Good military/aviation books

[gimmeaplane]

I enjoyed "China Pilot: Flying for Chennault During the Cold War." It's a good aviation read about our attempts to keep the commies at bay prior from WWII through Vietnam.

Linky.

The Cliff's Notes.

Edited July 13, 2011 by gimmeaplane

[mp5g]

Just finished this read while on vacation with the family.

It's definitely worth the read if you liked "Black Hawk Down." It gives the SEAL perspective of how things operated in Somalia.

[tac airlifter]

Anyone have any good fiction recommendations in the military aviation genre besides Clancy? I'm enjoying our list, but starting to get burned out on history.

[brickhistory]

Mark Berent's stuff is superb.

[Whitman]

Anyone have any good fiction recommendations in the military aviation genre besides Clancy? I'm enjoying our list, but starting to get burned out on history.

If you like Clancy, you'll LOVE Vince Flynn. First book in the fictional series is Term Limits.

[Cell Dweller]

Affording Defense by Jaques Gansler is out of print, but can be found. It was written in 1989, which was during a period of economic slowdown and military reform. It does a great job explaining the issues involved with developing and fielding defense systems from the industrial/acquisition perspective without going to extreme detail about fiscal law and regulations. The parallels between then and today are haunting, and it shows that little has change with the issues that are present today. Gansler has a few more books he did with MIT press that I have not read that are apparently similar, and delve into other issues with the industrial base and requirements and system development, and acquisitions.

[HerkFE]

Just finished this read while on vacation with the family.

It's definitely worth the read if you liked "Black Hawk Down." It gives the SEAL perspective of how things operated in Somalia.

Reading this now. Read half of it last night and will probably finish it tonight. Very good so far.

[JarheadBoom]

"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.

Just read this on my last trip. Concur that he's not the greatest writer, but it was a good read.

[JarheadBoom]

Some contributions to the list...

War by Sebastian Junger - the basis for the movie Restrepo

Islands of the Damned by R.V. Burgin - E.B. Sledge's (of With the Old Breed fame) squad leader in the USMC's Pacific island-hopping campaign

Red November by W. Craig Reed - interesting account of Cold War submarine ops

CW2 by Layne Heath - Vietnam helicopter war fiction

North SAR and No Place to Hide by Gerry Carroll - more Vietnam helicopter war fiction, but from the Navy's perspective (Carroll was a retired LCdr with a DFC, among other things, and was a high school classmate of Tom Clancy)

[MKopack]

Just finished reading "Naked in Da Nang: A Forward Air Controller in Vietnam" by Mike Jackson.

Good, but not great. The first third of the book takes the author from home in Ohio, into the Air Force, through flight training and into Cessna O-2's before you take the trip with him to Vietnam. Not the best if you're looking for a book that will put you right into the FAC seat on missions as there are surprisingly few flying passages, but he does a good job of describing the day to day life and experiences of living as a five-man USAF detachment on a remote Army post, along with the changes he witnessed during his year-long tour, both around and within him.

The book seems to take it on as a mission to debunk the media's "Vietnam Veteran stereotype" (which, being a generation younger, I never really saw - I've always looked up to those guys) because it's mentioned numerous times. Overall a pretty good read, although one that may have benefited from an editor that could have guided the story along.

On the other hand, can't even imagine flying O-1's or O-2's under the conditions and against the threats that the author and all of the FAC's faced.

[tcf2007]

Recently I have been looking at the acquisition issues and learning about my airframe, and I started trying to look into why some planes succeed and others are shortly phased out.

Does anyone know some good sources on aviation/plane development that go into comparisons?

Specifically I am also trying to tie that information back into larger issues like budget cuts and economy. Figured this was a good place to start looking.

thanks for any help.

[GKinnear]

Recently I have been looking at the acquisition issues and learning about my airframe, and I started trying to look into why some planes succeed and others are shortly phased out.

Does anyone know some good sources on aviation/plane development that go into comparisons?

