Good Book I discovered

[jdoran]

I just read a good book.


"Flight of Passage" written by Rinker Buck.

He and his brother flew a Cub from New Jersey to California in 1966. They were ages 15 and 17. The plane was equipped with nothing, not even a radio.

Picture this:

They discovered prairie dogs in the desert from the air, big packs of them. Soooooo, what else would a teenager do but buzz the hell out of them, and even better, they threw down moon pies and watched the violence. They spent their fist night in a motel named "cheap" and realized it was a whorehouse. Lots of good stories like that.

Get it if you can.

[Tom G]

Re: Good Book I discovered

I read it too. You are right it is a really good read!

[Len Petterson]

Re: Good Book I discovered

Din't get chance to read the later half, as I donated it for a door price at the clubs Cristmas party.
I liked the part about the cross wind landing by the "old man'(;f
Len

[48fordnut]

Re: Good Book I discovered

Is this a new book? sounds like my kind of reading.

[jdoran]

Re: Good Book I discovered

It was printed in 1997.

The younger brother that wrote the book sniffed around and found the actual cub they flew, and went to the current owners house and flew it some 28 years later.

[48fordnut]

Re: Good Book I discovered

any one with a copy they would like to pass around?

[Pearson]

Re: Good Book I discovered

I too read "Flight of Passage". It should be required reading of every student pilot! I cried, I laughed, and I reminisced about long past escapades , which I’ll never admit to. It will make the old timers remember why they learned to fly, and the young ones long for their next cross country.

[Joel Severinghaus]

Re: Good Book I discovered

I also liked "Flight of Passage." Some similar travelogue books I'd recommend are:

"Zero 3 Bravo" by Mariana Gosnell (1993) - solo around the country in a Luscombe

"Flight of the Gin Fizz" by Henry Kisor (1997) - deaf pilot solo across the country in a Cessna 150

"Biplane Odyssey" by Alan Lopez (1999) - flying a Stearman to every state

"The Cannibal Queen" by Stephen Coonts (1992) - flying a Stearman around the country

"Cubs on the Loose" by Lyle Wheeler (2001) - various adventures in a J-3, cutely written from the Cub's perspective

"Gemini to Joburg" by Cecil Lewis (1984) - England to South Africa in a Miles Gemini small twin

"North to the Orient" by Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1935) - New York to China in a Lockheed Sirius, with Charles

And my favorite books about learning to fly are:

"On Extended Wings" by Diane Ackerman (1985)

"Week-end Pilot" by Frank Kingston Smith (1957)

My wife says I have too many airplane and flying books, but I can't help it -- incurable bibliophilism.

[mulwyk]

Re: Good Book I discovered

Great List, Joel!
But, except for "North to the Orient", they're all way too recent for my taste. The best aviation books were published in the 40's, 30's and before.

The best learning-to-fly books of that era were written by Assen Jordanoff. Jordanoff was a pilot in the Hungarian air corp in WWI, a Curtiss-Wright engineer, and an American Airlines capitan in the 30's. His books were widely used to train flight crews in WWII.

"Flying and How to Do It!" (1932) Heavily illustrated in cartoon style.

"Your Wings" (1936) A complete aviation course from basics to military flying.

"Through the Overcast" (1938) Instrument flying with 30's technology

"Safety in Flight" (1941) Advanced flying techniques

"Jordanoff's Illustrated Aviation Dictionary" (1942) A truely awesome work, it explains 2057 aviation terms each with an illustration (Yes, this book has over 2000 illustrations!) Includes some terms you don't hear much anymore like "French landing" and "short snorter".

Bob Gustafson

[Howard Wilson]

Re: Good Book I discovered

If you search' book bach ' There's an older thread that will pop up with a few more books discussed. 'Nothing by Chance' is still my favorite, there's a T-craft in it too! Howard

[high time cub]

Re: Good Book I discovered

"SONG OF THE SKY" by Guy Murchie (1954) Excellent!

[VictorBravo]

Re: Good Book I discovered

"A Gift of Wings" by Richard Bach is the book that made me want to start writing. Before it did that, it completely cemented my love for aviation and stole my heart and soul for flying. It was given to me by another student, Chris Pedersen, as a junior in high school. Add this one to the list of "Required Reading" for new pilots!

[TimHicks]

Re: Good Book I discovered

Like Bill, "A gift of Wings" ignited something within me.

A week ago, I was thinking how surprised I was that none of Richard Bach's books had been mentioned in this thread yet.

"Illusions - Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah" by Bach is a fascinating, airplane-based, philosophical trip also.

Tim

[1938BF50]

Re: Good Book I discovered

A book I found fascinating and have a signed copy of is: Amphibian; the story of the Loening biplane, by Grover Cleveland Loening. It details the history of that ship with plenty of flying adventure. Most folks no little of this fantastic ship and its superb safety/dependability records. Did you know that Leroy Grumman was hired as Loenings first engineer. Grumman gets all the credit for the "Duck" series including the amphibian gear....it was Loenings baby! Great book.

[Robert Lees]

Re: Good Book I discovered

From the more technical side:

"Stick and Rudder: An Explanation of the Art of Flying"
by Wolfgang Langewiesche (1944)

"The Compleat Taildragger Pilot"
by Harvey S. Plourde (1991)