Eye of the Viper: The Making of an F-16 Pilot, by Peter Aleshire (HC, 2004, $3)
Only the best get to train at Luke Air Force Base. The course is six months long, and costs $2 million. The F-16s make huge demands on their pilots, but give back to most a rush of joy and freedom. The F-16 has"never lost a dogfight and has helped crush every air defense system it has faced". These are the stories of the trainers and the students who fly these $35 million jets.
Going Downtown: The War Against Hanoi and Washington, by Jack Broughton ( HC, 1988, $2.50)
Going Downtown was the pilot's term for air raids against "downtown" (or Hanoi). Missiles , anti-aircraft fire, and awful weather were only part of the dangers. Missions drawn up by bureaucrats, politically motivated restrictions on shooting, and the over reliance on technology made, in Broughton's words, " Washington an enemy as formidable as Hanoi."
Tex Johnston: Jet-Age Test Pilot, by A. M. Johnson (TPB, no year stated, $2.50)
He first flew for free in a plane that had landed in a neighbor's field. His career as a pilot started with biplanes and barnstorming for an aerial circus. He was 19, brave, and ready to take risks. Later as a US jet test pilot he brought meticulous safety standards to his field (except when he barrel rolled the Boeing 707 prototype!) In the 1960's he worked for Boeing on it's contract with NASA to build Saturn booster rockets. In 1975, at age 61, he was still chief test pilot for Stanley Aviation. What a life!
*****This one is of local interest ! (Unlike the other books in this blog, this one is still on the new non-ficion table.)
**SOLD**
One Foot on the Ground: A Pilot's Memoirs of Aviators and Aviation, by Paul Roxin, (TPB, autographed, 2004, $3)
Roxin was an air traffic communications officer for the fore-runner of the FAA, a civilian pilot trainer during WWII, and the founder of the Geriatric Pilots Association. All this started when he saw a biplane go by No. 26 school in Rochester. His other love was music, and he founded the Brighton Symphony Orchestra. Wow!
Fast Movers: Jet Pilots and the Vietnam Experience, by John Darrell Sherwood (HC, 1999 $2.50)
Sherwood writes a social history of 14 pilots, some of them famous, some not. They flew all kinds of jets. Sometimes they crashed. Ejection seats saved lives, but not without injuries, both burns and broken bones. Plus, if you landed someplace you didn't want to, you might be looking at long years as a POW.
Eject! The Complete History of US Aircraft Escape Systems, by Jim Tuttle (HC, 2002, $3)
Included here are over 100 photos of ejection seats. There are parachutes, manual ejection seats, automatic ejection seats, upward and downward ejection seats, and semi- ejection seats. Then come the just plain weird ones- jettisonable noses, propeller removers, escape slides, escape baffles or airstream deflectors. Do those last ones freak you out as much as they do me?
Air Warriors: The Inside Story of the Making of a Navy Pilot, by Douglas C. Waller (HC, 1998, $3)
Aleshire tells the story of becoming an air force pilot. This book tells it from the Navy pilot's point of view, which is different from either a sailor's view or an Air Force pilot's point of view. Navy pilots take a dim view of all those slow moving ships. Navy pilots also take a dim view of Air Force pilots, because Air Force pilots "don't land on a 55-foot rocking airstrip" when they come home. They have a point.
Flying the Edge: The Making of Navy Test Pilots, by George C. Wilson (HC, 1992, $3)
Navy pilots tested the Curtis biplane in 1911. Now they test jets and helicopters. Sometimes accidents happen, and pilots die or are hurt. Sometimes everything works perfectly. Wilson talks about both, as well as the assaults on women at the Tailhook Convention of 1991.
Look for these books in the military history section.
