Books - What are you reading?

[Spectre_Wolf]

I am currently reading JG26: Top Guns of the Luftwaffe bij Donald Caldwell. Interesting read thus far with alot of day by day operations of JG26.

[Airborne506]

I wanted to ask for recommendations from you guys for some good reading on the Edwards test pilot/early NASA days. I know the go-to is The Right Stuff but from what I can tell a lot of it is anecdotal and certainly isn't the most up to date (e.g. the whole Gus Grissom deal). I've tried looking around myself but haven't quite found anything on either subject that looked to fit the bill. In any case I'm slowly working my way through these 2 (although mostly just skimming around Victory Roll)

 

[cardboard_killer]

I'd certainly read Yeager's biography. Other than that, I don't know. Some of that EAB stuff is probably still classified.

[CUJO_1970]

8 hours ago, Spectre_Wolf said:

I am currently reading JG26: Top Guns of the Luftwaffe bij Donald Caldwell. Interesting read thus far with alot of day by day operations of JG26.

Read this book many years ago, one of the first books for me that put a human face on the pilots of the Luftwaffe. 

 

These guys killing one another in the air would just as soon be fishing with one another if it weren’t for their governments and ideologies.

[cardboard_killer]

51 minutes ago, CUJO_1970 said:

These guys killing one another in the air would just as soon be fishing with one another if it weren’t for their governments and ideologies.

 

Of all the services the Luftwaffe was most ideologically Nazi, having been a new armed force mostly created by the Nazi government. LW war crimes included massacres by their ground forces, demands for slave labor for a/c production and factory creation, human slave experimentation for things like ejector seats and low pressure environment survival, and they provided some concentration camp guards for LW slave labor/experimentation projects.

 

And then, of course, the regular old terror bombing that many would agree the Allies ended up doing too.

 

Not that all LW personnel were war criminals, but most were at least aware of the war crimes being carried out, especially those serving against the USSR. Sure, regular joes, but there's a reason the book Goodfellows is titled Goodfellows--even criminals can be likable.

[ST_Catchov]

On 12/25/2020 at 4:12 AM, Diggun said:

I must have been a good boy this year... 

 

LOL I love it. Penguin category "travel and adventure."    It's so ..... last century.

[unreasonable]

Many of us spent most of our lives to date in the last century and found it quite agreeable. Considerably better than this one, all things considered. "Travel and adventure" is of course the appeal of the armed services: "Travel to new places, meet interesting people: and kill them" as the recruiting sergeants say.  Then tell tall stories about it all, in this case....great airman, all the same.

 

Now for something completely different...

 

 

This is a very well written summary of the history of the earth, how and why it matters to us, at just about the right level of generality for me. Not too technical, but assumes the reader is capable of understanding some science. Anyone interested in geology, plate tectonics, how coal and iron deposits originated, the feedback between life and climate - which is nothing new - will enjoy this book. Really good popular science writing. 

[Diggun]

13 hours ago, ST_Catchov said:

Penguin category "travel and adventure." 

To be fair, comparing the narrative to the historical facts, this should be more reasonably categorised as 'fiction or fantasy'. It seems Mr Bishop was a Very Naughty Canadian... 

[Heliopause]

I suddenly felt that I had to start on his one again ?

 

 

[vonGraf]

Thomas Mann - Die Buddenbrooks

[RAY-EU]

[Irishratticus72]

Thought I'd lost this years ago, turned out it was in storage in an attic.

[namhee2]

my preparation for Normandy

[Enceladus828]

Started reading this book, quite fascinating

[Bremspropeller]

On 1/15/2021 at 7:31 PM, namhee2 said:

my preparation for Normandy

 

You might also want to try "50 aerodromes pour une victoire" (Francois Robinard) - also by Heimdal.

Great book with lots of info.

 

Edited January 17, 2021 by Bremspropeller

[namhee2]

36 minutes ago, Bremspropeller said:

 

You might also want to try "50 aerodromes pour une victoire" (Francois Robinard) - also by Heimdal.

Great book with lots of info.

 

Thanks, I've already seen it, I'm a regular customer of Editions Heimdal, unfortunately I'm retired, and unfortunately I can't buy books as quickly as I would like ... but my collection is getting bigger and bigger, still a very interesting book.

Edited January 17, 2021 by namhee2

[Gambit21]

Viper Pilot

 

I’m done with WWII for a while.

 

 

[Bremspropeller]

Might that possibly be related to a game with three capital letters? ?

[Monksilver]

I am now reading one of my Christmas presents -

 

 

Seems rather apt even if written in the 1720s.

[Gambit21]

1 hour ago, Bremspropeller said:

Might that possibly be related to a game with three capital letters? ?

 

 

Ambush; Crossbow, pop up group, Vegas, 270, 53, 18, hot, inbound to Morher, recommend commit.

 

 

 

 

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

The Conquering Tide. Not quite as good as Pacific Crucible but what middle book is as good as the first? Still engrossing and I've found my Pacific knowledge is almost as lacking as my Eastern Front knowledge was - at least my 42/43 knowledge.

[unlikely_spider]

Also Xmas present from the wife. Erik Larson's books can be kind of dry if you aren't a history buff, but to me they are great because they take linear events (textbook style) and turn them into narratives focused on a few main characters. He has a few other books on 20th and early 19th century events that I highly recommend.

 

[Gambit21]

On 1/21/2021 at 8:38 AM, II/JG17_HerrMurf said:

The Conquering Tide. Not quite as good as Pacific Crucible but what middle book is as good as the first? Still engrossing and I've found my Pacific knowledge is almost as lacking as my Eastern Front knowledge was - at least my 42/43 knowledge.

