50 Aviation books

A Higher Call is a book by Adam Makos and Larry Alexander, published in 2012 by Berkley Books. It tells the story of the Charlie Brown and Franz Stigler incident of 1943, which took place in the skies of Germany during World War II. German Luftwaffe fighter ace of a Messerschmitt Bf 109, Franz Stigler, guided a severely damaged American Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress out of German airspace after failing to persuade it to surrender.

Area 51: An Uncensored History of America's Top Secret Military Base is a book by American journalist Annie Jacobsen about the secret United States military base Area 51.

The Berlin Raids is a book by the British military historian Martin Middlebrook describing the RAF Bomber Command attacks on the German city of Berlin in the Winter of 1943–1944.

The Bomber Command War Diaries is a book by the British military historian Martin Middlebrook and the researcher Chris Everitt that documents every operation by RAF Bomber Command in Europe in World War II. The book also details the operational performances of each squadron and group and it remains in print today.

Bombs Away: The Story of a Bomber Team is a non-fiction book by the American author John Steinbeck. It was written in 1942 and published by Viking Press. The book is an account of Steinbeck's experiences with several bomber crews of the US Army Air Forces during the Second World War.

The Boy Who Fell Out of the Sky is a 2006 memoir by Ken Dornstein about his older brother David Dornstein, who was killed in the Pan Am 103 bombing on December 21, 1988. David had dreamed of becoming a great writer, but died at the age of 25 without having published anything. The book traces his younger brother's attempt, years after the crash, to finally get to know and understand him, through research, interviews, and David's own voluminous writings: letters, drafts, and innumerable spiral-bound notebooks filled with "(r)andom thoughts, poems, dream images, bizarre theories, pretend interviews, scalding self-critical passages and the outlines of impossibly grandiose projects."

Britain's Imperial Air Routes, 1918 to 1939: The Story of Britain's Overseas Airlines is a book by Robin Higham telling the history of the first twenty years of British air transport with an emphasis on the story of Imperial Airways and its predecessors. The book was first published by G. T. Foulis in 1960, with a revised version published by Fonthill in 2016.

Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut's Journeys is the autobiography of the Gemini 10 and Apollo 11 astronaut Michael Collins. It was released in 1974 with a foreword by the aviator Charles Lindbergh. The book was re-released in 2009 to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the first crewed lunar landing, and again for its 50th anniversary, in 2019.

Chickenhawk is Robert Mason's narrative of his experiences as a "Huey" UH-1 Iroquois helicopter pilot during the Vietnam War. The book chronicles his enlistment, flight training, deployment to and experiences in Vietnam, and his experiences after returning from the war.

The Dam Busters is a 1951 non-fiction book by Paul Brickhill about Royal Air Force Squadron 617 Originally commanded by Wing Commander Guy Gibson V.C. during World War II. The squadron became known as the "Dam Busters" because of Operation Chastise, a mission using highly specialised bombs to destroy Ruhr dams in Germany.

Enemy Coast Ahead is an autobiographical book recounting the World War II flying career of Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC, DSO, DFC. It covers his time in RAF Bomber Command from the very earliest days of war in 1939 through to 1943.

The English Electric Canberra subtitled The History and Development of a Classic Jet (ISBN 978-1-84415-242-1) is a book by British military historian and author Bruce Barrymore Halpenny about the English Electric Canberra. Illustrated throughout, the book includes interviews with Wing Commander K H Wallis, the man Halpenny attributes as having "saved the Canberra".

Epidemiology in Relation to Air Travel is a book by Arthur Massey, the medical officer of health of Coventry, published by H. K. Lewis and Company in 1933. By comparing the travel times of journeys by ship to those of travelling by air, he demonstrated how the quarantinable diseases plague, cholera, yellow fever and smallpox, could arrive in the UK in the early 1930s.

Fate Is the Hunter is a 1961 memoir by aviation writer Ernest K. Gann. It describes his years working as a pilot from the 1930s to 1950s, starting at American Airlines in Douglas DC-2s and DC-3s when civilian air transport was in its infancy, moving onto wartime flying in C-54s, C-87s, and Lockheed Lodestars, and finally at Matson Navigation's short-lived upstart airline and various post-World War II "nonscheduled" airlines in Douglas DC-4s.

