Favorite aviation novels

[damiross]

I think these books are the greatest novels written with an aviation them.

Wings by Robert Serling.
The story of an airline from its founding in the early 20th century to about the 1970s.

Shel'll Never Get Off the Ground by Robert Serling
The story of a woman pilot who wants to be a pilot for a scheduled airline.

Last Flight Out by John Ball
The first part of the book deals with the last flight out of the European theater at the end of WWII.

The second part deals with a private pilot who, against the wishes of his company, takes a flight on a local service carrier between two small cities. The aircraft crashes.

The third part ties the first two parts together.

The Pilot by Robert P Davis
The tale of an airline captain with a dark secret.


And yours are?

[Beechluvr]

A book that I've read that I believe ALL of you would really enjoy is "Leap of Faith" by Gordon Cooper

[deef1999]

I really enjoyed this.

[pthomas745]

I recently finished this book of excerpts from famous aviation themed books and stories, fiction and non-fiction.


Flight Patterns, by Dorothy Spears

http://www.amazon.com/Flight-Patterns-Century-Stories-Flying/dp/189044751X

The stories go all the way back to Orville Wright, Lindberg, Amelia Earhart. Beryl Markham. (West With the Night) The fiction of Saint-Exupery ( Night Flight), etc.

Some of the stories I'd never heard of: Mary Lee Settle, who wrote a book called All the Brave Promises. She was an RAF flight control officer during WW2 in England:

http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-9781570031007-2

There is a chapter from James Salter's book "Burning the Days" about his experiences as a fighter pilot in Europe during WW2 and in Korea that are beautiful. ( The rest of the book is more about the rest of his life...but the flying section is great.)

Roald Dahl, a short story called "They Shall Not Grow Old".

There is also a chapter from Tom Wolfe's "The Right Stuff", a book I always really liked.

Some of the stories are more about passengers than "aviators", and some them were completely skippable, but there is a lot of good reading about the flying experience.

[dadalope]

[Beechluvr]

Gordon Cooper the Astronuat...I believe it was his last book published before he past away. Talks about his flying career and some of the very interesting things he and others saw in space.

[flyboy97222]

Into the Blue.

[will744]

Jungle Pilot. The true story of Nate Saint.(and I actually read it!)

[phantomjet]

The Right Stuff. Tom Wolfe.

[NeedleNose]

[wazzu90]

[damiross]