Alpharatz Posted January 4, 2011 Posted January 4, 2011 "Panzer Leader" by Heinz Guderian. First person account of tank warfare in WWII by the General who led them. Fascinating account of tactics and strategy including air support. Guderian seemed to "get it" when he dealt with the Luftwaffe. Anyway..it's better than I describe it. Would have been an interesting man to converse with assuming you weren't on the business end of one of his panzers. If you've ever been to Koblenz, Bitburg etc. that's where he operated. I guarantee he wouldn't have been making any stupid "videos" for the entertainment of his troops. ...........We need adult supervision on the bridge. Page the Master Chief....and hurry!!!...
Learjetter Posted January 5, 2011 Posted January 5, 2011 Mornings on Horseback -- David McCullough Brilliant bio of Teddy Roosevelt...while it does not include his combat exploits, it's an extraordinary account (there is no better social historian than McCullough!) of his early life. Follow this with Path between the Seas.
brickhistory Posted January 17, 2011 Posted January 17, 2011 "A Nightmare's Prayer" by Michael Franzak, Lt Col, USMC (ret) Pretty good read about a loooong deployment of a squadron detachment of six AV-8B's to Bagram during the 2002-2003 period. He was the XO during the deployment. He does a good job of describing the combat and sometimes lack thereof due to weather, ROE, CAOC remoteness from the facts on the ground, Pakistani collusion, and political correctness. He also does a very good job of capturing the endlessness of extended deployments - from the homesickness, the petty frustrations that can blow up to soul-destroying anger, trying to keep up morale, unlearning bad habits from ROE restricted missions when dropping during real ones, the sight, sound, and smells of Bagram. He's not a great writer, but he did seem pretty honest describing his experiences including when he was an assh*le or stupid.
nsplayr Posted January 17, 2011 Posted January 17, 2011 The Forever War by Joe Haldeman. One of the greatest sci-fi/military books of all time and I just got around to reading it recently. Really interesting critique of the Vietnam War when it was written and it's also very applicable to today. Cool ideas about time dilation, weirdly appropriate look at changes in society based on some recent events in the news.
brewskis Posted January 17, 2011 Posted January 17, 2011 I'm just finishing up My Secret War by Richard Drury. The parts complaining about ROE's and leadership during 'Nam aren't anything most of us haven't read yet, but the descriptions of the Sandy missions and the night sorties over the Ho Chi Minh Trail raised some hair on my back. The best parts of the book, however, are the detailed descriptions of flying a WWII-era aircraft in the jet age, and the sights, scenes and the thoughts that went along with him during those missions.
tac airlifter Posted January 17, 2011 Posted January 17, 2011 FYI, this is a great thread to read with my Kindle sitting next to me. I literally started at the beginning and bought my way through to this page. This thread cost me 200$! 1
Dubs Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 Fellas, The book "Unbroken" is a MUST read. The book is about Louis Zamperini, a former Olympian who became a bombardier aboard a B-24. Crashed, spent 45 days floating on a raft in the pacific, and then spent two years of absolue hell in Jap (can I stil say that?) POW camps. I cannot even begin to fathom, what this man went through. Please check it out. I had this book in my hands at an airport bookstore and ended up putting it down thinking I'd be able to find it at Books-a-million when I got to where I was going. I was so wrong.
Guest Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 I had this book in my hands at an airport bookstore and ended up putting it down thinking I'd be able to find it at Books-a-million when I got to where I was going. I was so wrong. Just finished it. Awesome.
Guest Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 I'm just finishing up My Secret War by Richard Drury. The parts complaining about ROE's and leadership during 'Nam aren't anything most of us haven't read yet, but the descriptions of the Sandy missions and the night sorties over the Ho Chi Minh Trail raised some hair on my back. The best parts of the book, however, are the detailed descriptions of flying a WWII-era aircraft in the jet age, and the sights, scenes and the thoughts that went along with him during those missions. My favorite book of all time. If you haven't read it yet, do so immediately.
OL Patch Posted January 18, 2011 Posted January 18, 2011 My favorite book of all time. Also should read (you probably have) The Ravens by Christopher Robbins. OL Patch
brewskis Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 Also, another good one that I finished up a while ago, but I haven't seen mentioned here is War For The Hell of It by Ed Cobleigh. The book covers his two F-4 tours based out of Ubon. Excellent read, IMO. The narrative isn't what I'm used to seeing in most military aviation books, which is one of the reasons why I liked it so much.
Guest Posted January 19, 2011 Posted January 19, 2011 Also should read (you probably have) The Ravens by Christopher Robbins. OL Patch Yep. Great book. Lots of those guys went on to do some great things in the USAF.
