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Good book for those who have time to read

I was given a copy of Bud Johnson's "Flying, A Little Over Stall Speed" a year or so ago. It has some interesting stories about his 40-some years of flying in Northern Minnesota, North Dakota. Canada and Alaska.
Johnson lives in Fosston, Minnesota and my copy of the book is its second printing by Richards Publishing, Gonvick, Minnesota. ISBN 0-9759180-0-1.
There a quite a few Cubs mentioned in his book. I wouldn't be surprised if Johnson might be acquainted with this forum.
The book could have used a bit of editing to clean up the prose, but I enjoyed reading it.
 
I really enjoyed "Winging It" by Jack Jefford. Partly because I rode with him in the FAA boxcar when I was a kid. And he mentions my Great Uncle Joe Maloney on page 85. Also it's just a really entertaining book!

I have often wondered why a book was never written about Jefford's boss in Nome's Hans Mirow. He seemed like a really interesting character!
 
"Land Here? You Bet" by Sunny Fader and Edward (Ted) Huntley.

About the early flying years of Ted Huntley. In 1946, he started working for his cousin (Bob Munro) who was one of the partners starting Kenmore Air Harbor. In 1951, he flew one of the eight 135 hp SuperCubs on Edo 1400s heading to Alaska on contract to the Coast and Geodetic Survey. He ended up flying the Cub that summer supporting surveyors on St. Lawrence Island. The next summer he flew the same Cub on Edo 2000s supporting surveyors in the Unalakleet and St. Michaels area. Some well-written Cub flying stories and good photos.


"Flying, A Little Over Stall Speed", by Bud Johnson.

Growing up on a potato farm in Minnesota, Johnson started flying a J3 shortly after WWII. Lots of good stories about Cub flying and aerial gunning for fox, coyotes, and wolves. Black and white photos with no captions, but fortunately they follow sections in the book and you can figure out what stories most go with.


A good book about an individual airplane is:

"Travel Air NC9084" by Jim Rearden.

It's about the history and previous owners of the 1929 Travel Air 6000 owned and operated by Bill de Creeft in Homer. de Creeft bought the plane from Johnson Flying Service in Montana, and through the years unraveled the amazing history of this plane. A fun read with some great early aviation photos.


"Mercy Pilot" by Dirk Tordoff.

A history of Joe Crosson, one of the pioneers of Alaska aviation. Crosson began flying in California, then moved to Alaska in 1926. Lots of good flying stories and early Alaska aviation photos.

Jim
 
good book

There's a new one out about Gillam's accident and the ensuing survival story, written by the son of one of the passengers (I think). Anyone know the name?
 
Just finished MAVERICKS OF THE SKY by Barry Rosenberg and Catherine Macaulay.

Available at Amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/Mavericks-Sky-First-Daring-Pilots/dp/0060529490

Recommended.

Great read about the first pilots and administrators to fly the U.S. Mail, alternately referred to as "the Suicide Club". I was hoping to see more about "Wild" Bill Hopson, IMHO one of the greatest of that first generation of pilots. His picture below I consider to be the greatest photo taken of a pilot...ever. In fact the pic graces the cover of this very publication. But the nevertheless a good book.

2c2a2_1_Hopson2.jpg


More info if interested about Hopson: http://www.pa-napus.org/pdf/nov05.pdf
 
Got Fate is the Hunter for Christmas.... Awesome Writing, Makes you feel like you are there. If you have not read it then you should read it.
 
I Just finished an interesting read. "Alaska and Beyond" by M.D. Kincaid is a fictional account of two married Alaska State Troopers and their hunt for two murderers. There is a fair amount of flying in C-185s, PA-18s, A-350s and J-3s in Alaska and the western US.

The story is loosely based on the real life case of Bob "the baker" Hanson who murdered a number of women around Anchorage in the 1980s. He often flew his victims to the Knik River area in his Super Cub to hunt them like game animals before killing them.

Mike Kincaid did a great job in capturing the details of the locations and the story is really entertaining. Having lived in the area, I recognize several of the characters and almost all of the locations. The descriptions are spot on. His flying descriptions are also well done, although I wonder about the main character's personal uses of the State's airplanes.

It is obvious that Mike has "been there and done that" - as a result, the book did not have a lot of the little nagging errors that usually plague books from small publishers. I found only one small factual error that was really pretty minor.

All in all a good read. I have not read the prequel to this one "Alaska Justice", but I will be looking for it now.

The publisher is Adventurous Books at www.AdventurousBooks.com
 
Currently enjoying "Pure Luck" by Alan Bramson. It is the authorized biography of Sir Thomas (Tommy) Sopwith, the early aviator who founded Sopwith aviation in 1913. Along with Harry Hawker and Fred Sigrist, he designed the Sopwith Pup, Triplane, One and a half Strutter and the Camel. Altogether, Sopwith built about half of the WWI planes that went against the Hun threat.
Later, Sopwith and three others founded and he led the Hawker Aircraft companies and successors including AVRO through WWII (Hurricane and Lancaster) into the Harrier years. He lived 101 yrs and died in 1989.
Also he was an avid sailor and fielded two J class yachts called Endeavour & Endevour II to challenge for the Americas Cub in the 1930s
The book is out of print but can be bought from independent book sellers through Amazon.
 
