Good book for those who have time to read

Anne, One magazine to try with good articles is Northern Pilots.
Cheers, Ramchaser

magazine

Anne...

www.northernpilot.com ....Good magazine and mucho better than Flying, AOPA etc... EAA's Sport Pilot is a good secondary read as well.

Brad

Anne,

The only complaint I have about Northern Pilot magazine is that it doesn't come out often enough. It only comes out every couple of months. I'd like to see it as a weekly, but I suppose the quality might suffer. It's a good read. I would also suggest ordering back issues since there is a lot of very good Supercub related material that has been covered in the past. A few of the frequent contributors to this web site have also had articles in Northern Pilot.

As for Bud Helmericks. I believe he is still around (at least I hope so). Most of his and his late wife Connie's books are (I believe) out of print. Most of them can be found at Title Wave books in Anchorage, www.wavebooks.com or (907) 278-9283. Connie (Constance) wrote a book a few years ago called "Down the Wild River North" about a canoe trip with her two daughters. Nothing about flying, but an interesting story. Connie's daughter Jean Aspen has also written a book about living (more appropriately surviving) in Bush Alaska called "Arctic Daughter". Again, no flying, but an interesting story.

Bud and Connie used to film all of their adventures and present the films at seminars in the lower 48. The old TV show "Bold Journey" in the mid to late 50's (I'm dating myself) presented several of Bud's 16mm travelogues. Seeing those old TV shows inspired me to come to Alaska. Anyway, check Title Wave for out of print Alaska Books. They probably have what you want. If not, they can sometimes call arounf and find it.

Good Luck

If anybody's looking for these old books, try www.abe.com It works really well.
BCB

I've entered my subscription to Northern Pilot, and waiting for the first copy. Finshed True North - made me want to get floats for my plane and take a summer off from work. Just finished Fate is the Hunter - excellent! Halfway done with a book by Alma Heflin, who worked for Piper in Lock Haven - what a trip! She and a girlfriend take off from Lock Haven in a Cub Coupe in 1940 for Alaska, wearing dresses and high heels (I keep wondering about that - high heels and heel brakes??).

Thanks, Mike, for the info on Title Wave Books in Anchorage. I already bought Connie Helmericks' Down the Wild River, and they just called me today to say they have a copy of Last of the Bush Pilots by Bud Helmericks. They're fantastic - just tell them which book or author you're looking for, and they keep track of who wants what, then call you when it's in, even if it's a used book.

Too many books, so little time! Anne.

The weather has been lousy for the last few days so I decided to pick up another flying book. The title of this one is: "Rocks and Wings" by C.L. (Pete) Sainsbury. (published 1990 by author)

At first I thought that this one wasn't going to be very good since it is self published by the author and is basically a story of his life as a geologist prospecting for minerals. However, within a few pages he hooked me.

This guy spent 47 summers (and 15,000 hours) flying a cub in bush Alaska, landing in some of the most god awful places while wrecking only one plane (though he bent a lot of them). He describes a lot of useful techniques (like repitching a bent prop with a rock and landing on water with tundra tires). He once walked away from a wreck (40 miles to the nearest village) across tundra in less than a day. He did this so his friends wouldn't have to come looking for him and report him missing.

This old bird has to be tougher than boiled owl!

Although, I admit I wasn't interested in his accounts of mineral discovery, I was fascinated by his bush flying stories. He recounts a story of breaking his leg while looking for minerals, crawling and hobbling to his helicopter, then flying the helicopter to a base camp, climbing into his cub and flying a couple of hundred miles to the hospital.

Anyway, I enjoyed it (the flying part) and would recommend it (if you can find a copy).

Brad- I notice you mentioned this book in an earlier post --where did you find it? I found my copy at (of all places) a gunshow in Anchorage.

Hey Mike,

I bought my copy of ol' Pete's book "Rocks and Wings" from Jim Richmond back in '93 or '94. Pete had written in the SCPA newsletter and that got me interested in his book. (did he sign all the copies he published?)