 

I would say my area of expertise with regard to WWII.

 

Read ‘Guadalcanal’ by Richard B. Frank.

You’ll lament hugely that we’re not flying over the Solomons by now. 

 

Then read ‘Fire in the Sky’

by Eric Bergerud.

 

I’m now reading

Hornets Over Kuwait

Great read.

 

Jay is a helluva good guy - been in contact with him for some years. He’s lending his expertise to a little something something.

[blue_max]

Has anyone read neptune's inferno? Like, damn that is an intense book about the naval action around guadalcanal.

[Gambit21]

55 minutes ago, blue_max said:

Has anyone read neptune's inferno? Like, damn that is an intense book about the naval action around guadalcanal.

 

On my shelf, haven’t gotten around to it yet. My head is out of WWII for a while.

[CanadaOne]

On 1/19/2021 at 1:25 PM, Gambit21 said:

 

 

Ambush; Crossbow, pop up group, Vegas, 270, 53, 18, hot, inbound to Morher, recommend commit.

 

 

 

 

 

The chicks must swoon when you sweet talk like that. 

[II/JG17_HerrMurf]

9 minutes ago, CanadaOne said:

 

The chicks must swoon when you sweet talk like that. 

 

You had me at "Vegas."

 

[Gambit21]

18 minutes ago, CanadaOne said:

 

The chicks must swoon when you sweet talk like that. 

 

Especially the Marine ones on the ground when they see how many rockets I carry around with me in my Marine Hornet.

 

Interesting  - no rockets allowed on the carrier, but Marines who might start off on the carrier (no rockets) but then transfer to a land base after a while - rockets! Oh look, 3 different varieties?! Let’s stay at this land base for a bit.  Maybe we can concentrate on dumb bombs (put the thing on the thing) and rockets (put the thing on the thing again) with a bit of GBU and Maverick for spice...I think we’re in business. I hate ‘just sayin’...but just sayin.

[CanadaOne]

1 hour ago, Gambit21 said:

 

Especially the Marine ones on the ground when they see how many rockets I carry around with me in my Marine Hornet.

 

Interesting  - no rockets allowed on the carrier, but Marines who might start off on the carrier (no rockets) but then transfer to a land base after a while - rockets! Oh look, 3 different varieties?! Let’s stay at this land base for a bit.  Maybe we can concentrate on dumb bombs (put the thing on the thing) and rockets (put the thing on the thing again) with a bit of GBU and Maverick for spice...I think we’re in business. I hate ‘just sayin’...but just sayin.

 

No rockets on a carrier?

 

Interesting.

[Gambit21]

8 minutes ago, CanadaOne said:

 

No rockets on a carrier?

 

Interesting.

 

 

On 29 July 1967, a fire broke out on board the aircraft carrier USS Forrestal after an electrical anomaly caused a Zuni rocket on a F-4B Phantom to fire, striking an external fuel tank of an A-4 Skyhawk. ... It also modified its weapon handling procedures and installed a deck wash down system on all carriers.

[CanadaOne]

Interesting. unfortunate, but interesting.

 

Haven't done a lot of naval reading. Far more navel gazing reading.

[Gambit21]

8 minutes ago, CanadaOne said:

 

Haven't done a lot of naval reading. Far more navel contemplating.

 

Fixed it for you.

[CanadaOne]

10 hours ago, Gambit21 said:

 

Fixed it for you.

 

You can't do one without the other. 

 

Was rereading this Sunday. What a cosmic book. Serious navel gazing.

 

[Uufflakke]

Reading monographies about two artists.

The Japanese ukiyo-e printmaker Utagawa Kuniyoshi and Baroque painter José de Ribera.

 

 

Edited January 26, 2021 by Uufflakke

[Bremspropeller]

Anybody got this already? Maybe @busdriver ?

 

https://rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/28228/end-story-487-nz-squadron

[Chief_Mouser]

On 1/19/2021 at 4:42 PM, Monksilver said:

I am now reading one of my Christmas presents -

 

 

Seems rather apt even if written in the 1720s.

 

Read that a while back. A good insight into life at the time.

 

 

Currently into this: 

 

Saw the recording of the play Peter O'Toole - Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell - YouTube a couple of weeks back, bloody brilliant and highly funny, so I thought I'd see the source material. About 25% through but not 100% convinced yet; it seems that most of the good stuff is in the play.

Edited February 7, 2021 by 216th_Cat

[busdriver]

3 hours ago, Bremspropeller said:

Anybody got this already? Maybe @busdriver ?

 

https://rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/28228/end-story-487-nz-squadron

 

Aye laddie, I do. It's in my kindle Mosquito queue. I just skimmed through it. I give it two thumbs up.

 

 

 

[busdriver]

Oh bugger... my bad @Bremspropeller and @ZachariasX

 

I don't have Through To The End yet, but I reached out to the author, David Palmer to grab a hardbound copy. The book is 80 NZD and postage is another 70 NZD. I'll post more once I've read it. 

 

 

 

 

Edited February 11, 2021 by busdriver

[Bremspropeller]

Oh boy - are they building their own special airplane to ship that book?

 

[Feathered_IV]

On 2/8/2021 at 4:28 AM, busdriver said:

 

Aye laddie, I do. It's in my kindle Mosquito queue.

 

 

 

Strange. I don’t see Terror in the Starboard Seat by Dave McIntosh in there.