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Post by steve201 (deceased) on Nov 5, 2009 1:48:38 GMT 9
one of my all time favorite books is "MIG PILOT" by Victor Belenko.....he's the pilot that defected in something like 1976 with a mig 25 foxbat......he tells his life's story and how he comes to america....one fascinating passage was ...America has achieved true socialism...anyone can get anything they want...all they have to do is work for it"..... then when the Soviets self destructed...I had a buddy of mine that flew F15's assigned to the Russian pilots as a host...they came to langley (where I was working at the shipyard in newport news....anyway...they were blown away here in the States ...one day after flying the SU27 against the F15's...they were all toasting in the quest qtrs ..drinking heavily when one russian pilot mentioned he was getting hungry.....well...one F15 driver picked up the phone and 30 minutes later...PIZZA!!!!...the russians freaked.....couldn't believe that they could get food anytime...anyplace..in 30 min. or less!!....totally hilarious.....
naturally I've read all the Clancy books....saw hunt for red october and as a sub designer...we laughed so hard at the hollywierd rendition of what a soviet sub or american sub would look like....
I can't remember all the books I've read...and I've virtually stopped reading books over the past number of yrs....used to always have a book in my hand... too busy during the days and at nite...too danged tired...
Steve Steve
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Post by pat perry on Jan 25, 2010 2:56:15 GMT 9
Here's a link to C-SPAN's BookTV series www.booktv.org/Has thousands of videos of book reviews you can watch free to decide if you want to read that book. :teacher Enjoy Pat P.
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Post by dude on Jan 25, 2010 4:24:24 GMT 9
Just finishes two books which shows my tastes are all over the map. #1 - Barrow's Boys - the story around the British Asst. to the Admiralty (Barrow) that was repsonsible for financing and authorizing all the explorations for the Northwest Passage through the Arctic as well as overland in Africa and Antarctic explorations. #2 - The Real Story of Mary Queen of Scots. self explanatory On my list: "Rocket-Men" by Craig Nelson.
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dnbeven
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Post by dnbeven on Jan 26, 2010 9:40:19 GMT 9
My family and I met Gen Scott in 95-97 while stationed at Robins AFB. I was fortunate enough to get photos of Gen Scott and my children at the base schools yearly patriot days.
As for books I'm reading, "On Killing" by Lt Col Grossman and "Philosophy of Western Civilization".
:fire_missle_ani
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Jim Scanlon (deceased)
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on May 25, 2010 6:13:31 GMT 9
Hi, Baseball Fans I just finished a wonderful book, and thought I would tell you a bit about it. It is titled: The Glory of Their Times. The author is: Lawerence S. Ritter. It was first published in1968 and an expanded edition was published in 1984. My copy is the 2010 edition published as a Harper Perennial Modern Classic. ISBN 978-0-06-199471-5 The book is a compilation of interviews Mr. Ritter recorded with "old" major league ball players. He left out his questions and only published the words of the players. There are 26 interviews of players who played from 1898 to 1947. Some of them you have heard of, Hank Greenburg, Lefty O'Doul and Paul Waner. Some you may not have, Davy Jones, Al Bridwell and Hans Lobert. The book is a wonderful look at what the game of baseball was like in the years between the turn of the Twentieth Century and World War Two. This is a book that will deserve to be read again. I got my copy at Costco for $8.99. It has a list price of $14.99. If you like baseball as much as I do, and want to hear what some of the early players had to say, then find a copy and enjoy it. Maybe you can get your local library to order a copy. Happy Reading. Jim Too
:god_bless_usa
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Bullhunter
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Post by Bullhunter on Jun 29, 2010 0:29:32 GMT 9
Jim, Just about everything I hear or see baseball mentioned I get ticked-off, Upset, & sad. :angry :cry . That being said, I should explain. Back in 1972 I was a young Airman living in the barracks at Norton AFB, CA. My Mom called and informed me that she had met someone else and filed for divorce. I'd expected this would happen as they were never happy. Anyway my Mom wanted to know what to do will my things. Ho & Llynoen train sets, Ho race car set, and my 3 shoe boxes of base ball cards. She was selling all the house hold goods and moving from NY to TX, she had an offer for it all. In the barracks I had no room for all that stuff and I did not want to ask my Dad to go there and pick it all up as it might be too hard emotionally on him. Sure wish I had that stuff today. Know what those 3 shoe boxes of baseball cards in mint condition would bring with scores of Mickey Mantell's, Babe Ruth's, Joe DeMagisio" etc, etc. I also had team cards like the Yankees, Mets, Red Socks, etc, etc. If I had only knew! ;D ;D :cry
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Post by falconkeeper on Jun 29, 2010 4:28:32 GMT 9
Just finished reading Gen. Robin Olds biography. He was a man out of his time. He fit in well with the WWII fighter jock. He ran the Wolfpack from Thailand like that, but ran afoul of the pentagon politics when he got back from SEA. A good read.
