Aviation Tales Tails

Humorous real-life stories of a pilot whose passion for flying goes beyond borders, and whose dreams transcend time. Even though aviation demands a level of solemnity, when almost-certain tragedies turn into miraculous escapes, they become part of exquisite stories told inside hangars, on rainy days.

Building on the success of the previous volume, Flying Under Fire, Volume Two, features nine more personal accounts from Canadian pilots who flew in the Second World War. From training camps to posting across Canada, Britain, Europe, and North Africa, these stories capture the excitement, fear, hope, and dread of war-time service, and are all told with the vivid detail of first-hand experience. The contributors to this volume are a distinguished group: two are Air Commodores, three are Hall of Fame members, one has an Order of Canada and a McKee Trophy, and five have Distinguished Flying Crosses. Some, including Art Wahlroth and Bob Fowler, flew bombing missions in the war, many were fighters, and others, like Bill Carr and Jack Winship, performed reconnaissance duties, but all brought back tales of incredible resourcefulness and courage in the face of danger. And central to all their stories are the planes - Mosquitoes, Spitfires, Wellingtons, Meteors, Mitchells, and Kittyhawks fill the pages, each exhibiting the special quirks and personalities the pilots came to know and trust. Flying Under Fire, Volume Two, pays tribute to the roughly 35,000 Canadian airmen involved in the Second World War, honouring their contributions and preserving their stories for generations to come.

Heroic, hilarious and sometimes just plain weird . . . Jim Eames shares great Qantas stories from World War II to the age of the jumbo and beyond. 'These are stories of passion and dedication, of risk and resilience, of excellence and Australian larrikinism, of inventiveness and determination.' Captain Richard Champion de Crespigny on The Flying Kangaroo 'Jim Eames captures the experiences of a small band of brave, professional and pioneering aircrew who confronted the dangers of war.' Air Chief Marshal Sir Angus Houston AK, AFC (Ret'd) on Courage in the Skies First published as the best-selling Courage in the Skies and The Flying Kangaroo From the challenges of its earliest days to the significant but little known involvement in Australia's World War II campaigns and its surge into the jet age and beyond, these are the stories of the men and women, the risk takers and the characters who shaped Qantas. Generous and richly told, Red Tail Skies is a warm-hearted reminder of why Qantas remains so important in the Australian psyche. It is the story of how a uniquely Australian style shaped the safest airline in the world.

The stories of 40 important aircraft reveal the many changes across the post-war British aviation industry

This is a story how I got into aviation as a pilot, and the direction my career path took. I flew cargo from the 1980's to the present time. From older planes and pilots that are no longer around, to the more modern cargo jets up to today's Boeing 747 jumbo jet.

Trenchard Brat. Flying Spanner. Left Hand Seat. Nicknames abound in aviation. But not many get to be called them all, especially when theyve started life with an aversion to school and a stammer thrown in. Mick Patrick started his aviation career as an RAF Apprentice and finished it as an Air Ambulance pilot. He never knew he was going to become a pilot just that he was determined to have a good start in life and it seemed the RAF offered this to him.As an engineer, Mick saw active service on jungle airstrips in the Far East during the Borneo Confrontation with Indonesia and got his hands dirty servicing Cold War aircraft. Later he had an opportunity to become aircrew as a Flight Engineer and it was from this position he was able to use his knowledge as part of a crew to take the next step. After many years of watching pilots ply their trade, Mick decided he could do it too, so worked his way up to becoming a commercial pilot.Along the way he experienced risky moments that shaped him as an aviator; he crashed a float plane in a Texas lake, flew casualties to Coventry and elephants to the East, nose-dived in Nassau and skirted death at Stansted. The tales in this book are used to illustrate how they affected Micks approach to aviation and what he took away from those events.Immensely readable and delivered by a true story teller, From Jacks to Joysticks is for anyone who loves tales of aircraft and life in aviation, whether in the cockpit or on the ground. Above all else this book is about how a lifetime of exposure to aviation has shaped one mans thinking and approach to life and how in aviation you need to keep an open mind.