Just a heads up for people looking for the book “Angels Three Six” by Col. Chuck Lehman (I wrote a short review in February). He emailed to me let me know that new copies are available, here’s the message. It’s a great book, don’t miss the chance to grab one.

Thanks for your kind comments on ANGELS THREE SIX.  Thought you might like to know that signed copies are available from CALCO, 13811 S Finney St, Medical Lake, WA 99022 for $19.95 plus $3.00 shipping and handling.  I’ll also personalize them if the buyer wishes.

 

Colonel Chuck Lehman

Some time ago I visited the Museum of Flight in Seattle and I was able to find the only (autographed) copy of this rare book while browsing their library. “Angels Three Six” is the fascinating story of Colonel Charles (Chuck) Lehman and the Cold War Air Defense Command.

He is the author of this book and writes in first person about flying F-102 and (nuclear armed) F-106 during the Cold War and the Cuban missile crisis. Chuck and the other pilots were dedicated to protect the United States from the horrors of a successful strike by the (at that time) huge Soviet Air Force. They also had to be ready to accept a final attack on an invading bomber. Final means that if the missiles and rockets failed to stop the threat they had to take the bomber out by ramming it with their own aircraft. Here’s an excerpt from the book introducion.

“The stories are confessions, not exposes. Some of these stories are hairy. Others are humorous. A few are zany. One or two fit more aptly into the How could I Have Been so Stupid category. In most cases, the events are so burned into my memory that I can still feel the G forces, the vibrations and the flow of oxygen in my mask. I can smell the smells, hear the sounds, feel the sweat and the indescribable exhilation of flying a high performace fighter on the deck. Six hundred knots at 40,000 feet is mundane. The same speed at 400 feet is exciting. At 40 feet it’s mind-blowing.”

This book is so captivating that you will probably read the 200 pages within a night and then feel sad because you can’t have more. I could write forever about how good it is so do yourself a favor and buy it. But it’s not easy to find. There must be a reason for it.

I got this F-16 book from my wife for Christmas and I had to put it right away in the bookshelf of this site. I can say without any doubts that this probably the best F-16 guide I have ever seen.

Each of the F-16′s production Blocks is described with maniacal detail identifying the similarities and differences from one version to the next. The photos are simply incredible and show many parts that are normally ignored by other books. Every centimeter of the cockpit and cabin is photographed and documented.

I’m sure many of you sims addicts already have this book and this post is nothing new for you. But if you don’t then you are really missing the best Viper guide out there.

I updated the bookshelf page with four new books suggested by Dante in his interview. Now the first shelf page is full so you have to click the bottom arrows in order to move to the next page and see more books.

Tonight I was browsing in the military section of a Chapters bookstore close to home (american folks should read Barnes & Noble) when I bumped into a book that I didn’t know.

It’s called “Phoenix Squadron” and tells the dramatic story of a mission undertaken in 1972 by Britain’s aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal, in a 1,500 mile dash across the Atlantic to defend British Honduras (now Belize) which was being threatened with invasion.

Ark Royal was an aging Audacious-class aircraft carrier of the Royal Navy and, when she was decommissioned in 1978, was its last remaining conventional catapult and arrested-landing aircraft carrier. She was the world’s first aircraft carrier to be commissioned with an angled flight deck, preceding the first American carrier with this feature, USS Forrestal, by nine months.

Rowland White (the author) puts you into the cockpits of Buccaneer and Phantom fighter jets during a night landing in bad weather and with the carrier deck pitching violently. This is the stuff I like to read so it’s now officially added in this website’s virtual bookshelf.