Book Recommendations

[Rattler]

LUCKY THIRTEEN by Hugh Godefroy

A great read about a Canadian who joined the RCAF in 1941 and finished the war as a Wing Commander. For a short while in 1942, he was taken off active ops and posted to a group which tested all different types of aircraft including a captured FW 190.

You won't be disappointed in this one. A must for all Spitty lovers.

I agree wholeheartedly, Jim. It's a great autobiography. It's one that I own as well.

[Dubbo]

SS GB by Len Dieghton

Whilst not a war book per say, it is set in England in 1941 and involves an Inspector from Scotland Yard investigating a murder.

The thing is, this is an England under Nazi occupation, a defeated England making do under the boot of Nazi conquest.

The crime story begins as any other might, but quickly becomes the focus of Resistance activities, plots, and the machinations of those within the German military and government, and foreign powers. Scotland Yard Detective Superintendent Douglas Archer finds what was a simple murder turning into a juggling act between himself and numerous powerful groups.

What really sets this book apart is Deighton's sweating the details of a Britain conquered. We are used to England as a special case of World War II in Europe, the country untainted by Nazi occupation, a somehow nobler land of heroic resistance. Deighton sets this on its head, makes England a Vichy regime, and raises the issues of occupation and collaboration in an unexpected place. The world of SS-GB is a mere twist away from what might have been. The transplant of the troops of occupied France to England is a fascinating exercise in playing with our entrenched picture of Britain At War, and allows a (perhaps small) reevaluation of the collaborationist governments of 1940's Europe.

A fantastic "What-if" and it would be a great companion piece to Fatherland by Robert Harris. (Another what-if involving a SIPO officer investigating a murder in 1964 in Berlin in a world where Germany won the war)

[Lone wolf/idiot]

I find this a great book it is not about airplanes but actually about the soviet submariene operations during the cold war. very odd finally knowing that four (diesal) submarines armed with nuclear torpedos(yes it is true) and carrying missles to the cubans in the cuban missle crisis were actual repeled. the navy dropped signal depth charges on b130 a submarine holding the only soviet captian as of that tiome to have actualy fired the torpedos(in test range). if things had came out differently a carrier group with the carrier essex CV9 could have been literally vaporised bay a 10kilo ton explotion

[JensenPark]

sounds interesting Lone wolf...

I'll take a look for it...

[Knutsac]

Of the many, many books I've read related to WWII air combat, three stand out as my all-time favorites, I think mostly because of the candor and wit of the authors.

The first is "The Wrong Stuff" by Truman Smith.

[Blairgowrie]

Just about finished Moscow Club by Joseph Finder.

If you enjoy cold war, spy stuff you will enjoy this one. Good easy read. Lots of pages.

[Waldo.Pepper]

The Wrong Stuff

Terror in the Starboard Seat

Nanette, Her Pilot's Love Story

Thanks Knutsac ... Wrong Stuff sounds like my cup of Tea. I have Starboard seat, that man is too honest!

Also have read Nanette .... you have good taste in books.

I am reading the Radio Operator and Information File - here's the cover and some pages. (Once a geek! Always a geek!)

[Dubbo]

Finally read "The Corvette Navy" by Charles Lamb. Really well done. Gives a nice look into the birth of the escort fleet and is basically a compilation of well-written accounts from different junior officers on various Canadian corvettes. Well worth picking up. After I give this back to Jensenpark he may loan it out again, if you ask nice

[Rattler]

Finally read "The Corvette Navy" by Charles Lamb. Really well done. Gives a nice look into the birth of the escort fleet and is basically a compilation of well-written accounts from different junior officers on various Canadian corvettes. Well worth picking up. After I give this back to Jensenpark he may loan it out again, if you ask nice

[Dubbo]

Actually I made a mistake - It's James Lamb. But you could be right Rattler....it rings a bell

[Pooka]

I finished and enjoyed,"Hell in a Very Small Place". Its about the battle of Dien Bien Phu back in 1954.

[RCAF_Acesteel]

S! All

This is somewhat off topic , but this here is "The World's Greatest Radio Station", Alberta's own http://ckua.com/ . A very cool publicly supported station in AB. They play a somewhat different mix of stuff based on the current dj's taste usually .

[Cold_Gambler]

I don't know if this has been posted here yet, but here is a link to the online memoirs of an English WW2 fighter pilot from X Squadron Royal Indian Air Force, Edward Sparkes. He lived a very full life and this account is long and fascinating:

http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/sparkes/contents.htm

I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Incidentally, Mr. Sparkes died a few years ago... RIP.

[cannon_fodder]

Half way through:

"The last flight of the Luftwaffe"

[Kira]

Necro-Thread alert!  Thought of starting one like this, found it already existed.  First one's not a book, but a series.

