Aviation History

Between the world wars, no sport was more popular, or more dangerous, than airplane racing. Thousands of fans flocked to multi-day events, and cities vied with one another to host them. The pilots themselves were hailed as dashing heroes who cheerfully stared death in the face. Fly Girls recounts how a cadre of women banded together to break the original glass ceiling: the entrenched prejudice that conspired to keep them out of the sky.

A fireball over the Arctic. A missing hydrogen bomb. A Cold War program exposed in a single, shattering night. Before dawn on January 21, 1968, a U.S. Air Force B-52G code-named HOBO 28 streaked across the polar sky carrying four thermonuclear weapons. Its mission—Operation Chrome Dome—kept nuclear-armed bombers in the air 24/7, ready to strike Moscow in minutes. But when a cockpit fire roared through the bomber at 41,000 feet, the crew faced an unthinkable choice: burn alive or bail out into −60 °F darkness. Minutes later a mushroom-shaped blast lit North Star Bay, scattering ...

A firsthand account of life as a captain flying Concorde - the supersonic marvel that redefined air travel. With breathtaking speed and unparalleled luxury, Concorde soared at 60,000 feet, allowing its passengers to witness the earth's curvature and the deep blue of outer space. For Brian Walpole, who piloted this engineering masterpiece at Mach 2, it was an experience like no other - a demanding, thrilling and ultimately life-changing career. Captain Concorde by Brian Walpole OBE (with Graham Lacey) provides a unique perspective on the precision and skill required to control an aircraft ...

Flying in the Royal Navy during the Cold War was demanding and dangerous, it became even more so as war went Hot in1982 when the Argentinians invaded the Falklands. This is the personal account of one man’s experience of those turbulent times. Larry Jeram-Croft obtained a Cadetship to join the Royal Navy whilst still at school. Guaranteed entry, he then dedicated his teenage years to girls and motorbikes and put off worrying about his future. Somehow, he obtained enough A levels to be accepted and so with no better idea, he joined up. Despite the distractions of girls, sailing, racing ...

In April 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army steamrolled through Burma, capturing the only ground route from India to China. Supplies to this critical zone would now have to come from India by air—meaning across the Himalayas, on the most hazardous air route in the world. SKIES OF THUNDER is a story of an epic human endeavor, in which Allied troops faced the monumental challenge of operating from airfields hacked from the jungle, and took on “the Hump,” the fearsome mountain barrier that defined the air route.

A gripping chronicle of the band of maverick aviators who signed on for the suicidal, dangerous top-secret "Wild Weasel" missions during the Vietnam War - which used controversial and revolutionary tactics to combat Soviet missile technology - from New York Times best-selling author Dan Hampton.

When the China Clipper shattered aviation records on its maiden six-day flight from California to the Orient in 1935, the flying boat became an instant celebrity. This lively history by Robert Gandt traces the development of the great flying boats as both a triumph of technology and a stirring human drama. He examines the political, military, and economic forces that drove its development and explains the aeronautical advances that made the aircraft possible.

With the Soviet Union's launch of the first Sputnik satellite in 1957, the Cold War soared to new heights as Americans feared losing the race into space. The X-15 Rocket Plane tells the enthralling yet little-known story of the hypersonic X-15, the winged rocket ship that met this challenge and opened the way into human-controlled spaceflight. Drawing on interviews with those who were there, Michelle Evans captures the drama and excitement of, yes, rocket science.

As the American military continues its withdrawal from Vietnam, the CIA steps up its covert operations and training of Cambodian troops. New weapons are developed to stop the communists. With its powerful cannons, the Spectre gunship proves to be a deadly force capable of destroying any weapon or vehicle the communists can field and ensures that reinforced bunkers are no longer a safe haven. Realizing the survival of their country will soon be in their hands, ARVN troops attack the NVA and Viet Cong all over South Vietnam with surprisingly good results. It seems there is hope. When ...

Now on the race’s centennial, award-winning author David K. Randall tells the story of this riveting, long-forgotten race. Through larger-than-life characters, treacherous landings, disease, and ultimately triumph, Into Unknown Skies demonstrates how one race returned America to aviation greatness. A story of underdog teammates, bold exploration, and American ingenuity, Into Unknown Skies is an untold adventure tale showing the power of flight to bring the world together.

