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Recommended Cold War era & WW books?


RMP2

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I very much enjoyed this one:

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It´s biopic in the main and gives some good coverage of the author´s life flying Hunters, F-105s and Phantoms among other types.

It´s rather poignant in places when he talks about his time in America as an instructor pilot on the F-105. Friends he made, many his students, who subsequently were sent to Vietnam. Many never returned.

It´s entertaining and thought provoking in equal measure.

I would also recommend Nigel Walpole´s very good "Voodoo Warriors":

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Some very good insights into F-101 Voodoo operations, particularly recce missions, in the Vietnam era.

For WW stuff, you might like "Flying to Norway, Grounded in Burma":

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It gives some great insights into Coastal Command operations in the North Sea, with particular emphasis on Lockheed Hudson operations. It later focuses on life in the Burma theatre of operations.

Some really good info on lesser written about aspects of WWII RAF operations

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Some interesting books there Antoine, you must have bulging shelves....

Also very informative are the Cull/Aloni/Malizia works, though Wings over Suez becomes somewhat hard to read at some point into the operations because the narrative on the missions is somewhat repetitive (by necessity, to some extent).

Indeed! I'd get some new ones recently, but I still have to stock 1/3rd of the collection in the garage....

Agree for WoS, Mr Shores is really missing, but I suspect Cold War is not exactly his cup of tea...

Chickenhawk by Robert Mason is a good read, think I've read it 2 or 3 times now. It's a personal account of his time as a Huey pilot in Vietnam.

Nice indeed, but I've an overdose of ex-Huey Pilots bio...

For a change, try for "low level Hell" by Hugh Mills, ex-Loach pilot.

I would also recommend Nigel Walpole´s very good "Voodoo Warriors":

For WW stuff, you might like "Flying to Norway, Grounded in Burma"

Got Walpole's book, but still got to read it.

There's another one focusing on Hunters, IIRC?

Flying to Norway.... is WW2, and our friend asked for Cold war.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hello Rob!

Here is a book about Swedish aerial reconnaissance flights over the Baltic region during early Cold War years:

"Bortom horisonten - Svensk flygspaning mot Sovjetunionen 1946 - 1952" by Lennart Andersson and Leif Hellström. There is also an English version but I Can't recall the title.

Then off course there is the story of Francis Gary Powers whose U2 was shot down over Sverdlovsk:

"Operation Overflight".

BR,

Antti

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Pretty much anything by Rowland White: Vulcan 607 (Black Buck), Phoenix Squadron (1972 Honduras/Guatemala), Storm Front (Battle of Mirbat) and the new one, Into the Black. This latter is a real page-turner, interleaving the story of the design and development of the Space Shuttle with its maiden flight into space, with some interesting revelations about a highly-classified part of that flight. All great "narrative" history...

best,

M.

I have ended up with three of his books mainly down to very low Amazon prices for second hand books. I like recycling books, such a shame in my eyes for them to get binned - the words dont degrade. :)

Phoenix Squadron, Storm Front and Vulcan 607.

Currently working through Unbroken which is a good read, seems well written and covers the main "character" from childhood to... well, Im only up to when he got started in his B-24, but its all good so far.

When I get through the above I will return to this thread and check out the others.

Thanks again guys, youve saved much boredom for downtime at work. :)

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When I was a kid I read Jet Pilot and Jet Pilot Overseas which were responsible for starting my interest in aviation. No idea how they hold up some five decades after publication and they are not easy to find for a sensible price. Henry B Lent was a prolific author who turned his hand to all kinds of non-fiction.

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Just finishing 'Britains Cold War Bombers' by Tim McLelland.

Excellent, Canberra, Sperrin, Valiant, Vulcan, Victor, Buccaneer, TSR.2, Phantom, Tornado, Typhoon.

Don't muck about, just get it. Can't have mine, keeping it as a reference!

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A Lonely Kind Of War by Marshall Harrison is an excellent bio of the man's third tour in Vietnam flying OV-10 Broncos as a Forward Air Controller directing air strikes.

I found it to be a gripping read and am surprised the book doesn't get mentioned more often. I read quite a few pilot memoirs and rate this one highly. It gets good reviews on Goodreads and other sites too, so it's not just me.

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5342934-a-lonely-kind-of-war

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Edited by Twobad
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Right, Storm Front is in the lead so far, winning over Vulcan 607 and Phoenix Squadron by a fair margin - its simply less drawn out, more going on and very well described. I had a good mental image of what was where, which I later discovered was covered by maps in the book, rather impressed by that.

Equal first is Unbroken, thats one hell of a tale.

Britains Cold War Bombers you say? Sounds a little generic there, Pete, but I will take a look. Cant judge a book by its... and all that. Cheers.

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A Lonely Kind Of War by Marshall Harrison is an excellent bio of the man's third tour in Vietnam flying OV-10 Broncos as a Forward Air Controller directing air strikes.

I found it to be a gripping read and am surprised the book doesn't get mentioned more often.

I'm backing you up, good book.

FAC pilots is one of the community that generated most of the bio books about Vietnam war in the air, the other that comes to mind being the Huey and the Thud.

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One of Burrows' other volumes - 'Deep Black' - contains a fascinating history of orbital reconnaissance. Along with 'Eye in the Sky: The Story of the Corona Spy Satellites', published by the Smithsonian, these two provide a useful complement to each other.

Tony

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A couple I have read recently. I've included links so you can read a proper summary of the book.

Ike's Bluff: President Eisenhower's Secret Battle to Save the World

I enjoyed this book far more than I was expecting to. An interesting insight into Ike's "Poker Face".

https://www.amazon.com/Ikes-Bluff-President-Eisenhowers-Secret/dp/0316091030

15 Minutes: General Curtis LeMay and the Countdown to Nuclear Annihilation

Interesting read. The layout is a bit scattered/disjointed, reads more like a short story collection, but touches on a wide variety of subjects.

https://www.amazon.com/15-Minutes-General-Countdown-Annihilation/dp/1250002087/ref=pd_sim_14_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=YSQBSYE2X48ST0F55GPN

America's Secret MiG Squadron: The Red Eagles of Project CONSTANT PEG

Written by the founding CO of the Red Eagles. Thoroughly enjoyed this read. Highly recommended for any military aviation enthusiast.

https://www.amazon.com/Americas-Secret-MiG-Squadron-CONSTANT/dp/1849089760

Edited by helios16v
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