Specifically I am also trying to tie that information back into larger issues like budget cuts and economy. Figured this was a good place to start looking.

thanks for any help.

Boyd's bio was pretty good about covering his contribution to fighter design. It's not an in-depth, scientific study if that's what you want, but I found it interesting being a non-Aero major.

Hope this helps.

[busdriver]

"The Rescue of Streetcar 304" by Kenny Fields. An awesome story of a multi service effort to get a bro out of harms way, not to mention one of the largest combat search and rescue efforts in history.

[theSituation]

I know it was mentioned earlier, but Unbroken is an outstanding read.

So is the Heart and the Fist by Eric Greitens.

Edited September 2, 2011 by theSituation

[TreeA10]

Recently I have been looking at the acquisition issues and learning about my airframe, and I started trying to look into why some planes succeed and others are shortly phased out.

Does anyone know some good sources on aviation/plane development that go into comparisons?

Specifically I am also trying to tie that information back into larger issues like budget cuts and economy. Figured this was a good place to start looking.

thanks for any help.

"The Dream Machine" by Richard Whittle. Covers the development, marketing, and integration of the V-22.

[Toto]

Finished Flying From The Black Hole. It was pretty good for those of us interested in the nav side of the business. I felt that sometimes the author lost track of his readers and got too technical with the equipment a B-52 nav uses, especially when he linked the Vietnam-era nav equipment to the dawn of manned flight equipment and he sort of skims over nav schooling. The author is pretty critical of SAC policy, inflexible leadership, and TDYs vs. deployments. I thought it was pretty interesting to see many of the same gripes on these boards today. Either way, it is a good book about the Vietnam B-52 nav.

[Spur38]

Bad title but an outstanding read:

The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour

Andrei Cherny

You won't be able to put it down: Half a Wing, Three Engines and a Prayer: B-17s over Germany

Brian O'Neill

[TreeA10]

Masters of the Air by Donald Miller, about the bombing campaign against Germany in WWII. Topical highlights: loss rates vs replacements for Germans and US and launching costly bomber raids with the sole intent of bringing up German fighters to kill them, the debate in the leadership between precision and area bombing, target selection arguments between cities, oil, sub pens, V-1/V-2 launch sites, rail transportation, D-Day landing preparation targets and the effectiveness of those raids.

[Mitch Weaver]

Recently I have been looking at the acquisition issues and learning about my airframe, and I started trying to look into why some planes succeed and others are shortly phased out.

Does anyone know some good sources on aviation/plane development that go ...

Air Superiority Blue by Byrnes

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0967332737/ref=redir_mdp_mobile/188-9024259-9460166

[Guest hercbaby]

Mark Berent's stuff is superb.

I'll echo Flynn. Also try Memories of an Emerald World, by Michael Bleriot. Stories of the C-27 in Panama.

[brickhistory]

"We Were One," by Patrick O'Donnell.

The Battle of Fallujah via the experiences of one Marine rifle platoon.

Nothing fancy for strategy or public policy for the most part, just brutal urban combat.

45-man platoon did 11 days of combat and came out with 19 walking.

[JarheadBoom]

Matterhorn, by Karl Marlantes.

Vietnam, from the perspective of a Marine 2nd Lt infantry platoon leader. Written by a former Marine infantry platoon leader in Vietnam, and is, by the author's own admission, based largely on his own experiences.

Marlantes was awarded the Navy Cross, two Navy Commendation Medals (with V's), two Purple Hearts, and ten Air Medals for his Vietnam service.

Absolutely awesome book.

Edited November 4, 2011 by JarheadBoom

[spaceman]

I got a pretty good heap of reading material for Christmas this year! Anyone else get anything good?

[brickhistory]

Why would you have a book about Kelly Flynn?

I keed, I keed.

[sledy]

Most of these books have already been mentioned, but if you read them one right after another, you almost get a complete view of the air war in the North. Less the BUFFs and such.

My Secret War

Thud Ridge

Going Downtown

Bury Us Upside down

And just for a good read: Unbroken--Great book

Boyd is also a classic