Primarily for general aviation discussion, but other aviation topics are also welcome.
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By JAFO
#1736316
As I may have said elsewhere:

A Rabbit in the Air - David Garnett
A Standard Pilot's Notes - Nigel Hamlin-Wright
A Stranger to the Ground - Richard Bach
A Sunday Flyer - Maurice Brett
Airymouse - Harald Penrose
Border Pilot - M.W. Bourne
Build and Fly Your Own Plane - Robert Lowe
Dead Weight - Brian Lecomber
Down the Runway - Samuel Hawkins
First Light - Geoffrey Wellum
Flight of Passage - Rinker Buck
Flight of the Gin Fizz - Henry Kisor
Flying Between the Wars - Allen Wheeler
Flying Colours - Laddie Lucas
From Fury to Phantom - Richard Haine
Going Solo - Roald Dahl
Hughes - Richard Hack
Island Pilot - Allan Whitfield
Lindbergh - A. Scott Berg
No Visible Horizon - Joshua Cooper Ramo
Over To You - Roald Dahl
Pilot's Summer - Frank D. Tredrey
Propellerhead - Antony Woodward
Rescue Pilot - Jerry Grayson
Sagittarius Rising - Cecil Lewis
Skybound - Rebecca Loncraine
Stick and Rudder - Wolfgang Langewiesche
The Art of Flying - Norman Macmillan
The Compleat Taildragger Pilot - Harvey S. Plourde
The Lives of Ken Wallis - Ian Hancock
Think Like A Bird - Alex Kimbell
Tiger in the Sky - Pat Jackson
Voyage of the Southern Sun - Michael Smith
We - Charles Lindbergh
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By OCB
#1736323
This might get donked, but remember there are alternatives to the beast that is Amazon.

I’m a huge fan of collecting 1st editions, or signed etc. Abebooks is usually my first port of call.

As for books, there’s very little that hasn’t been mentioned.

First Light, everything by Winkle Brown, Chickenhawk, Silver Spitfire - books I hated coming to the last page.

There are a few on Project Gutenberg as well, e.g Biography of a Rabbit kept me amused (and free!)
JAFO liked this
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By Sir Morley Steven
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1736366
Gertie wrote:I thought Jonathan Livingston Seagull traditionally had first place on these lists?

Unfortunately I was dumped once by someone I loved by being given that book. It was way before I had any dreams of flying but I remember the vivid descriptions of flight making me think I was up there.
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By Morten
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1736367
That sounds worthy of another thread if you can bear the anguish. Dumping someone by giving them a book, and in particulate that book... must have a story attached to it.

As for Jonathan Livingston Seagull, it's an absolute treasure and puts tears in my eyes every time I read it.
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By Morten
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1736368
If we are also adding space and not just aviation (Eccentric orbits/Iridium is on the Flyer list) I'd add some quirky ones :
Chippendale: Dished!: Rise and Fall of British Satellite Broadcasting
R. Dale Reed: Wingless Flight: The Lifting Body Story
Milton O. Thompson: Flying without Wings
Bryan Burrough: Dragonfly: NASA and the Crisis Aboard Mir
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By kanga
#1736379
Flyingfemme wrote:I refer you to the list compiled by the Forum many years ago.......should probably update/add.
..
Biggles (all of them)                   Capt. W.E. Johns
..
 


to which should obviously be added, possibly first:

Worrals (all of them) W E Johns :wink:

[ISTR I contributed to that list at the time, but could now amplify it, which I may when I have a bit more time]
#1736386
I think I read all/most of the Biggles/Worrals books as a kid. I used to steal the library cards from members of my family and get a dozen books a week!

My particular interest is for female aviators and I have enjoyed/collected West with the Night, 38C (found a copy at Oshkosh one year for just a few dollars), On Top of the World and I must Fly (saw Sheila race in he Kings Cup at Rochester, getting out of her Comanche in heels!). It gives me a purpose at jumbles and shows.
kanga, T6Harvard liked this
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