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Jim Scanlon (deceased)
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on Jun 29, 2010 4:59:02 GMT 9
I'm currently reading a no holds barred biography of George Patton.
A very complex man.
He was on the U.S. Olympic team in 1912, as a member of the Modern Pentathlon Team. A champion rider and polo player. He navigated a sailing yacht from California to Hawaii and back. He wrote poetry and histories.
He also had a very high pitched voice, that caught people unawares.
He was a superb fencer and even got the cavalry to change from the saber to a straight sword.
He was on the Mexican border in 1916, when Gen. Pershing was chasing Pancho Villa around, and made some excursions in to Mexico.
He served in WW1 as a tanker. He made Brevet Colonel during the war. But after, he reverted to his permanent rank of captain.
When WW2 started he quickly went up to BG and then in North Africa to MG and LG.
The movie, "Patton", tells some of the truth about his doings in WW2. However, it misses out on the human side of a second Hannibal or Gaius Julius Caesar.
The interactions between Patton and the other generals, American, British and French, shows a lot about his thinking as a warrior.
He fought like the tanks were a separate part of the Army and drove the infantry, and everyone else nuts.
A martinet, a disciplinarian, a general who was out front with the troops. Yet, he insisted on ties being worn at all times, and sleeves kept rolled down.
Good read.
It's titled: General Patton: A Soldiers Life. By Stanley P. Hirshson. Published in paper as a Harper Perennial.
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Jim Scanlon (deceased)
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on Sept 5, 2010 9:55:42 GMT 9
I just finished one of the best sports biographies I have ever read.
Satchel: The Life and Times of an American Legend, by Larry Tye.
This biography of Leroy "Satchel" Paige is a must read for any baseball fan. It gives a great picture of life in the old Negro Leagues, and the life of a Barnstormer, in the "Jim Crow" days of the Twentieth Century.
Satchel Paige may well have been the best pitcher to ever put on a uniform, but was never able to prove it during his prime.
A great book, and well worth the reading.
Jim Too
:god_bless_usa
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Post by Mark O on Sept 6, 2010 1:54:29 GMT 9
I just finished "Days of Infamy" by Newt Gingrich and William R. Forstchen. I found it at the BX here, and will probably grab the rest of their series when I get home. Really good, alternative historical fiction.
I just started reading "Splash of Colors - The Self-Destruction of Braniff International" by John J. Nance. Fascinating history of a once proud airline destroyed by mismanagement. It's from 1984, but still has some good lessons.
Mark
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Post by jeep3 on Sept 13, 2010 9:46:52 GMT 9
just finished reading Honor Bound byStuart Rochester and Frderick Kiley. Its a 596 page account of POW's in Viet-Nam, mostly north but some in the south also. Very very good read :salute :god_bless_usa
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Post by lugnuts55 on Sept 17, 2010 23:45:20 GMT 9
I finally got a copy of "Rupert Red Two" by Jack Broughton. I am about half way through it and it is pretty good. He's still in Korea and I can't wait to get to where he is at Minot. It reads fast and holds interest. I just have a few things going on at once. This one is more of an autobiography. I'm enjoying it.
