Sled Driver

Sled Driver
Author: Brian Shul
Publisher: Lickle Pub Incorporated
Total Pages: 151
Release: 1991
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 9780929823089

No aircraft ever captured the curiosity & fascination of the public like the SR-71 Blackbird. Nicknamed "The Sled" by those few who flew it, the aircraft was shrouded in secrecy from its inception. Entering the U.S. Air Force inventory in 1966, the SR-71 was the fastest, highest flying jet aircraft in the world. Now for the first time, a Blackbird pilot shares his unique experience of what it was like to fly this legend of aviation history. Through the words & photographs of retired Major Brian Shul, we enter the world of the "Sled Driver." Major Shul gives us insight on all phases of flying, including the humbling experience of simulator training, the physiological stresses of wearing a space suit for long hours, & the intensity & magic of flying 80,000 feet above the Earth's surface at 2000 miles per hour. SLED DRIVER takes the reader through riveting accounts of the rigors of initial training, the gamut of emotions experienced while flying over hostile territory, & the sheer joy of displaying the jet at some of the world's largest airshows. Illustrated with rare photographs, seen here for the first time, SLED DRIVER captures the mystique & magnificence of this most unique of all aircraft.

The Lost Flying Boat

The Lost Flying Boat
Author: Alan Sillitoe
Publisher: Open Road Media
Total Pages: 248
Release: 2016-06-14
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 1504034457

A post-WWII adventure from the bestselling author of The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner. A top-secret mission sends a crew of Royal Air Force veterans from South Africa to the subarctic Kerguelen Islands in this suspense-packed tale of lawlessness, piracy, obsession, and greed. At the helm of the Aldebaran, a huge flying boat, sits the monomaniacal Captain Bennett, a man hell-bent on unearthing a treasure buried by the Germans in the final days of World War II. And on the seaplane’s radio is the young wireless operator Adcock, a man who listens to everything and tries to make sense of it all. The rest of the ex-soldiers on board seek either riches or adventure—but all are fleeing the frustrations and disappointments of their postwar lives. As the voyage takes dangerous turns toward natural and manmade threats, it becomes clear that Captain Bennett is keeping secrets and the Aldebaran is not alone on her quest. Adcock’s morals are soon put to the test, machine guns are mounted on the flying boat’s turrets, and the thirst for gold may cost the crew their lives. Classic kitchen sink realism meets high-flying adventure in this British thriller that goes beyond action and into the depths of human values and motivations in a war-damaged world. Drawing upon Alan Sillitoe’s own wartime experiences as a wireless operator, The Lost Flying Boat is full of aerial heroics, coded messages, shattered dreams, and the will to persevere.

Corsairville

Corsairville
Author: Graham Coster
Publisher:
Total Pages: 320
Release: 2000
Genre: Aeronautics
ISBN:

It was the obscure legend of the lying boat Corsair, recued from the Belgian Congo in an epic salvage operation, that fired Graham Coster's quest for the lost world of the flying boat. Coster's journey begins in Southampton, from where Imperial Airways' Empire boats departed to fly up the Nile on their way to South Africa, and takes him to the flying boats' old haunts in Uganda, Kenya, Malawi and Zimbabwe, from Lake Naivasha to Victoria Falls.

Scotland's Wings

Scotland's Wings
Author: Robert Jeffrey
Publisher: Black & White Publishing
Total Pages: 205
Release: 2022-09-15
Genre: Transportation
ISBN: 1785304070

Scotland has a worldwide reputation for launching some of the greatest ships ever built, but far less is known about our pioneering work on aviation. Yet in the great industrial cities and remote islands across the country, men and women risked their reputations, resources and lives to advance experiments in flight. Before airliners crossed the Atlantic Ocean and bombers secretly flew into the NATO airbase at Machrihanish, pioneers of aviation worked in the unlikely surroundings of Kelvingrove Park in Glasgow among other places. Their humble flying crafts, made with wood and canvas, would become the luxurious jet-engined aircraft of today. Including the first flight over Everest, the construction of the most northerly airship station in mainland Britain and the experience of civilians and pilots during the Clydebank Blitz of 1941, Scotland's Wings is a glimpse into the dramatic and sometimes controversial adventures within Scottish aeronautics. In Scotland's Wings, Robert Jeffrey tells a fascinating history, highlighting innovators whose ideas heralded the modern age of transport and revealing how the airfields of previous years will once again be used to progress into a daring new age of travel.

Adventure

Adventure
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 1222
Release: 1924
Genre: Adventure stories, American
ISBN:

Flying

Flying
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 464
Release: 1916
Genre: Aeronautics
ISBN:

The Well of Lost Plots

The Well of Lost Plots
Author: Jasper Fforde
Publisher: Penguin
Total Pages: 406
Release: 2004-08-03
Genre: Fiction
ISBN: 110115862X

The third novel in the New York Times bestselling Thursday Next series is “great fun—especially for those with a literary turn of mind and a taste for offbeat comedy” (The Washington Post Book World). “Delightful . . . the well of Fforde’s imagination is bottomless.”—People “Fforde creates a literary reality that is somewhere amid a triangulation of Douglas Adams, Monty Python, and Miss Marple.”—The Denver Post With the 923rd Annual Bookworld Awards just around the corner and an unknown villain wreaking havoc in Jurisfiction, what could possibly be next for Detective Thursday Next? Protecting the world’s greatest literature—not to mention keeping up with Miss Havisham—is tiring work for an expectant mother. And Thursday can definitely use a respite. So what better hideaway than inside the unread and unreadable Caversham Heights, a cliché-ridden pulp mystery in the hidden depths of the Well of Lost Plots, where all unpublished books reside? But peace and quiet remain elusive for Thursday, who soon discovers that the Well itself is a veritable linguistic free-for-all, where grammasites run rampant, plot devices are hawked on the black market, and lousy books—like Caversham Heights—are scrapped for salvage. To top it off, a murderer is stalking Jurisfiction personnel and nobody is safe—least of all Thursday. Don’t miss any of Jasper Fforde’s delightfully entertaining Thursday Next novels: THE EYRE AFFAIR • LOST IN A GOOD BOOK • THE WELL OF LOST PLOTS • SOMETHING ROTTEN • FIRST AMONG SEQUELS • ONE OF OUR THURSDAYS IS MISSING • THE WOMAN WHO DIED A LOT