Fighter: The True Story of the Battle of Britain (ISBN 1845951069) is a Second World War military history book by English author Len Deighton. First published in 1977, it was Deighton's first history book although he had made his name as a writer of spy fiction. Deighton was encouraged to write the book by his friend, the British historian AJP Taylor, who wrote its introduction.

The Final Mission of Extortion 17: Special Ops, Helicopter Support, SEAL Team Six, And The Deadliest Day of The U.S. War in Afghanistan is a book by Ed Darack. It was published on September 19, 2017. It describes the downing of Extortion 17, a U.S. Army CH-47D Chinook helicopter, in the Tangi Valley of Afghanistan's Maidan Wardak Province in the early hours of 6 August 2011. The book focuses on the helicopter's two pilots and three crew members.

First Light: The Story of the Boy Who Became a Man in the War-Torn Skies Above Britain is a 2002 memoir by Geoffrey Wellum, a Royal Air Force fighter pilot in the Second World War.

First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong is the official biography of Neil Armstrong, the astronaut who became the first human to walk on the Moon, on July 20, 1969. The book was written by James R. Hansen and was first published in 2005 by Simon & Schuster. The book describes Armstrong's involvement in the United States space program, and details his personal life and upbringing.

Flight to Arras is a memoir by French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Written in 1942, it recounts his role in the Armée de l'Air as pilot of a reconnaissance plane during the Battle of France in 1940.

Fly by Wire: The Geese, the Glide, the Miracle on the Hudson is a book written in 2009 by William Langewiesche about US Airways Flight 1549 with emphasis on the role played by the advanced fly-by-wire flight control system of the aircraft.

Fly West (1974) is an autobiography written for children by Australian author Ivan Southall. It won the Children's Book of the Year Award: Older Readers in 1976.

Flying Blind, Flying Safe is a non-fiction book about the American airline industry and Federal Aviation Administration, written by Mary Schiavo with Sabra Chartrand. The book was first published in March 1997 in hardcover format by Avon Books. An updated paperback edition was published on April 1, 1998. Schiavo is a former Inspector General of the United States Department of Transportation, and Chartrand a journalist for The New York Times. Schiavo was Inspector General of the United States Department of Transportation for six years, and resigned in 1996 shortly after the ValuJet Flight 592 airline crash in the Florida Everglades. She became a whistleblower and was highly critical of the airline industry and its relationship with aviation safety agencies in the United States federal government.

Ghost Stations is a series of books by the British military historian Bruce Barrymore Halpenny, containing ostensibly true ghost and mystery stories generally connected to the RAF, airfields and other military or war connected stories.

The Glorious Flight: Across the Channel with Louis Blériot is a book by Alice Provensen and Martin Provensen. Released by Viking Press, it was the recipient of the Caldecott Medal for illustration in 1984.

Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters is a 2009 memoir written by Chesley Sullenberger and Jeffrey Zaslow (1958–2012) describing the events of US Airways Flight 1549. The New York Times bestselling autobiography of Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger—the pilot who landed a crippled airplane in New York's Hudson River, saving the lives of the 155 passengers and crew—discusses leadership, responsibility, and service, along with his life story.

History by Contract is a 1978 book by early aviation researchers Major William J. O'Dwyer, U.S. Air Force Reserve (ret.) and Stella Randolph about aviation pioneer Gustave Whitehead. The book focuses on an agreement between the Smithsonian Institution and the estate of Orville Wright, which stipulates that the Smithsonian, as a condition of owning and displaying the 1903 Wright Flyer, must recognize and label it as the first heavier-than-air machine to make a manned, powered, controlled and sustained flight.

L'Aviation Militaire was a book written by the French inventor Clément Ader and published in 1909 by the Paris publisher Berger-Levrault. The book was essentially based on ideas developed by Ader at the end of the 19th century, which were arranged in final form in 1907. It was hugely popular, and went through 10 editions in the five years between its publication and the First World War.