I actually enjoyed the mineral hunt as much as the flying. Building that Cub borne tree clipper so you can ash the branch and determine the minerals in remote forested parts of AK was pretty cool. (also his investigations of the Pre-Can rock dwellings). My copy is a bit dog-eared now as its been across the Atlantic and back plus around the country here.

I think Pete passed on about 5 or 6 years ago.

Brad

Mike, I forgot to mention that a friend of mine owns one of Pete's old Cubs and has it for kinda' sorta' for sale (he doesn't fly it much due to time constraints etc...). I'm not saying where or how much as I have my eye on it

Brad

Brad,

Thanks for the quick reply. The copy of "Rocks and Wings" I got is also autographed. Sorry to hear Pete has passed on -- what a remarkable character.

His airbourne tree clipper had me scratching my head - the last time I hit a tree in an aircraft (as a passenger) didn't turn out to be too pleasant. Since you mentioned it, I do recall a letter or article Pete wrote in SCPA newsletter about water landings on wheels. I was pretty sceptical at the time, but I see now how and why he did it.

Brad,

After reading about all of Pete's landing adventures ( ..."we dug a hole so the prop wouldn't dig in when we flipped the cub back on to the wheels") I'm not sure I'd want his old cub. Mine has a pretty checkered past itself. Near as I can tell mine was completely rebuilt at least 4 times as the result of less than perfect landings. The good thing is that for a 50 year old airplane it probably doesn't have too many original parts (other than the data plate).

Yeah I know what you mean about how Pete USED his airplanes! This is one of his last ones (not 71L which ended up swimming with the salmon in the Lace River).

If they're rebuilt correctly then I'm not afraid at all of a formerly mangled Cub. Happy to have the new steel and parts.

Say, how did you like his anti-grizzly/wolverine DEW and CWS defense lines? Never had an airplane messed with in all the years he left it parked in the bush. The only time he had a tent ruined was one time he failed to set up the line. 8)

(He did have that one Hughes 269 chewed up by a porcupine and was grumpy as the critter escaped a terrible vengeance by vacating the area before he returned)

Brad

I've used a variation of his early warning system (marking territory around camp) and have not had too many problems except for one event a couple of years ago.

We were camped on the only flat spot we could find on a lake shore (dropped off by a beaver on floats). The area was lousy with both black and brown bears. One black bear wouldn't read the signs (or take a hint) and tried to crawl into my partner's tent one morning. The partner didn't appreciate it since the tent wasn't big enough for the both of them. After much yelling and fussing my partner asked me to shoot the bear -- which I did.

Fortunately I had a valid license so the legal issues were no big deal. I was worried that the scent of dead bear in camp might draw in other bears to pick over the carcass, so we dragged his remains (minus head and hide) across the lake to get it away from camp.

Maybe it was the residual smell of the bear, but we had no other problems with bears or wolverines or foxes, or even ravens or camp robbers for the rest of the trip. I'm not sure I'd recommend this method as a deterent, but it seemed to work this time. During the whole time we were there, nothing touched that bear carcass either.

Just finished another entertaining book on bush flying. "Flying the Alaska Wild" by Mort Mason (Voyageur Press) recounts Mort's 25+ years of flying in bush Alaska.

Mort bent more than a few birds during his career and manages to tell the stories in a way that produces a few chuckles. I never met Mort, but I know a few of the people who he wrote about. Near as I can tell the stories have more than a grain of truth.

One of the few complaints I have, is that he mentions incidents like the one about an assistant guide that ended up costing him three quarters of a million bucks, yet he doesn't finish the story and tell how or why. I'd still like to know "the rest of the story".

Mort had a few adventures that had me shaking my head. Talk about lucky. His story of his first bear hunt is a classic. Anybody else trying the same sorts of things would probably still be out there in the tundra feeding the plants and animals.

