ok , I wanted to start these thread long time ago , but you guys pushed me to it finally .
so the disclaimer :
pls feel free to share in this thread good books ( authors , titles , links , comments … ) with memoirs and personal accounts of flying , combat , racing , etc.
it can serve as a good database , cause its hard to find good search engine on the various web pages to search for these kind of books .
I will start
Fighter Pilot - Christina Olds and Ed Rasimus
Olds’ daughter Christina and retired USAF fighter pilot and author Ed Rasimus tell Robin Olds’ life story very effectively in his first-person voice in this memoir, which is based on his all-but-finished, unpublished autobiography.
wholeheartedly recommended
Loud and Clear: The Memoir of an Israeli Fighter Pilot - Iftach Spector
A recently retired Israeli Air Force general and its second-highest-scoring fighter ace, Iftach Spector is one of Israel’s living legends. He was the leader of the flight that attacked the USS Liberty in 1967. After the 1967 and 1973 wars, in which he commanded a squadron of fighter-bombers, he rose to head the IAF’s Training and War Lessons Section and later became its the Chief of Operations. He was one of the eight Israeli pilots who attacked Saddam Hussein’s nuclear reactor at Osirik in 1981.
In 2003, his career took an even more dramatic he was the senior signatory of the famous “Pilots’ Letter,” in which Spector and 27 other Israeli pilots stated their refusal to bomb targets in Palestine where collateral damage would likely be severe. His maverick conscience is well on display in this artfully written memoir.
Two books come to my mind immediately:
When Thunder Rolled - Ed Rasimus on his first tour in Vietnam with the F-105
Chickenhawk - Robert Mason on his experience as a Huey pilot in Vietnam
Corinth and All That, by Fred Woollams 2nd NZEF.
Not a particularly well written book and a rather dry account of his escape, evasion and eventual capture by the Italians following the German invasion of Greece in 1941.
So why is this book special? Wollams was a Corporal, in B Company, 19th Battalion of the 2nd New Zealand Expeditionary Force, along with my Grandfather who was a private, and is mentioned on three separate occasions… Although ‘Pop’ was wounded, he survived and spent the remainder of the war in Stalag 18A in Austria.
Below is an excerpt from the book:
Just as I had passed the orders to my men to prepare to withdraw, we came under very hot fire from an enemy concealed in a tree. Some lead sprayed in my direction, my foot unfortunately catching a piece. Then there was a yell from Graeme (my Grandfather) who had got it in the stomach. Two of his mates considered he was beyond human aid, so they withdrew as ordered.
I have the money belt along with three of the gold sovereign coins that deflected the bullet enough to prevent a fatal wound and saved his life.
https://amzn.eu/d/dIs9lmt
First into action by Duncan Falconer
https://amzn.eu/d/5sDGQmE
The Big Show by Pierre Clostermann
