Warner Brothers, to Broadway writing and acting, to running fishing boats out of SFO (and getting crossways with the mob), witnessed the Germans invade France, sailed the world in his "super yacht" (The Black Watch)... All that stuff in addition to his aviation career and exploits... Great read.

As a side note: Anything Ernie Gann wrote (except for "The Antagonists") is somewhat autobiographical. "Fate Is The Hunter", is all of Gann's aviation exploits somewhat fictionalized and is a MUST READ for anyone that flies for a living.

2.) "Lindbergh" by A. Scott Berg. There are a million biographies of Lindbergh out there, but this one is seems complete and true to life. Another interesting read. He did way more in life than just fly solo across the Atlantic.

3.) "I Could Never Be So Lucky Again" is Jimmy Doolittle's autobiography. What an incredible aviation pioneer. It would be difficult to find anyone who contributed more to the advance of aviation in it's Golden Age than Doolittle. Pretty good flyweight boxer too.

M

[OldCuby]

Gerry Bruder's "Northern Flights" was a favorite of mine if you want a flavor of Southeast Alaska float flying. Back in 2002 I had the good fortune to fly with Ken Bellows of Sitka Air getting instruction from him. I can't say how much I have respect for those pilots who fly year around between those islands.
I remember when Gerry wrote about a sightseeing flight when one passenger asked "what those white things" were on the rough seas below. Gerry said "Oh they are whitecaps." The passenger then said, "Are they good eating?"

[hotrod150]

Got my paperwork in at my local library requesting the Don Sheldon & Roy Franklin books. Don't know if they're all like that, but my local library has a form where you can request a book that's not in their system. I got a book once that was loaned from the New Orleans Public Library! Pretty sweet deal for people like me who read too many books to be buying them all.
I've read several boks by Bud Helmericks:Last of the Bush Pilots, Flight of the Arctic Tern (what he names his airplanes),We Live in the North. Also read Cannibal Queen by Steven Coonts, all well as his whole series of novels that started with Flight of the Intruder. Dale Brown has a similar series of novels starting with Flight of the Old Dog. There was a set of three novels written by Gerry Carroll about different aspects of Vietnam War aviation: North SAR,Ghostrider One, and another whose name escapes me. All good ones.

Eric

Eric

[YELLOWMAULE]

On the similar line to Imensen's is F.E. Potts book.
I spent some time talking to R. Bach on Orcas Island a few years ago. He didn't look his age (At least what I would guess it should be) and I was struck by what a large man his is (Was?). He was playing with his freshly restored Widgeon. Had a nice visit but it was my aniversary weekend and I figured there were more important people at hand.

[pittspilot28]

I dont think it was mentioned but the book "Flying the Alaska Wild" by Mort Mason was really interesting....it was the first book I read about bush pilots and was hooked over since...I like this new list of books around Ill have to check them out.

[Zzz]

I've read a few of the books you guys have mentioned, plus a few more. Here are some of my favorites, all biographies of sorts, based in the 30's, 40's and 50's:

"Skystruck" by Herman Lerdahl. Classic story of 'guy learns to fly, moves to the north for work.' Herm has a good tone in his storytelling though, I really enjoyed this one.

"Winging It" by Jack Jefford. Same as above. I just can't get enough of these guys. Lots of great anecdotes.

"Arctic Bush Pilot" by James Anderson. More of the same.

[CAVU]

I really like the bush flying books and the mountain flying books. When it comes to flying, I'll read pretty much anything (although Pilot Michael's Flying Adventures magazine really tries my patience!). I'm going to make a plug for women authors here and recommend West With The Night (Beryl Markham), Listen! The Wind and North to the Orient (Anne Morrow Lindbergh). There's some terrific writing in these books. I also like Flying South by Barbara Rowell. Based on that book, I'll never fly my airplane to South America, but I'm glad to be able to read about it and see some excellent pictures.

CAVU

[willyb]

West With The Night is a good read.I'm looking forward to the others.

[YELLOWMAULE]

In addition to the Ladies, I have enjoyed the classic "Night Flight" by Antoine de Saint-Exupe'ry and "Mountain Flying" by (the late?) Fletcher Anderson. I just re-read Night Flight, we have it so easy!
"On patrol" by Tremblay is one I also just read, a good book of the early days of an Alaskan Game Warden. This is a great thread! Dark winter days make for great opportunities to get caught up on the reading. I plan on going to the cabin this weekend for a little ice fishing and general puttering as well as a little quiet reading time by the wood stove. Over the last few years, we have accumulated quite a few books at the cabin. The local policy with the neighbors is the concept of the book swap. It's never boring.

[Kenny Chapman]

"Fly the Biggest Piece Back" by Steve Smith is a great history of the Johnson Flying Service out of Missoula Montana. Johnson's opened up most of the original Idaho and Montana backcountry strips with the USFS in the 20's and 30's. Still available. Another excellent book about the early test pilot era of the 50's is "the Lonely Sky" by Bill Bridgeman. Great read written in 1956.

[hotrod150]

I have a copy of West With the Night here at home that I've been trying to get around to reading for several months now. It's a loaner from a female pilot friend of mine, I swapped a book with her. I can't recall the name of my book or the author, but it was an autobiography of a gal from Bellingham WA who learned to fly back in the early 1930's. She also took a coast-to-coast motorcycle trip way back then, and later was involved with her husband in developing the airport at Silverwood. Pretty good read, if anyone recognizes this one pipe up with the name & author please.

Eric