Even with its faults (could have had a little tighter editing) the book is worth reading. Mort does a good job telling interesting stories.

Mike, I am reading Mort's book right now. I agree with all of the above.

Now that I've finished the fourth Harry Potter book, I'm enjoying "Looking for Alaska" by Peter Jennings. Lots of interesting stories that add up to an overall view of what it's like to live in Alaska. Although he's not a pilot, there are a few stories about flying there, and one very nice picture of a SC on floats.

The weather here in Michigan has been lousy for flying. Yuck. When we went to Florida during vacation to visit my folks, I flew a J3 (65hp) a couple of times. Still trying to learn wheel landings. Have to put the new antenna on, get a new battery, put snaps on the new Oregon Aero seats to match the pattern on the seat tubing, mount the new fire extinguisher... Hope I remember how to fly when the time comes again!

Anne.

Anne, I just bought "Looking For Alaska" with my gift certificate I got for Christmas. Glad to here it's a good read, it looked like it. I'm finishing "Flying the Alaska Wild" and will start Jennings book next. Did you happen to read his book on America?

No, I haven't read it yet. First I heard of Peter Jenkins (I said Jennings in my previous post, but I was wrong) was this book, which I bought because I love reading about Alaska (almost as much as I love reading about flying). But I sure wish I had thought about walking, bicycling, motorcycling, anything, across America when I was 22 - that would sure have beat working! (Don't get down on me for that, Tim Randall - I've been working and paying my taxes and voting ever since I've been old enough to do all of those things!).

Another good book is The Reader's Companion to Alaska, which is a bunch of stories and excerpts by different authors, edited by Alan Ryan. I read this one a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Some of the authors include John Muir, Anne Morrow Lindbergh, Constance Helmericks, Jonathan Waterman, Libby Riddles, John Krakauer, and Barry Lopez.

Also, Travels in Alaska, by John Muir (I read this one because of the excerpt from the previous book mentiioned). And just for fun, Tracks Across Alaska, A Dog Sled Journey, by Alastair Scott. He's a Scot who decides to go to Manley Hot Springs, learn about dogsledding, then follow the Itidarod trail.

Well, it's snowing out now. Time to put on a pot of tea, and curl up with a good book!

Anne.

Take a look at "Rowing to Latitude" by Jill Fordston. It sits right along "-148" and "Dangerous Footsteps". pak

If you want a good laugh read "Bax Seat" by Gordon Baxter. Its a compilation of his Flying Magazine articles with a lot of good anecdotes and such in between. Picked it up again after having last read it about five years ago. Still makes me bust a gut. :lol:

Oh Hey Mike, back to Pete for just a second...I was talking today with my friend Turbo Ted who owns one of his old Cubs. A few days ago one of Pete's business cards fell out of it. It has been in there at least 10 + years (who know where?)

Also Turbo just sold a PA-14 to Steve Saint which they are going to rebuild and use in a movie about Steve's dad: Nate. You remember Nate Saint and the 4 other missionaries who were killed in the late 50's by an Indian tribe in Equador? They where using the PA-14 to shuttle supplies to their forward beach camp. Nate was one of the guys who developed the bucket transfer technique. You lower a bucket full of supplies out the door while in a steep turn over your target. Keep lowering and the bucket will stay stationary over the target while the person on the ground empties the bucket and/or puts stuff in it for the airplane to take back home. Reel the bucket back in, roll out of the turn and wa-la. It's a pretty cool trick.

More good books: "Wings over the Alaska Highway" / Anything by P.G. Wodehouse written prior to 1939 and I cannot speak highly enough of: "Renovation of the Heart" by Dallas Willard. One of the best books I've ever read.

Brad

Brad,

The bucket transfer technique was one I haven't thought of in awhile. I vaguely remember reading about it in some magazine in the late 50s or early 60s. Didn't they also put a field telephone in the bucket so they could talk to the people on the ground while they were making turns over the site?

