I’ve just found a very long page on Wikipedia, Aircraft in fiction, which includes a few GA types. There’s one with a PA28 I’ll try next.
At least, that’s what I told air traffic control
because declaring an emergency involves
paperwork.
Nope, it doesn’t. Perpetrating this is a disservice to pilots as it unnecessarily raises the/their threshold to declare an emergency when beneficial.
I’ve been to my parents’ house and looked through the flying books I read in my youth. Some memories might be a bit hazy, but all are worth reading. Interestingly three of the novels have a fugitive trope, which maybe goes with the independence and freedom associated with flying?
Blood and Honor by W.E.B. Griffin
WW2 espionage thriller in neutral Argentina, where the protagonist is a pilot and flies a few interesting planes (Lockheed Lodestar, Fiesler Storch?). There’s a good description of the Lufthansa FW.200 Condors crossing the Atlantic via the southern route on mayday fuel, the only transatlantic airline of the war. Predictable, but informative.
Country Flying by Geoff Farr
A short book about setting up a farm strip, building a hangar, operating a Jodel, and running a syndicate. Dated, but still relevant.
Free Flight by Douglas Terman
USAF pilot with a motor glider on the run from the Soviet régime in 1980s post-fallout North America. A bit like Tom Clancy.
Last of the Breed by Louis Lamour
Basically a Western; a Sioux (Native American, not the helicopter) USAF pilot shot down over the Soviet Union escapes from a Siberian gulag and has an epic trek to get home
Ash by David Walker
Washed-up alcoholic ex-RAF pilot on the run in Canada. At one point he steals a plane, and, believe or not, does a magneto check. 1970 thriller, similar to Desmond Bagley or Alastair MacLean. I’ve done a lot of googling and I don’t think the author was a pilot.
Pathfinder by Air Vice Marshall Don Bennett
An interesting autobiography, setting up and leading the RAF Pathfinder Force. It also includes pre war flying for Imperial Airways and long-distance air races. Post war he ran a small airline, designed a few planes, and re-opened Blackbushe EGLK after it was closed by the Air Ministry.
The Valley of Adventure by Enid Blyton
The children’s stepfather buys a plane, but they hide in the back of the wrong one and end up in a classic adventure involving castles, spies, secret passageways, hidden treasure etc. Not much flying, but reading this was the first time I realised a normal person could own an aeroplane.
Chickenhawk by Robert Mason
An AirCav Huey pilot in the Vietnam war, so not GA (apart from doing his private and a reference to drug running later on); intelligent self analysis elevates it far above just a war story.
First Light by Geoffrey Wellum
Also not GA, a WW2 Spitfire pilot’s elegantly written frank memoir I would class a classic.
Piece of Cake by Derek Robinson
I re-read this recently (it went completely above my head as a child). A historical novel that destroys the myths about RAF Fighter Command, but gives much better insight and depth. Some of the dialogue is hilarious.
The Proficient Pilot by Barry Schiff
My father got this out of the public library for me when I was doing my PPL, and I learnt a lot from it plus the subsequent two volumes. Collected magazine articles so not sure if it counts as a book, and now quite old so might not be so relevant.
Flying Too High by Kerry Greenwood
A recent read: formulaic detective novel set in 1920s Melbourne. The protagonist and a couple of other characters are pilots, a realistic touch is an insolvent flying school, but I found it disappointing.
Paris-Pékin-Paris by Francois Dabin
After @Dan read this I felt guilty and bought it too 😀 A GA race to Beijing and back in a TB20. A refuelling photo which Peter said I should post:
ErlendV wrote
Cold war books are also of great interest, from the Soviet POV.
Not really Soviet, but Russian at heart, I can recommend Gorky Park and sequels by Martin Cruz Smith, about Arkady Renko, investigator for the Moscow Militia and son of a Stalinist general, from the Soviet to the Putin eras, via an arctic factory ship, Cuba, Chechnya, Anna Politkovskaya, and the Chernobyl exclusion zone. The series starts as a fascinating window into an almost alien culture, but gradually becomes mainstream detective/thriller by the most recent book.
Blood and Honor by W.E.B. Griffin
WW2 espionage thriller in neutral Argentina, where the protagonist is a pilot and flies a few interesting planes (Lockheed Lodestar, Fiesler Storch?). There’s a good description of the Lufthansa FW.200 Condors crossing the Atlantic via the southern route on mayday fuel, the only transatlantic airline of the war. Predictable, but informative.
Argentina somewhat unique may have had aces in several of the WW2 air forces, at least RAF and Luftwaffe. Apocryphal, but possibly also RCAF, Italian and Japanese.
There were over 550 volunteers from Argentina to the RAF, a couple of them reaching rank of Air Vice Marshall having stayed in the UK after the war. Also women volunteers in the ATA. The number might be boosted by adoption, as the Polish squadrons of the RAF, quite a few chose to emigrate to Argentina rather than go back behind the new iron curtain.
It should be noted that a large portion of the local German community were pro allies. The country’s well respected Pestalozzi school being founded in 1934 for the German community to be educated untainted by Nazism.
@Capitaine is that the same " Piece of Cake" which was adapted into a pretty good and popular TV series?
Capitaine wrote:
The Valley of Adventure by Enid Blyton
It’s a whole series which I owned in German as a kid and bought the English language e-books on Kindle. There are several which include airplanes and in one case, some mad scientist trying to develop wings (Mountain of Adventure). Unfortunately I hear that also Enid Blyton’s books are now partially attacked by the woke brigade.