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Post by lugnuts55 on Oct 16, 2010 22:10:38 GMT 9
I finished reading "Rupert Red Two" last week and I have to say I truly enjoyed it. Like I said in my last post, it is somewhat of an autobiography. He had quite a career. He didn't seem to mind stepping on a few toes if he knew he was right. It also made me think about my time at Minot. He got the first Spitten Kittens. He got a new, safer ejection seat for the F-106. That's quite an accomplishment by itself. I used to daydream about who walked the grounds of a base I was at that might have been or became well-known for something. Now I know where Jack Broughton walked and what he was made of.
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Post by Bullhunter on Oct 17, 2010 3:54:28 GMT 9
I haven't been a big reader in alittle while now. Earlier this year I finished "The Journey" by Billy Graham. It sat on my shelf for months until I got around to reading that last chapter. I often just read my Bible. On our return truip from the east coast my wife purchased Sarah Palin's book "Going Rouge". She read about 1/3 of it on the plane. She says it is great and clears up lots of the bullshit thrown around by the leftist liberals. I might pick it up after she is done with it.
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Post by Mark O on Oct 17, 2010 4:05:58 GMT 9
I just finished (a couple hours ago) "Eddie Rickenbacker - An American Hero in the Twentieth Century" by W. David Lewis. :thumbsup www.amazon.com/Eddie-Rickenbacker-American-Twentieth-Century/dp/0801889723/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1287255693&sr=8-2If you ever read a book about EVR, this is THE ONE! Though worth reading, even his autobiography doesn't hold a candle to this one. I never realized the depth of the man or his beliefs until I read this book. Very much worth it. (Okay, I took it from the VIP lounge at Kirkuk Air Base a couple weeks ago when we broke for a starter shaft, but it was donated to begin with!) BTW, I was poking around on the 'net and found this photo from the Auburn University Digital Library. Not sure what tail number it is, but it has to be a 94th FIS bird. It was taken on July 7, 1967 at Selfridge AFB. The others in the photo are former 94th Aero Squadron pilots that served with EVR in France. (You know there has to be more photos like this out there somewhere, as this one is very candid, and it was taken off to the side by a photographer that probably wasn't the primary.) content.lib.auburn.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/eddier&CISOPTR=245&CISOBOX=1&REC=3Mark
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Post by lugnuts55 on Nov 23, 2010 0:56:37 GMT 9
Call Sign Rustic. That's the name of a book I just finished reading. It was written by Richard Wood and it is about the FAC mission in Cambodia during the later years in Vietnam. Yes we were there to help the Cambodians hang on to their country. The Rustics mainly flew the OV-10. I know at least one regular here who knows a little about the OV-10 but the book is more about the mission than the airplane. It's a very good attempt at putting the history of the Rustics down on paper. A friend of mine from the web site www.airforce.togetherweserved.com was Rustic Yankee and is mentioned in the book a couple times. There is a list of all the Rustics in the back of the book. The interesting thing about the Rustic program is that the reason many of the men who flew in the back seat were chosen was because they spoke Fench and were needed as interpreters between the ground commander and the pilot. Roger Hamann was an aircraft refueler at Kincheloe AFB in Michigan and thought he was going to do that the entire time he was in the Air Force. He was very surprised to find himself a part of an aircrew flying combat missions. It is worth looking for the book and reading the story. It might be the only recorded history of this unit and it's mission.
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Post by pat perry on Nov 27, 2010 3:50:54 GMT 9
Just received Decision Points by George W. Bush. My daughter is a photographer for Dallas Morning News and shot the ground breaking for his Library at SMU. Had a front page shot of Condy, W, Laura and Dick Cheney shoveling the dirt. Just finished USAF Interceptors by our own Marty Isham & David McLaren. Great book with many pictures of all the Interceptors flown by ADC. Great job Marty & David! Pat p. :teacher
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on Nov 27, 2010 5:48:33 GMT 9
Early in November I finished reading the Hobbit and the Lord of the Rings trilogy. I read them every couple of years.
