avcanada book club?

[seniorpumpkin]

Facing the prospect of a slow, cold winter of flying, I thought I'd ask if anyone has some recommendations for good reading material to keep a fellow pilot entertained. Besides of course the entertainment provided by reading the other posts on this site! I'm interested in anything good, bush flying, airline stuff, I'd even be up for something informative . I've read "flights of a Coast Dog", a great book by Jack Schofield (sp?). And forgive me for forgetting the title, I think it's called "Smoke in the Cockpit" a book about the adventures and mostly mis-adventures of "Smoky Joe". Oh yes and there was a Michael Chrichton book called "Airframe", also totally enjoyable.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

Anything by Earnest Gann, especially his aviation stories.

[Highflyinpilot]

I'd recommend stuff, but honestly reading is something I just can't get into. I start reading then my mind starts to think of something else, all the while still reading.

Good luck in finding something interresting to keep you somewhat busy for the winter.

[Siddley Hawker]

The Little Airline That Could by Marsh Jones. It's the story of the first 15 years of Eastern Provincial Airways. Marsh used to be the CP.

Pilots Of The Purple Twilight by Philip Godsell, the story of Canada's early bush flyers.

Skippers Of The Sky - The Early Years Of Bush Flying - by Bill Wheeler.

Permission Granted by Wess McIntosh.

And I Shall Fly by Z. Lewis Leigh

The Day The World Came To Town by Jim Defede. All about the 9/11 flights that were diverted to Gander.

Get hold of Larry Milberry at CanAv Books and have him send you the current list of titles he keeps under his mattress. He buys collections and old library books and stuff for resale, and you can get some real good deals.

[Big Pratt]

"Hot zone"

and

"Level 4" the virus hunters of the CDC

Informative, entertaining and will make you think.

[Widow]

"The World Aloft" by Guy Murchie.

[Louis]

Get hold of Larry Milberry at CanAv Books and have him send you the current list of titles he keeps under his mattress. He buys collections and old library books and stuff for resale, and you can get some real good deals.

I'll second Siddley Hawker about Larry Milberry's if you want aviation history books. Got to read both his books about Canadair (Canadair: The First 50 Years) and the one about Pratt & Whitney Canada (Power: The Pratt & Whitney Canada Story) and found them pretty interesting.

Goodbye,

Louis

[Dash-Ate]

Yes. This will either make you want to become a bush pilot...or scare you away...


Bent Props & Blow Pots: A Pioneer Remembers Northern Bush Flying


From the Publisher

Crash landings were part of the job in the early 1930s, when Rex Terpening started out in arctic aviation. As an air engineer for Canadian Airways in the Northwest Territories, Terpening took the right-hand seat in the cockpit and flew "on operations" daily, warming the oil and the engine on winter mornings, refuelling, and inevitably mending both engine and aircraft when things went wrong.

Terpening''s beat stretched from Fort McMurray to the Arctic Ocean, and his remarkable bush …+ read more

Crash landings were part of the job in the early 1930s, when Rex Terpening started out in arctic aviation. As an air engineer for Canadian Airways in the Northwest Territories, Terpening took the right-hand seat in the cockpit and flew "on operations" daily, warming the oil and the engine on winter mornings, refuelling, and inevitably mending both engine and aircraft when things went wrong. <br><br>Terpening''s beat stretched from Fort McMurray to the Arctic Ocean, and his remarkable bush-flying stories tell of planes wandering lost over unmapped muskeg, perilous rescue missions to retrieve stranded missionaries, dogged searches for downed flyers lost on the Barrens and emergency landings in blizzards on nameless pothole lakes. But there is humour, too, in tales of a drunken wolverine, a planeload of rambunctious sled dogs and a trip in a tiny Fairchild with a Catholic priest and the wife of an Anglican minister. And there are vivid evocations of the sheer joy of flying over the Arctic''s raw beauty.<br><br>Rex Terpening not only kept a meticulous journal from which these stories are derived, he carried his camera everywhere, snapping pictures of downed machines, their step-by-step resurrections, the men who flew them and those who fixed them. Most of those men and machines are gone now, but they live on in <I>Bent Props and Blow Pots</I>.
- read less

About the Author
Rex Terpening is one of the very last of a breed of air engineers who flew with the bush pilots and shared all of the routine hazards they faced. Now in his late 80''s Rex is a perceptive observer who writes not only with an insight gained from a lifetime in aviation--much of it as the grassroots level--but with humour and sensitivity





http://www.chapters.indigo.ca/books/Ben ... +pots%2527

[angry inch]

"The Accidental Airline" by Howard White & Jim Spilsbury.... Have read it more than once...