The Roaring 20s are in full swing and people are living the good life, making money, and having fun. Henry Ford just introduced the forty-hour work week and there is plenty to celebrate. Nobody seems to have a care in the world, except for Elizabeth McNally, who can’t shake the feeling that there are things to fear just over the horizon, even though she can’t explain why. The McNally family is prospering; Thomas, the oldest McNally son, is still being a thorn in the side of Toledo's gangster element with his fearless newspaper coverage of their crimes, while his brother Peter’s garage...

The US Air Force is a powerful military force. But there is more to this high-flying military branch than you might imagine. These surprising facts about the US Air Force will amaze you.

The world's worst air disaster happened more than 40 years ago on a remote Atlantic Ocean island, when two fully loaded 747 passenger jets collided after a horrendous series of human errors. One of the jets, KLM Flight 4805, was traveling more than 150 miles an hour and was within seconds of lifting off when it crashed into Pan Am Flight 1736 taxiing in its path. The loss of lives was staggering - 583 dead. The crash happened after a lengthy series of major and minor human errors. In the intervening years, has aviation advanced to the point that such a disaster can't happen again?

In this dramatic story of World War II, Jay A. Stout describes how the US built an air force of 2.3 million men after starting with 45,000 and defeated the world's best air force. In order to defeat Germany in World War II, the Allies needed to destroy the Third Reich's industry and invade its territory, but before they could effectively do either, they had to defeat the Luftwaffe, whose state-of-the-art aircraft and experienced pilots protected German industry and would batter any attempted invasion.

This is the tale of Avro Lancaster Bomber Serial No. ME746 nicknamed ‘Roger Squared.' One of 7,377 Lancaster's built that would go on to reach legendary status after attaining the rare distinction of becoming a 'Ton-Up Lanc.' Attaining an astounding 126 operational sorties in its service on RAF Bomber Command's No. 166 Squadron. This remarkable bomber impacted the lives of all she encountered from her humble beginnings to the groundcrews that ensured she was fit to fly, to the aircrews that flew her over heavily contested enemy skies, and the path to her final end. We think of machines as...

Uncover the quiet legacy of the U.S. Air Force in Vietnam—where courage soared above the jungle and history was written in the skies. From Operation Rolling Thunder to covert rescue missions behind enemy lines, Skyward Sentinels delivers a riveting, in-depth account of the United States Air Force (USAF) in the Vietnam War. This meticulously researched book sheds light on the overlooked aerial campaigns, pilots, and aircrews whose sacrifices were critical to the war’s outcome but often overshadowed in historical memory. Explore how American air power shaped the course of the war across ...

“The Air Force’s Black Pilot Training Experience” highlights the unique experiences of black pilots in Air Force pilot training. The purpose of the book is to give the reader insight into these experiences, propose changes to the Air Force’s conduct of Specialized Undergraduate Pilot Training (SUPT) and to show how the Air Force’s inability to produce more black pilots directly contributes to the lack of diversity in its senior-most leadership levels. This book is a sequel to “The Air Force’s Black Ceiling” and builds on its insights. As a sequel, the book exhorts the Air ...

In this remarkable WWII story by New York Times best-selling author John R. Bruning, a renegade American pilot fights against all odds to rescue his family - imprisoned by the Japanese - and revolutionizes modern warfare along the way. From the knife fights and smuggling runs of his youth to his fiery days as a pioneering naval aviator, Paul Irving "Pappy" Gunn played by his own set of rules and always survived on his wits and fists. But when he fell for a conservative Southern belle, her love transformed him from a wild and reckless airman to a cunning entrepreneur.

Triumphantly returning from the North Pole on May 24, 1928, the world-famous exploring airship Italia — code-named N-4 — was struck by a terrible storm and crashed somewhere over the Arctic ice, triggering the largest polar rescue mission in history. Helping lead the search was Roald Amundsen, the poles’ greatest explorer, who himself soon went missing in the frozen wastes. Amundsen’s body has never been found, the last victim of one of the Arctic’s most enduring mysteries....

Masters of the Air is the deeply personal story of the American bomber boys in World War II who brought the war to Hitler’s doorstep. With the narrative power of fiction, Donald Miller takes you on a harrowing ride through the fire-filled skies over Berlin, Hanover, and Dresden and describes the terrible cost of bombing for the German people.