Further in to November I read "New York", a historical novel by Edward Rutherfurd. Good read. He has done several historical novels about Ireland, England and Russia. All are very good reads, although quite lengthy.
This week I'm reading a P.G. Wodehouse book of short stories. He is the author of the Jeeves books.
Next up is: "To the Last Man", a historical novel about World War One, by Jeff Shaara. He is the author of several historical novels about the Revolutionary War, Mexican War, Civil War and World War Two. All very good reads.
Frodo Lives.
Jim Too.
:god_bless_usa
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Post by pat perry on Dec 30, 2010 4:13:05 GMT 9
Just finished Decision Points by George W. Bush (Amazon)W talks about the good decisions and bad ones. I don't think any other President, except maybe Lincoln, went into office with the equivalent of a Dot Com bust recession, a major war (on terror) and a real estate bust/financial meltdown (that was 30 years in the making). Broke by Glenn Beck (Amazon)GB took 14 months to write this book which closely parallels his history lessons on TV and has a list of 8 things that can be done to save this Republic. There are 54 pages of footnote citations with all the facts he has drawn from. This is probably why no one has refuted anything he has written or said. I highly recommend both books. Pat P. :teacher
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Post by Jim Scanlon (deceased) on Jan 5, 2011 6:19:30 GMT 9
I recently read “To the Last Man”, by Jeff Shaara, a fictional account of the Western Front in World War One.
Shaara deals with real, as well as fictional, people, like Gen. Pershing and George Patton.
He also deals with real aviators, Raoul Lufbery and Manfred von Richthofen, and others.
He writes about the Lafayette Escadrille, the 94th Aero Squadron and Richthofen's Jagdeschwader 1, the Flying Circus.
Some of our members were in the “Hat in the Ring”, at Selfridge. Shaara uses diaries, biographies, letters, recorded interviews, and any other source material he can find to do his research. Makes his fiction come alive.
While reading this book, I was struck by the vast differences between being a military pilot in the first war to employ airplanes, what was going on when most of us were in fighter squadrons, and what is occurring to-day.
In World War One, the attrition rate was as much as 50% of all pilots who flew in combat units, bombers, observers and pursuit. In combat and non-combat flying.
Many were shot down, by other planes or ground fire, some tore the fabric off the fragile kites they flew, some crashed on take-off or landing. Virtually all of them died.
To say that number is high would be an understatement.
There were no ejection seats, no parachutes, no redundant systems, only a seat belt and a leather helmet and goggles.
I don't think anyone would fly a combat mission to-day as they did in WW1.
Yet, there were always more volunteers than could be used. There were not enough planes. There were no U.S. built planes, our pilots flew French of British planes.
The newspaper accounts of the aerial battles ignited a great adoration for all pilots, no matter which side they fought for. They became heroes that were above any other combat troops. Some of them, like Eddy Rickenbacker, with 26 confirmed kills, were celebrated for many years. Captain Eddie, the Ace of Aces, was still being celebrated when he was an old man. And, of course, we all know about The Red Baron. Even Snoopy fought The Red Baron.
Shaara also deals with the horrors of Trench Warfare and the slaughters that took place on the Western Front.
That part of the war was the decimator of a generation of young men from England, France, Belgium, Germany and other countries.
I got to wondering what would happen in the Puzzle Palace, the Congress and the White House, if we were to have combat attrition rates comparable to those of WW1.
Even though we lost a lot of planes in Korea and Nam, it was nothing like WW1.
Here's to those brave young men who dared to go up in those very primitive, to us, wood and fabric flying machines and engage in combat with their .303 machine gun firing through the prop, or from the top of the upper wing.
The were the pioneers that led to the Air Force we served in.
SALUTE :salute to each of those brave men, no matter which country they flew for.
Jim Too
:god_bless_usa
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