An Old Captivity by Nevil Shute (who was both an aircraft designer and the best selling author in the English language at the time of his death in 1962).
JimC
 
Wager with the Wind

I read the book on Don Sheldon a year or so ago and so when I was in Alaska last week I could not help but stop in Talkeenta and see Sheldon's hangar (now an arts center) and also walk down the old village strip. Apparently, Don's daughter acquired Don's last Supercub and is flying it off of the same strip used for years to haul climbers up and back from McKinley. He must have been a great pilot. It was the highlight of my trip.
 
mvivion mentioned "Ordinary Wolves" by Seth Kantner in another thread so I read it and highly recommend it. It sure gives an interesting perspective to Alaska.

I also read Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue" interesting...
 
Interesting

Ursa Major... Mike its strange but when you mentioned Bob Hanson, I remembered that I was starting a new boiler at the Juneau prison. That was in the 80s and the guard that was showing me around said that Bob Hanson was a prisoner there at that time.


Darrel Star... I just bought a print of the Sopwith Camels going out to do battle. This print was signed by Sir Thomas Sopwith in 1981 :)

Bill
 
"The Threadbare Buzzard" by Thomas Tomlinson. For a really different look at being a Marine pilot in WWII this is a must read. Very well written.
 
Tall Timber Pilots about Johnson Flying Service pioneering the Idaho and Montana back country. Supporting fire fighting smoke jumping and search and rescue. A truly amazing book.
 
To land, you could use the "bucket transfer technique" to lower a cable to a a ground helper, they'd secure it to the post you'd use for the takeoff run. Then, while still flying the circle, throttle back, lose altitude, and land. Simple. Be sure to let us know how that works out!

A great book, is "The Barnstorming Mustanger" by Ted Barber (Barber Industries p.o. box 5 Orovada, NV 89425) it's the real deal, written by a Nevada rancher about using his various light aircraft for rounding up wild mustangs (dragging tin cans with a rope on the ground got their attention) and other great activities. I have a signed copy. He also goes into the early years, as a real barnstormer and general pioneer, mostly in the Nevada and Oregon area. Highly reecommended.

Ursa Major said:
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.
 
Books

Back to the Barrens by George Erickson, A simple little cub on floats deep into Canada. He has a way of telling about the history of the land and people while telling his adventures, So good I gave the book to a friend and I just bought another copy so I could read it again.

Im looking for a book called "Guide to Bush Flying by F.E. Pott's " If some one has it I would be willing to buy it. Thanks.

Bill
 
I just finished "The Arsenal of Democracy" by A.J. Baime. It is a good read about Henry and Edsel Ford's contributions to the war effort, mainly Willow Run and the B-24 Liberator.
 
Above the Thunder by Kern. Autobio of L-4 pilot in the Pacific and the real life they lived, and the incredible job they did.
 
Just finished reading "81 Days Below Zero" by Brian Murphy. A new book just out, written about a B-24 crew who lost control of their airplane east of Fairbanks on December 21, 1943. This is the story of Leon Crane, the co-pilot, who parachuted out of the plane, then survived the deep cold of interior Alaska for 81 days.

For anyone who hasn't experienced "real cold", this book will give you a little insight, as well as a lot of history of interior Alaska, the Army Air Corps, Cold Weather Test that was done in Fairbanks during the war, and the Lend Lease program.

For those who've worked in real cold....put on a couple extra layers before you start reading.....it'll chill you to the bone.

MTV
 
I flew a Bell 206 one summer out of Eagle for the Park Service (please don't give me grief for this.. It was the contract I was assigned). Part of what we did was catalog everything that was in the Yukon-Charley National Preserve. There were remains of a B-24 that I believe is the one you're talking about. Spent most of the day there, and listened to the story as told by the Ranger. if I remember, I think this man was from the northeast somewhere, maybe New York? Another example of how strong the will to survive can be.
 
Ok... I just ordered "81 days below zero" Not in paperback yet, but I got the hardcover for nearly same price.

The book "Above the thunder" is a very good read. And a great tale of the airplane and the pilots.



I'll put in a plug once again for


51U4HpV180L.jpg



Orizaba: The Extraordinary Story of Two Mountain Climbers' Struggle for Survival
by Ross Carlos Pixler (Author)

As I know the young men involved, and am very familiar with the story.

Kem
 
"Swallowed By The Great Land" by Seth Kantner

This is a terrific collection of short stories and vignettes about the people of and life in the bush near Kotzebue. It does a great job of illustrating what subsistence living means to many people. It shows the values and priorities of those who are especially close to the land. It's written by a white guy who grew up living like an Eskimo. It does a great job of describing the people who bring so much satisfaction to my job.

Kantner has two other titles, both very enjoyable: "Ordinary Wolves" and "Shopping for Porcupine."

For anyone planning a trip to Alaska, even if you are only coming up for the Airmans show, I'd recommend reading these beforehand: they will definitely enhance your trip.
 
Been a little under the weather and finally had time to finish "The Oregon Trail" by Rinker Buck. Another great read.

sj
 
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