City Travel Guides > Books > History

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.Royal Air Force Handbook: The Definitive Guide by the MoD
City Travel Guides > Books > History
by: Great Britain. Ministry of Defence

June 29, 2006
I have recently bought this book from amazon. I grabbed a nice deal for little over nine pounds. This book has been forwarded by Dr John Reid MP and introduced by Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup Chief of Air Staff.
This guide is divided into Air Combat, Air Combat Support, Air Battle Management, Flying Training and Future Equipment.
It discusses about all kinds of inventories of RAF.
Loads of nice photographs.
Must for a collector

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.Aviation Disasters: The World's Major Civil Airliner Crashes Since 1940 (4th Edition)
City Travel Guides > Books > History
by: David Gero

November 23, 2006
I agree, a compelling read to either dip into or immerse yourself in. My only slight criticism is there seems to be a lack of balance in the depth of each story, for instance one crash is covered significantly over a large number of pages with seemingly trivial information whereas other landmark crashes are a simple paragraph. That said, I could not put it down, carried it everywhere, and read excerpts to anyone who would listen! A good mix of photographs and diagrams too. The most amazing photograph for me was a plane taxiing past wreckage on a runway of a plane that had crashed the night before, only to read that the taxiing plane takes off and crashes 30 minutes later. Takes your breath away...
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.Wings on My Sleeve
City Travel Guides > Books > History
by: Eric Brown

June 01, 2007
If you have the slightest interest in aviation since the 1930's this book will leave you open mouthed in awe at the incredible experiences of the author. No-one would have the audacity to write this as fiction for fear of it being branded "too far fetched!". If being taken for a flight by Ernst Udet before WW2 and watching Hanna Reitsch fly one of the first helicopters inside the Olympic stadium isn't enough, the author goes on to fly every major UK, US, German, Italian, Russian and Japanese aircraft of world war two before being at the very forefront of the jet age and conquering of the "Sound Barrier"....and all whilst being in our Navy! Written from his personal diaries, the style is humble and events put down to good fortune when I am sure ... Read More:
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.Naked Airport: A Cultural History of the World's Most Revolutionary Structure
City Travel Guides > Books > History
by: A Gordon

June 06, 2008
If you have the slightest interest in aviation since the 1930's this book will leave you open mouthed in awe at the incredible experiences of the author. No-one would have the audacity to write this as fiction for fear of it being branded "too far fetched!". If being taken for a flight by Ernst Udet before WW2 and watching Hanna Reitsch fly one of the first helicopters inside the Olympic stadium isn't enough, the author goes on to fly every major UK, US, German, Italian, Russian and Japanese aircraft of world war two before being at the very forefront of the jet age and conquering of the "Sound Barrier"....and all whilst being in our Navy! Written from his personal diaries, the style is humble and events put down to good fortune when I am sure ... Read More:
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Used Price: £4.99

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.Trident: A History
City Travel Guides > Books > History
by: Dr Frank McKim

June 06, 2008
Im a huge fan of the Trident and eagerly awaited this book. It proved a dissapointman with only scant coverage of the aircraft in production and little information about the aircrafts history in service. Artwork and photos were of poor quality and the book is a huge dissapintment and doesnt do justice to such a superb aircraft as the Trident.
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.Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks: Vol 1 (Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks)
City Travel Guides > Books > History
by: Ron Collier

1993-12
Generally a great book, historical info provided is fantastic.
Grid reference information in a bit dubious in some cases (book written before GPS systems were available to civillians)

Well worth it!
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.Jane's Aircraft Recognition Guide
City Travel Guides > Books > History
by: Gunter Endres, Michael J. Gething

2007-09
Yes, it has colour pictures but.....

Sadly the original layout of separating into type (e.g. Jet, Swept Wings, rear Engines) has been abandoned in favour of alphabetical listings.

This is supposed to be a recognition guide but, unfortunately, planes don't fly over in alphabetical order - in order to identify an aircraft you now have to plough through the whole of the book on the offchance you will come across the right one.

It is no longer a recognition guide - simply a book of planes.

In a word, Pants.


EDIT - I notice that a lot of the earlier reveiws (the glowing ones - some more than 9 years ago) seem to refer to previous editions of this book - i.e. when it was still a useful ... Read More:
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.Frank Whittle: Invention of the Jet (Revolutions in Science)
City Travel Guides > Books > History
by: Andrew Nahum

August 04, 2005
The back of this book gives an impression that it is about the development of the jet engine. Regrettable, with the exeption of some photos, and some interspersed minor stuff, it is mostly about Frank Whittle and the bureaucratic "battle" - that is probably more famous than the development of the jet engine itself. The book gives some very good reasons that it was decided to do it in other ways than what Frank Whittle wanted, with regards to development and production of the engine. And the book has a role to play in this regard. But as a book of the development of the engine itself it is disappointing. Due to the fame of this bureaucratic 'battle' a really good book about the technical challenges will probably never be written. But the book is well ... Read More:
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.Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks: v. 2 (Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks)
City Travel Guides > Books > History
by: Ron Collier

1992-08
The back of this book gives an impression that it is about the development of the jet engine. Regrettable, with the exeption of some photos, and some interspersed minor stuff, it is mostly about Frank Whittle and the bureaucratic "battle" - that is probably more famous than the development of the jet engine itself. The book gives some very good reasons that it was decided to do it in other ways than what Frank Whittle wanted, with regards to development and production of the engine. And the book has a role to play in this regard. But as a book of the development of the engine itself it is disappointing. Due to the fame of this bureaucratic 'battle' a really good book about the technical challenges will probably never be written. But the book is well ... Read More:
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.Beyond the Black Box: The Forensics of Airplane Crashes
City Travel Guides > Books > History
by: G Bibel

February 26, 2008
The back of this book gives an impression that it is about the development of the jet engine. Regrettable, with the exeption of some photos, and some interspersed minor stuff, it is mostly about Frank Whittle and the bureaucratic "battle" - that is probably more famous than the development of the jet engine itself. The book gives some very good reasons that it was decided to do it in other ways than what Frank Whittle wanted, with regards to development and production of the engine. And the book has a role to play in this regard. But as a book of the development of the engine itself it is disappointing. Due to the fame of this bureaucratic 'battle' a really good book about the technical challenges will probably never be written. But the book is well ... Read More:
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Used Price: £17.34