 

Destroyermen series, by Taylor Anderson.  Historic fiction.

 

March, 1942.  The USS Walker, an old WWI Wickes class destroyer, finds herself and her crew in the Second Battle of the Java Sea, with Capt. Mathew Reddy in command.  As they leave the battle area, a strange squall overtakes the ship.  Next thing they know, things are the same... yet different.  They find themselves on another world, yet quite similar, in most respects, to earth.  Geography is almost identical, and places are almost the same.  Without support, they must befriend someone before supplies run out.  As they wander around, a huge ship the size of an aircraft carrier, but with three huge masts, sails over the horizon.  Crewed by odd lemur like furry beings, the lemur ship is then attacked by an East Indiaman, crewed by reptiles.  The Walker comes to the Lemurian's aid, and the story progresses from there, as the crew finds that it left behind one war for another.  Without any base, other than the crew's own knowledge and the machinery aboard the ship, they slowly build a military and industrial complex from scratch as the war slowly widens to engulf this world.  Currently, it seems the series is incomplete, as the end of Iron Grey Sea leaves little doubt that another book is forthcoming.

 

Books in the series:

 

Into The Storm

Crusaide

Maelstrom

Distant Thunders

Rising Tides

Firestorm

Iron Grey Sea

[Mayhem]

When will this be coming out for PC? I'm looking forward to playing it.

[Kira]

American Sniper by Chris Kyle with Scott McEwen and Jim DeFelice c. 2012 by Chris Kyle and Scott McEwen ISBN 978-0-06-208235-0

 

I found this to be a fairly easy read about a USN SEAL sniper (Kyle) who, apparently, is the most lethal sniper in US history.  Typical sniper book, with personal background, some training, and then operational history.  There are some interesting "inserts" if that's what you call them, by his wife, giving some information on what it's like to be the wife of someone who's basically not there much of the time due to their military service.  Some interesting insights there, but I must admit, I skipped a portion of the heaviest of the "lovey dovey, it's tough" section.   Wasn't big but it was a chapter title, so fairly easy to spot.  As with most elite unit books, this one was written because "If I don't tell it, someone else will, and they'll get it wrong and forget some very important people in the process".  Overall, I'd say a good book, worth the read.

[BadAim]

Saw him on a couple of TV spots before he died and he sure seemed like the real deal, just a hell of a nice guy. He was heavily involved in helping vets get back on track in society........too bad it got him killed.

[Kira]

Guns Up! by Johnnie M. Clark c. 1984 by Johnnie M. Clark ISBN 0-345-45026-4

 

Talks about his tour with the 5th Marines starting just at the tail end of the 1968 Tet offensive mopping up operations at Hue.  Pretty ugly stuff.  Definitely a "new" perspective on the war for me.  First book I've read written by a machine gunner on the ground.  Definitely gives some insight into just what kind of meat grinder the Vietnam war had become by that time, and just how bad conditions were for the line units, particularly the "second hand" Marine Corps, who had to watch the Army get all the good stuff, while they made due with what they had (lots of it WWII vintage), and what they could beg, borrow, or, in most cases, flat out steal.  Pretty bad when the gunner tells the new boot (paraphrase) "Don't worry, we'll get you your own NVA pack soon enough, and you can ditch your issued piece of garbage".

 

A particular incident rings in my mind.  The night a buddy died because "there aren't any helicopters available".  The next morning, they watched the Army go by with a skyfull of bright shiny Hueys ferrying hot lunch out to the 101st Airborne.  Oh, and that's after the "too smart to be on the ground with dirty Marines" USN corpsman discovered, at first light,  the stomach wound that killed the guy... that he'd missed all night long when it was too dark to see.

 

He's written some other books, too.  Looks like I'll have my reading cut out for me on this one.

[Kira]

Brennan's War by Matthew Brennan c. 1985 by Presidio Press  ISBN: Unkown

 

The author was a young private in Germany when Vietnam started getting hot and spent from 1965 through 1969 in Vietnam, with a around a half year out of the service in 1968 (I think), gaining a rather unexpected field commission to second lieutenant in the process.  It's a fascinating, and as usual graphic, first hand account look at how badly the policies of those running the war, as well as those at all levels in the chain of command, bungled up an initially winnable war (they thought).  Also, far more importantly, how those policies dismantled a highly professional aggressive army, and within the course of about three years or so  turned it into a defeated, defensive, depressed group of draftees. The ending is most surprising, and somewhat not, as Mr. Brennan went from being a confirmed "lifer" sergeant then field commissioned officer, to getting out with conscientious objector status within the space of a year.