I seem to recall somebody else using a post and tether arrangement to get airborne. Tie a rope to the doorframe with the other end tied to a post or tree and make increasingly faster turns until you are airborne -- then untie the rope--sorta like a tether ball. I'm not sure how they would have got the airplane there in the first place, unless they crashlanded on a site that was too short to take off from.

Just finished reading "Flying Cold" the story of Russ Merrill. Excellent book with a number of great pictures. I don't know how good those oldtimers were as pilots, but they must have been outstanding mechanics. They sure got plenty of practice fixing planes they crashed. They also got lots of practice in survival situations. Unfortunately, they had no choice. Those old boys were sure tough.

Mike wrote, "Many, are as you noted, narrations by good pilots with interesting stories told to not very talented writers. I've gritted my teeth while reading what should have been a wonderful story, but because of the inability of the author, the story became just another "Me and Joe went flying" story".

All too true, and what tripped my trigger to post this since none of you mentioned Nevil Shute. My favorite bush flying story is his 'An Old Captivity'. About half the book is fiction, and half true. The 'dream' sequences are true, based on historical documents, the rest fiction.

Most of Shute's 24 books involved aviation to some degree. By the time of his death in the 60's, he had become the best selling author in the English language, indicative of his general ability. But many people aren't aware that under his real name (Nevil Shute Norway) he was a damn good pilot and one of the best aeronautical engineers in the world, founder, CEO, and chief designer for Airspeed, Ltd. (one of the world's largest aviation design and manufacturing firms prior to WWII, responsible for the Oxford Envoy among other planes), and that he was initially chief calculator and eventually chief engineer for the R-100, the most efficient airship that ever flew. R-100 was built in direct competition with the disastrous R-101 and was embarrassingly better. Which may be one of the reasons that R-100 was scrapped after the wreck of the 101. Norway was on board on all but one of the flights that 100 ever made. His autobiography 'Sliderule' talks a lot about construction of the 100 and the 101 competition.

But back to his other books, 'An Old Captivity' was directly responsible for Parks Canada inviting me to fly up to L'anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland to work on the Old Norse settlement at Epaves Bay (two days each way from Olive Branch, Mississippi to St. Anthony, Newfoundland by Cherokee Six, loaded to the gills with folks, surveying equipment, and computer). I credit 'An Old Captivity' for inspiring our efforts and indirectly for our finding of a previously undocumented room in Hall 'F' at the old Norse settlement. So it was a worthwhile book for me. A great book about fabulous bush flying, written by someone who knew what he was talking about.

Now back to Shute. Some of his other aviaton books include 'No Highway in the Sky' (the movie starred Jimmy Stewart) which was the first public mention of metal fatigue failures in aircraft, 18 months before the the real-life BOAC Comet fatigue failures. Also 'Round the Bend', 'The Rainbow and the Rose', 'Stephen Morris', 'Marazan', and 'In the Wet' which accurately predicted the performance of business jets that weren't built till 30 years after the book was published. And several others that were aviation oriented, but you get the idea. This guy is still very readable, and a great story-teller.

And to digress, Robert A. Heinlein's novelette 'The Menace From Earth' about human-powered ornithopters ain't half bad either.

Also, Arthur C. Clarke's book 'Glidepath', about his involvement in the initial development of ground controlled approaches. In additon to writing the movie '2001', Clarke was the man who came up with the initial concept of geosynchronus communications satellites back in the 40's. Tried to patent it, but was refused because the idea was rediculous.

JimC

Jim,

Thanks for the discussion on Nevil Shute. I had no idea that he was so prolific. I read "On the Beach" years ago and enjoyed it. I also devoured Robert A. Heinlein ever since I was a kid. The first complete book I remember reading was one of Heinlein's "Space Operas". I'll have to keep my eyes open for some of the other Shute books, especially, "An Old Captivity". Now if Heinlein had just wirtten about SuperCubs and bush flying.....

