How Airplanes Get from Here...to There!
586437
Great book for my first grade grandson. He is really into planes and loves it.
1164885
Very interesting story about this little-known plane. The crew traveled around the world to get home with this plane to keep it out of enemy hands.
2264078
This movie is a 'must' for any 'true' Aviation History Buff !
Yes, the acting & the 'behind the scene' story lines are a little stilted & predictable, and sometimes the 'transfer' from movie film to DVD is not perfect ... but !!  the real actors here, are the machines, backup & technology of the times.
Just glance around the 'whole scene' while you are watching  these movies, so much happening !
Lucky for today's audiences ...these movies were made with the full blessing of the 'Services' due to the Cold War influence & it must have seemed a great way for them to fire up the general public's empathy & probably thought of as a great recruiting tool at the time ... of course at Hollywood's expense, why not !
Apart from the odd rare documentary on these various Aircraft, the 'Hardstand & Background' scenes, plus the Flying' sequences are going to be remembered for years to come.  Who can forget the complete 'F100' series of fighter planes & the full compliment of 'B' Series Bombers from the late Forties right through to the early Sixties ... The advancement of Aviation technology during this time was just astounding & here it is, all on film !
These iconic movies are going to be the visual Bible of aviation history for future generations & all in beautiful Technicolour, CinemaScope, VistaVision etc, you name it .... captured by the very best Cameras of the day.
I think I have now collected most of these kinds of Films that are available, with the help of Google & Amazon, what a find !
I would compare this particular Movie with, 'A Gathering of Eagles', 'Bombers B52', 'Toward the Unknown',  'Above & Beyond', 'Strategic Air Command' and of course the much later 'The Right Stuff' which is more of a Tribute film to this whole era.
Even the much criticized  movie 'Memphis Belle' is a great visual record.  Who can forget the tough beauty & faithfulness of the 'B.17' bomber.  'Lest we forget' !  ~  Raymond G.W. Whiteman.  Toowoomba, Australia.
4094409
This guy is fascinating. Simply fascinating! As a captain at Pan Am and an insider with intimate knowledge of aviation, it boggles the mind that this book contains so many gross errors of aviation history. Yet the guy was there! Even the photos of him lurking behind Amelia Earhart prove it. Evidently he was not paying attention when history was being made. Where does one begin? Buckle up. The book starts off with a crash. So far so good. But he describes the "wing flaps" as controlling the roll of the airplane. Seriously? This is student pilot stuff. Ailerons control roll, and sometimes spoilers, spoilerons or flaperons, but not flaps. Not on the Ilyushin Russian transport he claims to have been flying on. Then, he mentions a cabin Waco that he inherited. He names the model. But Waco never made any such model. And what is with his insistence that he worked with the Federal Aviation Authority? No such outfit ever existed. It was the CAA (Civil Aeronautics Authority) until 1958, when it became the Federal Aviation Agency. In 1967, Agency was replaced by Administration. He joined in the forties, yet insists on calling it the FAA all through the forties and early fifties, even though the title didn't exist until the late fifties! (CAA until 1958, gang!) And then with the Japanese! Holy Cow, this subject is even more riddled with errors. The Japanese stole the cowling from the Electra? Please. NACA invented the pressure cowl in 1927, for Pete's sake! They published about it widely--even in Japan. And no, the Zero was not developed in the mid thirties (it first flew in 1939 and hit the squadrons in 1940). And no, the Claude is not an early version of the Zero. Totally different airplane, although manufactured by the same company. And the Emily is clearly not a direct copy of the Clipper Hawaii, a Pan Am Martin 130 that disappeared before the war. If anything, the Emily bears a closer resemblance to the Short Empire class flying boats the Brits were using out there. And the list goes on! Read this book for the interesting stories, and the Forrest Gump "been everywhere" meets Eddie Rickenbacker "I told ya so" attitudes. But don't read it to get a deeper understanding of aviation history. Nothing to see here, folks! Move along!
513123
Totally helped on my long flight to China.  How do I know?  Forgot to use them on the way back and learned the hard way!
1868335
Patrick Smith explains the ins and outs of air travel, from the funny noises that planes make, to the causes of delays, to pilot seniority systems.  I found it fascinating.  The only disappointment was that there are no diagrams or illustrations, which would have aided some topics.
1805926
This title in the excellent "Airlinertech" series, is a very deep analysis into the complex systems and updated technologies of the 747-400, a true "Queen of the skies". The book is very interesting, especially from the technical point of view, with many diagrams, explanation of the major systems and nice photos (I particularly like the production line shots, by the famed James Goodall). I would rather like more production line shots and less of the usual airport photos,together with a more in deep analysis of the engines, but otherwise, this is a very nice book, particularly on the "good value for money" aspect.
I hope Specialty Press will continue with this good technical standard.
1341535
Dave's insight is worth reading about.  It is fascinating to learn how far points can take you with first class travel!  I am going to take my points very seriously going forward!  What a fascinating read.  This book is certainly worth more than the asking price.
987672
This book  goes into great depth and detail explaining how to set up and use all the varying planes available in the marketplace. I have antique planes , recycled american  vintage planes, english planes, german ece primus planes, chinese high angle planes . Japanese polishing planes,  high end american planes,  homemade scraper planes etc., I found the book very helpful with  setup and use of kanna or japanese planes. There seems to be a learning curve  that takes a while.  Thanks scott, am still reading and learning new ways to use these planes.
2108040
Like in other reviews, one has probably read the fact that this work omits aircraft noteworthy of being mentioned, such as the Junkers Ju 52 "Auntie Ju" Trimotor or the Douglas C-47 Dakota; then again, these are not "combat aircraft", but I can understand their dilemma being that I too am an avid aviation/WWII buff. There is one IMPORTANT aircraft that SHOULD HAVE BEEN included,however; many would agree with me on this, and it's almost a crime that it's inclusion was neglected: the plane Churchill labelled "The Scourge of the Atlantic"--a.k.a. The German Focke Wulfe FW 200 Condor. I was shocked NOT SEEING this aircraft because, although it was renowned mostly for its operations against convoys in the North Atlantic ( popularly known as The Battle of the Atlantic, where the aircraft coordinated with U-boat wolfpacks) the Condor still became a famous fixture in the annals of World War II aviation. Too bad! Still, this marvelous work compensates by adding obscure aircraft, including Italy's seldom mentioned Piaggio P.1011 four-engined bomber. All in all, the book deserves a five-star rating regardless!! EXCELLENT WORK!!!
853075
We live in an age when the airlines have done a fantastic job of providing us with safe air travel.  However, this book clearly illustrates that the risks of air travel were very high during an earlier period.  Please don't assume too much about being exactly on time and forget to approach the air travel industry with the respect it deserves.  And if you wonder why, just read this account of what happens when things don't go accounting to plan.  Don't fall asleep during the pre-launch safety briefings -  the cabin is on fire; do you really know where the most expedient emergency exit door is?  Your life could well depend upon it!  An excellent read.
2567118
The most wonderful book I ever read on planes. Lots of technicalities and complexities explained very easily for the readers. I finished reading while in sky which I think the book deserved. A must read for all those who love planes and journey by air.
1290539
I didn't imagine, in this modern era, that I'd ever encounter a book about flying that made me draw comparisons to Saint-Exup&eacute;ry and his "Vol de Nuit" -- but that was before I picked up Mark Vanhoenacker's thoughtful, elegant and often lyrical writings, of a kind that I would never have imagined could emanate from the cockpit of a 747. Well, shame on me -- and never have I been so glad to be so wrong about anything.