The Last Enemy, is a war memoir written by the Second World War Anglo-Australian fighter pilot Richard Hillary detailing his experiences during the Battle of Britain in 1940.

Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, is a 1994 non-fiction book by astronaut Jim Lovell and journalist Jeffrey Kluger, about the failed April 1970 Apollo 13 lunar landing mission which Lovell commanded. The book is the basis of the 1995 film adaptation Apollo 13, directed by Ron Howard and starring Tom Hanks as Lovell.

Malta Spitfire: The Diary of a Fighter Pilot is a book written about George Beurling, a Canadian Fighter Pilot, and his time served in Malta during World War II. It was written by himself with the help of Leslie Roberts. This book was published in 1943 and has been reprinted several times.

MiG Pilot: The Final Escape of Lieutenant Belenko is a 1980 biography by John Barron about the life and 1976 defection of Soviet Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 fighter pilot Viktor Belenko to the United States.

No Moon Tonight is a World War II autobiographical book by Halifax/Lancaster/Wellington bomber navigator Don Charlwood. Born in Melbourne, Australia, in 1915 Charlwood joined the Royal Australian Air Force in 1940 and was trained in Canada via the Empire Air Training Scheme. The book covers his training and his experiences as part of the RAF's Bomber Command, and his crew's ordeal completing their tour of operations. The book's title is derived from a line in the song Tristesse that was often played in the mess before a mission.

The Nuremberg Raid: 30–31 March 1944 is a book by the British military historian Martin Middlebrook describing the RAF Bomber Command attack on the German city of Nuremberg on the night of 30–31 March 1944.

Over to You: Ten Stories of Flyers and Flying is a collection of short stories by Roald Dahl. It was published in 1946 by Reynal & Hitchcock.

The Red Fighter Pilot is a book written by Manfred von Richthofen, a famous German fighter pilot who is considered the top scoring ace of the First World War, being officially credited with 80 air combat victories. Richthofen's most common German nickname was "Der Rote Kampfflieger," which roughly translates to "The Red Battle Flyer" or "The Red Fighter Pilot." Today he is better known as the Red Baron.

The Right Stuff is a 1979 book by Tom Wolfe about the pilots engaged in U.S. postwar research with experimental rocket-powered, high-speed aircraft as well as documenting the stories of the first Project Mercury astronauts selected for the NASA space program. The Right Stuff is based on extensive research by Wolfe, who interviewed test pilots, the astronauts and their wives, among others. The story contrasts the "Mercury Seven" and their families with other test pilots such as Chuck Yeager, who was considered by many contemporaries as the best of them all, but who was never selected as an astronaut.

Samurai! is a 1957 autobiographical book by Saburo Sakai co-written with Fred Saito and Martin Caidin. It describes the life and career of Saburō Sakai, the Japanese combat aviator who fought against American fighter pilots in the Pacific Theater of World War II, surviving the war with 64 kills as one of Japan's leading flying aces. Caidin wrote the prose of the book, basing its contents on journalist Fred Saito's extensive interviews with Sakai as well as on Sakai's own memoirs.

Skyfaring: A Journey with a Pilot is a non-fiction book authored by commercial pilot Mark Vanhoenacker, based on his experiences as a commercial pilot for the Boeing 747 with British Airways. Reviewer Peter Lewis has described the book as "part memoir, part diary".

Slide Rule: Autobiography of an Engineer is the partial autobiography of the British novelist Nevil Shute. It was first published in 1954. Slide Rule concentrates on Nevil Shute's work in aviation, ending in 1938 when he left the industry.

The Spirit of St. Louis is an autobiographical account by Charles Lindbergh about the events leading up to and including his 1927 solo trans-Atlantic flight in the Spirit of St. Louis, a custom-built, single engine, single-seat monoplane. The book was published on September 14, 1953, and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1954.

Squadron 303 is a non-fiction book written by Polish author Arkady Fiedler and published by Peter Davies. It became his most popular book, selling over 1.5 million copies. Written in 1940, published in August 1942, the book is about the legendary No. 303 ("Kościuszko") Polish Squadron of Polish Air Force fighter pilots who flew with Great Britain's Royal Air Force (R.A.F.) during the Battle of Britain.

Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying (ISBN 978-0-07-036240-6) is a book written in 1944 by Wolfgang Langewiesche, describing how airplanes fly and how they should be flown by pilots. It has become a standard reference text for aviators. Written well before the proliferation of cockpit electronics, navigational aids, and air traffic control radio, the book focuses primarily on fundamental skills specific to flying the aircraft in its stripped-down basic form.

Thud Ridge is a 1969 memoir by Jack Broughton about flying the F-105 "Thud" for the United States Air Force in the Vietnam War during Operation Rolling Thunder. The title Thud Ridge derives from the nickname given by F-105 pilots to the Tam Dao range, which was both a waypoint during air attacks in the vicinity of Hanoi, North Vietnam, and a terrain masking feature for ingressing fighters.

Victory Through Air Power is a 1942 non-fiction book by Alexander P. de Seversky. It was made into a 1943 Walt Disney animated feature film of the same name.

West with the Night is a 1942 memoir by Beryl Markham, chronicling her experiences growing up in Kenya in the early 1900s, leading to celebrated careers as a racehorse trainer and bush pilot there. It is considered a classic of outdoor literature and was included in the United States' Armed Services Editions shortly after its publication. In 2004, National Geographic Adventure ranked it number 8 in its list of the 100 best adventure books.

What Engineers Know and How they Know It: Analytical Studies from Aeronautical History (ISBN 0-8018-4588-2) is a historical reflection on engineering practice in US aeronautics from 1908 to 1953 written by Walter Vincenti (1917-2019) an accomplished practitioner and instructor. This period represents the dawn of aviation which was fraught with uncertainties and numerous paths to many possible worlds. The book captures two main conclusions from this period. The first order conclusion of this book is about "what engineers know." Five case studies from the history of aeronautical engineering are used to argue engineering often demands its own scientific discoveries. Thus, engineering should be understood as a knowledge-generating activity that includes applied science but is not limited to applied science. The second order conclusion of this book pertains to "how engineers know" by using the same case studies to reveal patterns in the nature of all engineering. These patterns form an “epistemology” of engineering that may point the way to an “engineering method” as something distinct from scientific method. Walter Vincenti ends the work with a general "variation-selection model" for understanding the direction of technological innovation in human history. The book is filled with numerous additional observations and stories told by a practitioner and instructor. This may be why Dr. Michael A. Jackson, author of Structured Design and Problem Frames, once concluded a keynote address to engineers with the statement, "Read Vincenti's book. Read it carefully. Read it one hundred times."

The Wild Blue: The Men and Boys who Flew the B-24s over Germany, by historian and best selling author Stephen Ambrose, was a New York Times best selling non-fiction book published in 2001. It details the lives and World War II experiences of pilots, bombardiers, navigators, radio operators and gunners flying B-24 bombers of the U.S. Army Air Force against Nazi Germany. The novel entails a recounting of George McGovern's exceptional career as a chief pilot of a B-24 with the 455th Bomb Group in Italy, encompassing 35 bombing missions. With the odds of surviving all 35 missions as low as 50 %, the bomber crews flew during dangerous daylight hours, in risky tight flying formations, and despite bad weather and assaults of heavy, deadly, flak from ground-based German anti-aircraft guns.

Wind, Sand and Stars is a memoir by the French aristocrat aviator-writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, and a winner of several literary awards. It deals with themes such as friendship, death, heroism, and solidarity among colleagues, and illustrates the author's opinions of what makes life worth living.

Winged Samurai: Saburo Sakai and the Zero Fighter Pilots is a 1985 book by Henry Sakaida dealing with the wartime history of Saburō Sakai and other Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service pilots who flew the Mitsubishi A6M Zero. It was published by Champlin Fighter Museum Press.

Your Pilot's License is a book published in 2003 by Jerry A. Eichenberger. It was published by McGraw Hill as part of the Practical Flying Series. The book details aspects of training, such as practice maneuvers and cross country planning. It is written in a Laymen's style for beginners to aviation.