I just returned from visiting the Nevil Shute foundation website. It details all of Shute's books, and films as well as his biography. It's enough to whet my appetite to read more of his works. The web site is: www.nevilshute.org/aviation.html .

Mike, Since you like science fiction, perhaps I should mention that a number of Shute's novels incorporate some science fiction or fantasy. 'What Happened to the Corbett's' was written prior to WWII, to prepare the British for what to expect. It was an extraordinarily accurate prediction, and he missed only about the use of gas warfare. In 'An Old Captivity' he makes Haki & Hekja Scottish, while the sagas say only that they are Celts, so they may have been Irish. He has H&H go to America in 1002 with Leif Ericsson, when they are known to have gone with Thorfinn & Gudrid in the 1012 expedition, and he places the settlement too far south. But he wrote 'Captivity' a long time before the actual site was discovered in the 60's, so those are minor quibbles. I love that book.

I'm glad to hear that you like Robert's books too. I prepared the frontispiece image (not the cover) of Heinlein Crater on Mars for the recent trade edition of his 'The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress' and am pleased to have my name show up in one of his books. As an aside, his widow Virginia fell and broke her hip Thanksgiving day. If you'd like to send her a get well card, you can send it through her agent Eleanor Wood at the Spectrum agency in New York. Or send it to me, and I will forward it. Ginny is going home from the medical facility this afternoon (Saturday, Jan 11).

Re pterosoaurs, the best public info availale on Quetz is the June 2001 article about Quetzalcoatlus species in National Geographic (around page 95-100 or so). Wann Langston, Dave Martill, Dave Unwin, Dino Frey, and I were the technical advisors to the illustrator, John Sibbick. Note that Wann and I have some differences of opinion with Dino and the two Daves, so the illustrations are a bit of a committee sort of a thing, and I don't totally agree with them. That aside, John is the best paleo illustrator working today. The best information available on pterosaurs in general is still Peter Wellnhofer's coffee table type book 'The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Prehistoric Flying Reptiles'. It is out of print, but available on the web for about $20.

JimC

Also, re other books on flight, I recently received the following e-mail about Paul MacCready from Carson Davis, my old college roommate. Paul is a nice guy, and one of my heros. I expect the book may be worth reading, though I haven't done so yet.
JimC

--------------------------------------------------------
JIm, I had a pleasant surprise yesterday while reading a book loaned me by the engineering prof up on the next floor. You are mentioned 3 times starting on page 150 for your work with Langston on pterodactyls. Have you seen the book yet (and didn't tell me?) More With Less aul MacCready and the Dream of Efficient Flight, by Paul Ciotti, 2002 published by Encounter Books, 665 Third Street, Suite 330, San Francisco, CA 94107-1951.
Carson

Some great flying books recommended here ... good thread!

Here's a few that I don't believe have been mentioned yet (in alphabetical order of authors' names):

Richard Bach, "A Gift of Wings"
Ricker Buck, "Flights of Passage"
Helmericks Harmon, "Last of the Bush Pilots"
Cecil Lewis, "Gemini to Joburg"
Philip Wills, "On Being a Bird"

Classic Books

Don't forget Frank Kingston Smith's books: "Weekend Pilot", "Flights of Fancy", "I'd Rather be Flying", and "Weekend Wings".

"There are ... darn few 'good' books on bushflying."

I agree. One that you might like is Jim Lang's Papa X-ray, about private flying in Northern Canada. See further http://www.happylanding.com/Papa/papa.htm. Another is Robert S. Grant's Bush Flying: The Romance of the North, which is a very readable account of a commercial pilot's career from the late 1960's to the 1980's. A detailed review and two sample chapters are available on-line at http://ebushpilot.com/viewfrom.htm

"Bush Pilots of Alaska", by Kim Heacox. It's a coffee table book. Not much reading....wonderful photography. A daydreamers' delight.
SB