Eagles1776 Posted February 13, 2011 Posted February 13, 2011 Does anyone know of a good book about Spirit 03 or any other AC-130s?
brickhistory Posted February 14, 2011 Posted February 14, 2011 Does anyone know of a good book about Spirit 03 or any other AC-130s? Gunship book Some on the -130s. Lots more on the predecessors. Not too bad.
Steve Davies Posted February 15, 2011 Posted February 15, 2011 Also, another good one that I finished up a while ago, but I haven't seen mentioned here is War For The Hell of It by Ed Cobleigh. Agree. Completely different from anything I'd read before, too. Incredibly poetic (in the non-rhyming sense). Another very good book, and one that covers Marine F-4 exploits in SEA to boot: Phantom Over Vietnam, John Trotti.
Guest farmer Posted February 17, 2011 Posted February 17, 2011 Moving away from recounts for a moment, can anyone recommend some books that improve Dead Reckoning Skills and/or aviation related mental maths? Much appreciated.
Learjetter Posted February 17, 2011 Posted February 17, 2011 AFMAN 11-217V3 has a good section on 60-1.
Breckey Posted February 17, 2011 Posted February 17, 2011 And fix-to-fix. Can't stress enough the importance of that skill set.
SocialD Posted February 17, 2011 Posted February 17, 2011 (edited) Moving away from recounts for a moment, can anyone recommend some books that improve Dead Reckoning Skills and/or aviation related mental maths? Much appreciated. *Note - I have never read this book and can't vouch for how good it is. Edited February 17, 2011 by SocialD
Guest JWALK Posted February 19, 2011 Posted February 19, 2011 A while back I finished The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift by Andrei Cherny. If you want just the aviation side of the story, this book is not it. Cherny ties in the biographical, political, and military aspects to show how the Airlift was the first major stand off of the Cold War and proved to the world that America could stand up to Soviet Russia. At over 550 pages it's not a light afternoon read, but it's well worth the time.
brickhistory Posted April 9, 2011 Posted April 9, 2011 "How the Helicopter Changed Modern Warfare" by Walter J. Boyne. Good opinion piece on how the helicopter developed, engaged in war with significant development during its first 30-40 years, then stalled in the 1980s until today. Lots of good historical episodes from, mainly, the United States and Soviet Union to make his point. That slowdown is having significant impact on the current, modern battlefield at the cost of crews and machines. Lots of praise for the crews making it work; lots of finger-pointing at the political and military system that condones, indeed perpetuates, such.
MKopack Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 "How the Helicopter Changed Modern Warfare" by Walter J. Boyne. Great guy. "Like" him over on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/walterjboyne) for even more stories, if you're over there as well.
MKopack Posted April 11, 2011 Posted April 11, 2011 Back when they held the Robin Olds estate auction, I was able to buy his 1949 edition of Winston Churchill's "Their Finest Hour" (was about all I could afford...) I'd always known that Churchill had written his "Second World War" series (it earned him the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1953) but always figured that it would read like a college textbook and wasn't really all that interested in that. This volume though (the second in the series), while it certainly isn't an 'easy' or quick read, seemed a lot more like you were having a conversation, probably in a tall backed leather chair and with a glass of something stronger than tea, with the wartime British leader. What really struck me was just how "positive" he was of the eventual outcome, not only as the book was written after the war concluded, but also in his 'real time' private memos and correspondence (which the volumes are almost 'illustrated' with) during the dark days of 1940's Battle for France, Battle of Britain and the Blitz. It was always "With a little bit of luck, if we can make it through these next few days, we're not only going to survive, but we're going to win." I don't know if I felt more "privileged" to be reading about the day to day decisions made during WWII from one of the people that actually made them, or the fact that I was reading them from the same book that Robin Olds - a personal hero of mine - read them. I never met General Olds, but only if the book could speak. Did the wear on the cover come from the volume traveling traveling around the world with him? On exchange in England? Maybe at Wheelus in Libya? Perhaps while based in Thailand with the 8th TFW during Vietnam? The turned over corners on pages with especially interesting passages, the a torn address (on Sunset Blvd) from an envelope that was used as a book mark and even the cigarette ashes between the pages all tell a story...
Spur38 Posted April 21, 2011 Posted April 21, 2011 Boyd (Have to mention again); Fighter Pilot-Olds Story; Candy Bombers (Bad title but a great read); Million Air Club (Non-Fiction WW I); Fly Boys (One of the best WW II)
SocialD Posted July 13, 2011 Posted July 13, 2011 (edited) ***Thread Revival*** Awesome read! A great story of a German born American who becomes a Naval Aviator. Dude gets shot down in Laos, is taken prisoner by the Pathet Lao and subsequently escapes (++++ style points on his escape)...a true warrior! This would be a gook book to add to the survival reading list. Plus it has stories of the A-1, which IMHO, is worth the read! Edited July 13, 2011 by SocialD
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