Book Reviews

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  • RAF in Camera 1970s

    RAF in Camera 1970s
    Keith Wilson
    Pen & Sword Books
    2018
    English
    X X X X X X
    390 pg.
    9781473897960
    Review written by: Rene Verjans

    Goodness me! 390 pages filled with really stunning pictures! Mostly colour but also a couple of black and white ones. I was already a bit of a fan of this expanding series and now completely. It was in 1971 that I was born and that was the time that within the RAF absolutely an enormous […]

  • De Havilland Enterprises: A History

    De Havilland Enterprises: A History
    Graham Simons
    Pen & Sword Books
    2017
    English
    X X X X X
    2017 pg.
    9781473861381
    Review written by: Joris Gonggrijp

    Captain Geoffrey de Havilland  (1882 – 1965) has established on 25 September 1920 the company which is now bearing his name, with financial support from his friends. The life story of – later Sir Geoffrey – shows remarkable resemblance with that of his contemporary Anthony Fokker. Both looking for a profession just after the turn of […]

  • 189th Review The Royal Navy Lynx - An Operational History-

    189th Review The Royal Navy Lynx - An Operational History-
    Larry Jeram – Croft
    Pen and Sword Books
    2017
    English
    X X X X X
    289 pg.
    9781473862517
    Review written by: Joris Gonggrijp

    The Royal Navy Lynx – Larry Jeram – Croft That the Royal Navy is happy with this book is proven by whom has written the foreword: HRH Prince Andrew, Duke of York and Admiral Sir George Zambellas. Both gentlemen have also been Lynx – helicopter pilot at the Royal Navy. The author himself has 30 years […]

  • The Wright Brothers

    The Wright Brothers
    David McCullough
    Simon & Schuster; Book Club Edition edition
    2015
    English
    X X X X X
    336 pg.
    ISBN-10: 1476728747 ISBN-13: 978-1476728742
    Review written by: Pedro Blas Gonzalez

                    Since the invention of electrical power, during the Second Industrial Revolution – the period from 1870 to the start of World War I – no invention has had a greater impact on travel and commerce as the airplane.  In 2016 U.S.-serving airlines flew over 928 domestic and international passengers. It is estimated that the […]

  • The AVRO Type 698 VULCAN: Design and Development

    The AVRO Type 698 VULCAN: Design and Development
    David W. Fildes
    Pen & Sword Books
    2017
    English
    X X X X X
    487 pg.
    978 1 47388 667 4
    Review written by: Max Heldring

    Many books are written about the history of the big 3 V-Bombers of the RAF  namely the Handley Page Victor, Vickers Valiant and the Avro Vulcan. But the most iconic of the three is the Avro Vulcan because of its appearance and flight characteristics. 95 Planes were built in different executions and served with the […]

  • Best Food Forward

    Best Food Forward
    Colin Hodgkinson
    Frontline Books
    2017
    English
    X X X X X
    223 pg.
    978 1 47389 762 5
    Review written by: Max Heldring

    From the stories of WW2 during the Battle of Britain the name of Douglas Bader is very well known as the ace without legs. He lost his legs in a prewar flight accident and with a lot of perseverance he became a famous fighter pilot. But there is another fighter pilot who flew without legs […]

  • The B-58 Blunder: How the U.S. Abandoned its Best Strategic Bomber

    The B-58 Blunder: How the U.S. Abandoned its Best Strategic Bomber
    Colonel George Holt, Jr.
    George Holt Jr.
    2015
    English
    X X X X X
    140 pg.
    ISBN-10: 0692478817 ISBN-13: 978-0692478813
    Review written by: Pedro Blas Gonzalez

    I first saw a picture of the Convair B-58 Hustler in C.B. Colby’s 1966 book Jets of the World: New Fighters, Bombers and Transports. I discovered the book in the library of Buena Vista Elementary school. The year was 1972 and I was in the second grade. As best as I recall, the library had […]

  • When the Navy Took to the Air: The Experimental Seaplane Stations of the Royal Naval Air Service

    When the Navy Took to the Air: The Experimental Seaplane Stations of the Royal Naval Air Service
    Philip MacDougall
    Fonthill Media
    2017
    English
    X X X X X
    176 pg.
    ISBN-10: 1781555729 ISBN-13: 978-1781555729
    Review written by: Max Heldring

    The subtitle of this book(let) doesn’t do justice to the content: each thinkable form of aviation activity done by the Royal Navy from 1909 is mentioned. Thus also the use of ‘land’- planes and with some success, airships. What comes across very strong to me is that the Navy management, especially in the early beginning, informed […]

  • Station 115 Shipdham

    Station 115 Shipdham
    Peter W. Bodle Fraes
    Fonthill Media Limited
    2017
    English
    X X X X X
    176 pg.
    978 1 78155 495 1
    Review written by: Max Heldring

    Station 115 is the story of an U.S.A.A.F. base in Norfolk U.K. in the second world war. Not a story about heroes in the skies but about the people that kept the planes flying and the organisation behind it running. It was a type A airfield that housed the 44th Bombardment Group flying the Liberator B-24 […]

  • VC10: Icon of the Skies

    VC10: Icon of the Skies
    Lance Cole
    Pen and Sword Books
    2017
    English
    X X X X X
    224 pg.
    9781473875326
    Review written by: Max Heldring

    With the VC-10 in the main role this book describes with thorough arguments the downfall of the British aircraft industry. The story started in the post war years when BOAC was ruling the skies specifically in the British colonies in Africa. BOAC was looking for the ultimate jetliner that could handle the difficult British and European […]