Reviews of books from the world of aviation. If you're an airhead, and are looking for your next read, you will find it here.
Review by Sven Atkin. This book covers the continued life and times of one of the Royal Navy’s ground breaking rotary wing stalwarts. The diminutive Westland Wasp is a helicopter that proved to be a reliable, well-loved, and very hard worked, aircraft by its aircrew and ground crews. The accounts from crews who flew this... Continue Reading →
Review by Adrian Roberts. A book with such a broad title as this will either be an exhaustive work aimed at existing enthusiasts, or a greatly simplified version aimed at the beginner to the subject. From its length and format it is clear it is the latter and it is good Pen & Sword perceived... Continue Reading →
Review by Zac Yates. For much of the hobby’s history plastic scale modellers have had to make do with inaccurate kits and put up with scale or detail issues, particularly when it comes to panel lines. Modern kits have, for the most part, avoided such ‘fatal errors’, to quote some of the internet’s hardcore, but... Continue Reading →
Review by Andrew Kitney. Having spent the past 35 years gaining a degree in Air Transport Engineering and working in airlines and aviation, and many more years than that as an enthusiast, this book looked like it would be at a good level of interest for me. The author, similarly, has completed studies in aeronautical... Continue Reading →
Review by Rob Oliver. What a story and what a career! From a junior technician through to squadron leader ranks, from nuclear weapons loader to an (undeniably) expert in the field of EOD and IEDD, and locations from the desolate corners of the UK, the Falklands and SLME (Secret Location Middle East!), to snatching tourist... Continue Reading →
Review by Joe Copalman. In his survey of Astronaut Virgil ‘Gus’ Grissom's life, George Leopold seeks to clear the ambiguity surrounding the legacy of America’s second man in space. He discovers a man whose drive and sense of ‘don't quit’ dwarfed any innate talents he also possessed. The loss at sea of Grissom’s Mercury capsule,... Continue Reading →
Review by Brett Holman. Originating in the era of sail as the small-arms complement of fighting ships, the United States Marine Corps (USMC) has since become a force like no other: a combined arms force which moves by sea like (and with) the US Navy, but fights on land like the US Army and in... Continue Reading →
Review by Takis Diakoumis. Strategic Air Command's General Curtis LeMay was not partial to the B-47, preferring the older B-36 for its longer legs, proclaiming it could not go where he wanted it to go – the Soviet Union. The B-47 would nonetheless become SAC’s most numerous bomber, with almost 2000 examples across all variants,... Continue Reading →
Review by Andy Wright. This book was nothing at all like I expected. Sure, it has some cracking tales of flying and odd postings, but I was expecting a book full of amusing and clever stories imaginatively told by some of the great characters of Qantas and, therefore, Australian aviation. Read the cover and that’s... Continue Reading →
Review by Adrian Roberts. Second Lieutenant William John ‘Jack’ Lidsey and his pilot, Flight Sergeant Sidney Quicke, were the 29th victims of Manfred von Richthofen, on 22 March 1917. Author Andrew White, an established historian and ex-RAF officer, went to the same school as Lidsey, Magdalen College School, Brackley, Oxfordshire, and noticed Jack’s memorial cross... Continue Reading →
Flight Line Book Review 