[Rowdy]

Bushpilot with a briefcase

No Numbered runways - also by jack schoefield

Pilots to presidents

Fate is the Hunter

Altimeter rising

The disaster on Mount slesse

hmm.. what else is on my shelf that hasn't already been mentioned. Ohh and if you haven't already... Catch-22!! classic..

[5400AirportRdSouth]

I second Accidental Airline, fantastic book and gives all kinds of historical anecdotes that YVR-dwellers will should find interesting.

Its incredible reading that book and looking around the south side at all the hangars and old ramps that QCA and their like occupied back in the day.

[roundenginesmakemyday]

The best reading ever is down on the avcanada wall, written by Mr Duke elegant.

[skyrocket]

I agree, The accidental Airline is one of the best book on aviation history of Western Canada. I read it twice; great story.
If you have a chance to read the book: My compass points North, by Gerry Johnson. (out of print), a story in northern Manitoba.
It is hard to believe that a man has worked so much in a life time. Visited Mr Johnson last fall, he is in good shape, living a peaceful life with his wife.

[skyrocket]

Geiri Johnson

[oldtimer]

Whether you are male or female, the book "No Place For A Lady" is a good read. Life and times of some great Canadian women pilots.

[flyincanuck]

I'd recommend stuff, but honestly reading is something I just can't get into. I start reading then my mind starts to think of something else, all the while still reading.

You have ADD too eh?

[180]

The book about Max Ward...sorry, the title escapes me.

Wind, Sand and Stars & The Little Prince by Antoine St. Exubery. (sp?)

West with the night.

And my favourite book of all time, although it has nothing to do with aviation and everything to do with following your heart, The Alchemist.

This could be a good thread to bookmark...no pun intended.

[R1830]

North Star Over my Shoulder: Bob Buck, excellent story about the author's career from the DC-2 to the 747 and seniority #1 at TWA.(Some of the early stories will ring true for anyone who has flown with Buffalo Joe)

A Thousand Shall Fall: Murray Peden, The best aviation book I have ever read, bar none, WW2 bomber pilot talks about his experiences from training to the end of the war.

Boeing: The First Century(and Beyond): Eugene E. Bauer, long time boeing employee talks about the development of everything we all enjoy flying and lust after.

[lilfssister]

I'd say Flight Service MANOPS would be a good read for many, but it's hard to get hold of, and relates to an entirely different thread

[grimey]

I'd say Flight Service MANOPS would be a good read for many, but it's hard to get hold of, and relates to an entirely different thread

It's too dry, and the index sucks.

[lilfssister]

I'd say Flight Service MANOPS would be a good read for many, but it's hard to get hold of, and relates to an entirely different thread

...the index sucks.

That's why 99% of the time I search the CD version. Much faster.

[Grey_Wolf]

Facing the prospect of a slow, cold winter of flying, I thought I'd ask if anyone has some recommendations for good reading material to keep a fellow pilot entertained

It's too dry, and the index sucks

What about the CARs .... ....
That'll keep you busy wayyyyy past the winter months, plus you may be "entertained" on what you may read

Kidding aside

I'm presently reading James Ball's "So You Want to be a Pilot", re-reading Ernest Gann's "Fate is the Hunter", and thumbing through my Company's SOP, Emergency Section for a refresher. I'd also recommend anything by Garth Wallace.

[Chickaddd]

Austin Airways by Larry Milberry

Aviation in Thunder Bay by Jim Lyzun

[Siddley Hawker]

The book about Max Ward...sorry, the title escapes me.

The Max Ward Story.

Wingwalkers by Peter Pigott. It's the story of Canadian Airlines Internationl.

Bushpilot with a briefcase

Geez Rowdy, I'd forgotten that one.

"How's the visibility?"
"It's pretty good as far as I can see."

"Well, what's the ceiling?"
"It's beaverboard."

The Grumman Mallard and The deHavilland Canada Story, both by Fred Hotson.

[Scuba_Steve]

A Thousand Shall Fall: Murray Peden, The best aviation book I have ever read, bar none, WW2 bomber pilot talks about his experiences from training to the end of the war.

I will second that ... fantastic book.

Also, my two persona favs are

Wing Commander - Johnny Johnson's memoirs, they recently re-released it

And the best one ever...

'The Big Show' - Pierre Closterman - his memoirs flying for the free french alcace and RAF squadrons, started off flying spits then moved to the temptest...amazing stuff! I've read it 3x.

I came across 'the First and the Last' by Adolf Gallad in a military collectibles store recently, its on my 'too read' list.