[Kira]

This one's questionable.  Definitely in the "Piss a bunch of people off" category.

 

The Deserter's Tale: The Story of an Ordinary Soldier Who Walked Away from the War in Iraq by Joshua Key and Lawrence Hill

 

The usual upbringing in the beginning, very poor, no surprise.  Most of the book talks about his experiences in Iraq.  There are, apparently, some inconsistencies, some of which I can believe, like the fact that he was allowed to not clean his weapon - at all - for the last portion of his time on the line.  If I've been in his squad, he'd likely have been made to keep the damn thing clean, one way or another.  But maybe that was just the quality (or lack thereof) of that particular unit. (from what I've read on the review here: but the rest of it really doesn't surprise me at all, both the recruiters outright lying to him (they lied to my college room mate, too), and the way a bunch of scared kids with guns act when told over and over and over again that (paraphrase) "ANY Iraqi is the enemy."  I've heard this from other sources, notably a British mercenary in Iraq.  I'll post that book next.  Anyway, the Merc's experience with an American convoy over there being aggressive toward his protection group with British flags.  The kid's response when he was set straight? "Oh, I thought they were Iraqi flags".  Obviously someone who 1. Doesn't know their flags and 2. Doesn't have their head on right (probably NOT their own fault).  Needless to say, from then on, the British flew American flags.

The end of the book talks about his decision to desert (he actually only made the decision after his connecting flight was delayed), and what it's like to live as a fugitive in your own country.

Essentially, this young kid discovered what Matthew Brennan discovered about war, only a LOT sooner.  But then, it was a different war.

It was a good, if a bit scary, read.  I'm glad I was never so poor that I felt the military was my only option as he did.

[Kira]

Highway to Hell by John Geddes

 

Recounts his time as a mercenary in Iraq.  The buildup, the folly of some of the decisions made by the decision-makers, etc.  Rather exciting recounts of particular engagements.  Some "how we did it's".  Through and through a great read.  He makes it fairly easy to see why some would choose to do what he did, but also makes plain the price of failure.  Has some good and some rather bad things to say about the forces who operated in the same region as he did, most notably how the American troops seemed, overall, to have almost no respect for anyone not flying an American flag, particularly when it came to interactions with the civil population.  I fully believe that... And there are Americans who don't understand why it is that many in the world hate us!

[Kira]

Life on the Line    Stories of Vietnam Air Combat by Philip D. Chinnery c. 1988 by Philip D. Chinnery ISBN: 0-312-02599-8

 

Individual accounts covering a broad spectrum of the aviation combat in Southeast Asia during the American involvement there.  From helicopters in the south to fighters bombing with LGBs and EOGBs (Electro-Optically ie TV guided) up north, B-52s and even AC-130 gunships over the Trail.  Additionally, the first account I've ever read from the photo reconnaissance guys. The only account I felt conspicuous in its missing was one of air to air combat; but the ones covered are definitely some of the more obscure, so I can understand why air to air was left out (beating a dead horse, anyone?)  Some of the accounts are pretty powerful, specifically, one written by a guy who flew with two (three?) others who all died during their service.  That account is one of the few remaining of who those men were.  Of course, the political stupidity is in there too.  The report by the photo-recon guy?  It was so good with tactical suggestions and reasons why for its time that it was classified, shelved, and never reached the guys who really needed that information - the next group of air recon guys.

[Kira]

My Secret War by Richard Drury

 

This book is a work of art.  It comes as close to capturing the beauty of flight as I've ever read, and brought back incredibly strong memories of my own all to short time on the flight line.  The opening is Mr. Drury's time in aviation leading to being based at Nakhon Phanom in Thailand during the Vietnam War, including the idea that anyone who was really good, knew full well that the last WWII airplane, the Skyraider, was THE airplane to be flying.  All the newfangled stuff would still be around in ten, or even five years, but the last of the WWII types... this was the chance of a lifetime.  So much so, that he gives the impression that the guys who flew the Sandies flew not for the USAF (they just happened to own the planes), but for the plane itself, and the joy of flying it (I'm sure being at the top of the rescue force heap was big on some guys' lists too.).  Being an officer, being in the Air Force, being in the military at all, being in combat; it was all just base requirements for what they really wanted: to fly THAT airplane.  It then goes on to recount his various missions, and if I recall correctly (it's been a while since I read the book) the final mission was as Sandy One or Lead.  These were the guys who escorted the HH-3s and HH-53s into airspace where someone else just got shot down, so that they could go rescue that someone else.  Of course, they were doing so in 20-30 year old airplanes in a threat environment where the newest and best had just gotten bested.  And it showed.  The attrition rate in aircraft and pilots was astounding.