These days, when we board our flights at JFK, LaGuardia, Heathrow, Schiphol, Narita, or wherever, the romance of what it is that we're actually doing -- flying across the world, high in the air -- is too often lost to us in the ordinary trials and tribulations associated with the trip. Will we be seated in front of a toddler who will kick us in the small of the back all the way from New York to Taipei? Will we wage a Cold War-style battle for possession of the arm rest? Will the guy on the other side of the aisle really keep snoring so loudly that we can hear him over the engines? And why can't the flight attendant respond to the call button and bring us our water and a working headset before we go crazy?

This book is the perfect antidote. Vanhoenacker, despite having been in the cockpit and flying a passenger 747 to more destinations than most of us will ever visit, sometimes so often that he'll wake up utterly disoriented, hasn't lost the wonder of what it is that he does and he has the artistry required to make the reader feel it. We've all experienced jet lag, but place lag? Finally! A name for that somewhat surreal experience of being transported someplace very different, very rapidly, before my brain can catch up with me. "We evolved to move slowly over the world, in sight of everything en route," he writes. We aren't built to accommodate the kinds of changes that we know, intellectually, have taken place. And the kind of place lag that we as travelers experience is a minor variant of a far more intensity than the kind pilots encounter as they go from here to there and back again. Do you know whether you travel better from west to east or vice versa? Vanhoenacker does.

Into his descriptions of what it's like to fly and to experience the world from a cockpit, Vanhoenacker weaves a host of technical details -- how planes respond to wind, how pilots calculate how much fuel to transport, what it's like to approach a fogbound airport and land "blind"; the physics of flight, such as the fraction of a second when the tail goes down on takeoff as the plane launches itself into the sky. None of these felt overwhelming; indeed, they form part of the author's very personal narrative of what it's like for him to fly, rather than being there to inform us or instruct us, as in, for instance, William Langewiesche's "Fly by Wire".

This was a wonderful book; in spite of some small repetitions (yes, I understand that all planes and pilots live according to Greenwich Mean Time!), it's fresh and distinctive and the kind of book I can imagine re-reading repeatedly over the years. It's also just the kind of book to take along on your next long-haul flight -- if it can't distract you from the hell of being a passenger of one of these overcrowded 747s and remind you of the magic that lies behind what it is that you're really doing, well, there's no hope. Six stars; or there would be, if Amazon allowed such a thing.
3229274
Always interested in  this  great aircraft-  if interested in aerospace, read this pre-flight checklist  and operations text. The illustrations may be readable on a  CRT or larger monitor,  , but if you ignore that,,  it is a fascinating read
2004987
Phenomenol! Learning how to avoid the middle man. Just like a non stop flight!!!
1245015
Everybody at the airport wants to borrow these things.  They really are a cool concept.  Not usable in certain tight quarters but a remarkable product that can be used 95% of the time.  Where has this thing been all my life?
1564038
I really enjoyed this book, and all of the background information on the 'Theater of air travel'. The section on airline liveries is a bit dry, but otherwise I found it an entertaining read from beginning to end. Patrick Smith is a great writer and I've moved on to reading his 'ask the pilot' blog now that I'm done w the book. If he wrote another book I'd proably pick that up too.