Putnam Books We Need to See

[elmayerle]

The demise of Aviation publications is a reality all over the world I'm afraid. Here in Paris, we had a wonderful aviation section at the Brentano's American bookstore. As a kid and a teenager, I used to love it when my dad took me there and I could browse the magazines and books. Then all of a sudden, sometime in the 1990s, someone decided that aviation books were not profitable and simply called the whole section OFF... There are still a few specialized outlets here and there, mostly mail order, but when that happened I realized that perhaps we had entered a new era...

That may well coincide with when a larger company acquired Brentanos (I *think* it was Waldenbooks, but I can't be certain). I know certain chain stores in Fort Worth have fairly decent aviation sections. I'm not too impressed by what I find here IN connecticut, even given all the aviation companies that started here.

 

[The Artist]

Thanks. Yes, the old American Fokker/Atlantic Fokker and Berliner Joyce both came under the control of North American, though I don't know about the Curtiss-Caproni connection.

Actually, the "J" used by US Navy for North American was originally for Berliner-Joyce!

Atlantic Fokker designations reached AF-17 (the XA-7 fighter). The latter part of the list were sometimes refered to as GA-..., and a couple were even found as North American after they took over.

What I've never been able to determine is why North American started at NA-15. Perhaps Berliner-Joyce had done 14 models before? Or maybe at the time of takeover, there were 14 BJ and AF models still marketed?

I'm sorry. I did not mean to imply that Curtiss-Caproni was part of the beginning of North American. Curtiss-Caproni built a plant in Dundalk but they never built anything there. That building was torn down during the'60s.

I've checked my copy of Maryland Aloft and it confirms that the FLBs were built there. Army YO-27s were also built (or at least, were assembled) there.

I've not looked into the North American numbering system but I may be able to provide a clue from Maryland Aloft.

"In 1933, North American Aviation added another Dundalk company to its holdings: the General Aviation Manufacturing Corporation, which had been operating at the nearby Curtiss-Caproni plant. North American then bought the remaining shares of B/J and concentrated the manufacturing of both subsidiaries at the B/J plant. In mid-1934, General Aviation began building the GA-15, an observation monoplane in which seated two crewmembers in tandem under a long "greenhouse" canopy. Completed in July 1935, the prototype won an order from the Army and saw service as the O-47." (Page 55)

I've enjoyed looking into the general history of aviation in Dundalk. Logan Field and Harbor Field serve as examples of where and how not to build your airports.

I'm going to try to finish a painting later today (done to post in this forum) but first I've got to get ready to go play on the freeway. How often can you say that and really mean it?

Mike

 

[Stargazer]

Great info about the FLBs and YO-27s being built at the Curtiss-Caproni factory (these, by the way, were General Aviation models AF-15 and AF-16, respectively). General Aviation had two models after that, the AF-17 (USAAC XA-7 attack plane) and the Navy's XFA-1 fighter prototype, whose GA designation I do not know. As you can see, these were GA but used the American Fokker number system... Final GA aircraft was designated GA-15, as you very well explained (which can be considered as the first North American product per se), and then came the NA-16. The fact that there was both an AF-15 and a GA-15 that were both different aircraft proves that the NA system didn't take over where the Fokker system left.

 

[Steve Pace]

This might help.

 

[Stargazer]

Thanks a lot. As a matter of fact I have already recreated an Excel chart with most of this information, but it's nice to see the original NAA document that confirms it. Do you have more of the same? I can send you my NAA file if you so wish, it's pretty complete up to NA-407, after that there are big gaps.

 

[Steve Pace]

It goes to NA-273 and please do.

 

[saturncanuck]

On this topic, I was doing research for my next book and thought of another one Putnam missed...

Vought.

Some really nice planes there, and a lot of one-offs!

 

[semperaggressus]

I have a rare Putnam book, Russian Aircraft since 1940 by Jean Alexander.

 

[saturncanuck]

I have a rare Putnam book, Russian Aircraft since 1940 by Jean Alexander.

Oooooo, nice.

I have an original "Shorts". Got it at the Shuttleworth Trust at their fly-in, 1987 I believe. I shudder to think what its worth now!

 

[Stargazer]

On this topic, I was doing research for my next book and thought of another one Putnam missed...

Vought.

Some really nice planes there, and a lot of one-offs!

The best-ever book on the subject so far is still Bernard Millot's Docavia "Les Avions Vought", published by Editions Larivière in France in the late 1970s. If you can get a copy of that, you will find quite a lot in there already... but of course it's in French... :-\

 

[saturncanuck]

On this topic, I was doing research for my next book and thought of another one Putnam missed...

Vought.

Some really nice planes there, and a lot of one-offs!

The best-ever book on the subject so far is still Bernard Millot's Docavia "Les Avions Vought", published by Editions Larivière in France in the late 1970s. If you can get a copy of that, you will find quite a lot in there already... but of course it's in French... :-\

I have seen the book, but, sadly, I do not read nor speak French.

I know, I know, Canada is bilingual but not ALL of Canada....

Perhaps you can translate it for me.....

(giggles)

 

[gatoraptor]

I am almost positive that if a North American/Rockwell book was announced -- this thread is the first I've heard of it -- it was never published. The two Thompson volumes, though, are a decent alternative.

As far as I know, the Putnam imprint is now owned by a company called Anova, who apparently are not interested in reprinting or updating any in the series. Apparently the Junkers book in 2004 has been the last title published, when the imprint was still owned by Chrysalis. Here is Anova's website: http://www.anovabooks.com/about.asp.

Some of the Putnams are still available thru the U.S. Naval Institute Press at http://www.usni.org/store/books/aircraft-reference. They may be a bit outdated now, but at least they're available!

The University of the West of Scotland listing of the Putnam books has a new URL: http://www.uws.ac.uk/schoolsdepts/library/specialcollections/putnam_books.asp. It has not been updated since around 2005, but is still a valuable reference.

And here is a website that has illustrations of many of the jacket covers: http://www.librarything.com/series/Putnam+Aeronautical+Books.

 

[Stargazer]

And here is a website that has illustrations of many of the jacket covers: http://www.librarything.com/series/Putnam+Aeronautical+Books.

Great links, thanks! But one can actually view all 81 covers by clicking on the link below the thumbs.