Some Future Titles of Interest for SPF Members

DWG said:

The British Aircraft Carrier: In Two World Wars Hardcover – 30 Mar. 2025​

by Norman Friedman

£50
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Thanks for the notice of this appealing book, DWG, which I find doesn't yet appear on American websites. From the subtitle, it seems Dr Friedman intends this to be a "world wars" volume for British carriers, with perhaps later a "postwar" volume, just as he did two volumes successfully on British submarines. A new richly dense Friedman tome arriving at my door is like a visit from an old friend; I look forward to being able to buy a copy next year.
 
For those of us who can never have enough books on the Harrier, this is out in February 2025

Harrier: The World’s First V/STOL Jet Combat Aircraft by Philip Birtles​

fonthill.media

Harrier: The World’s First V/STOL Jet Combat Aircraft

A comprehensive record of the iconic Harrier: its design, development and service, including combat operations in the Falklands, Kosovo and both Gulf Wars. Published in June 2024.
fonthill.media fonthill.media
 
Owens Z said:
Thanks for the notice of this appealing book, DWG, which I find doesn't yet appear on American websites. From the subtitle, it seems Dr Friedman intends this to be a "world wars" volume for British carriers, with perhaps later a "postwar" volume, just as he did two volumes successfully on British submarines. A new richly dense Friedman tome arriving at my door is like a visit from an old friend; I look forward to being able to buy a copy next year.
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Alternately, "and after" has been accidentally chopped off the subtitle, and the title was intended to match his Cruisers and Coastal Forces works. We'll have to wait and see. I do wonder how you would handle the longer-lived designs across two volumes; do you chop coverage of the Light Fleets in half?
 
GTX said:
Ditto
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I was looking up the July 2010 issue of Aircraft (Vol. 43 No. 7) in my local public library recently to read an article on Saunders-Roe's rocket fighters, when I happened to notice that in the same issue (pp 18-22) author Luigino Caliaro has an article about Italian aircraft in the Battle of Britain. The article reads well and is interesting. I saw that it bears the notice "translator Italo Battioli", so it seems Mr Caliaro did not write the article in English. Perhaps the same translator has been used for Mr Caliaro's recent books on Macchi fighters, Fiat fighters, and the S.79 Sparviero bomber. If so, since Tony Buttler (and Pasoleati and GTX) gave the Macchi book a rave review, then Italo Battioli must have done a fine job. I look forward to purchasing Mr Caliaro's books.
 
RocketJavelin said:
Thanks for the interest! Shaping the Vulcan explores the Victor design too, as an essential part of understanding the aerodynamics technology landscape at the time, and the choices that Avro made. Let’s see what the reaction is prior to thinking about any more books!

Steve
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Mr Liddle, I hope this new year is going well for you so far. I see that Mortons Books' website shows your forthcoming book Shaping the Vulcan with a publication date around mid-May 2025, and perhaps a month or two after that for American customers. Does that indeed sound about right?

I never had the privilege of seeing an Avro Vulcan in flight, but I saw XL318 inside the RAF Museum in northern London, and XJ824 at Duxford outside Cambridge. My knowledge of this stately vehicle (and the Victor and Valiant) comes from the 1973 book Bombers of the West by the noted Bill Gunston. And also Gunston's 1993 book Jet Bombers (although the Vulcan chapter was written by co-author Peter Gilchrist), and Aerofax's 2008 book Avro Vulcan: Britain's Famous Delta-Wing V-Bomber by Phil Butler & Tony Buttler. From the publisher's blurb, your forthcoming book promises to be even more detailed and in-depth than those earlier titles, about the technical developmental history at least.
 
 
 
 
Owens Z said:
Mr Liddle, I hope this new year is going well for you so far. I see that Mortons Books' website shows your forthcoming book Shaping the Vulcan with a publication date around mid-May 2025, and perhaps a month or two after that for American customers. Does that indeed sound about right?

I never had the privilege of seeing an Avro Vulcan in flight, but I saw XL318 inside the RAF Museum in northern London, and XJ824 at Duxford outside Cambridge. My knowledge of this stately vehicle (and the Victor and Valiant) comes from the 1973 book Bombers of the West by the noted Bill Gunston. And also Gunston's 1993 book Jet Bombers (although the Vulcan chapter was written by co-author Peter Gilchrist), and Aerofax's 2008 book Avro Vulcan: Britain's Famous Delta-Wing V-Bomber by Phil Butler & Tony Buttler. From the publisher's blurb, your forthcoming book promises to be even more detailed and in-depth than those earlier titles, about the technical developmental history at least.
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Hello!

Thank you very much for the interest. I am indeed hopeful that publication will be Q2 this year, although I don’t know about the American arrangements I’m afraid. I’m sure Morton’s could advise.

The aim of the book is to say something different. I’m an aerodynamicist by trade and so I’ve used that as the jumping-off point. The books you mention, and many others, offer great histories of RAF’s use and something about the development process. I wanted to really dig into the aerodynamic development and explain how the unique form came to be, and to an extent, how HP as the rival manufacturer came to very different conclusions. The book draws on the wind tunnel test reports from the RAE in particular, who conducted most of the high speed, high Reynolds number testing of the Vulcan and Victor, and contributed to the maths and the designing by hacksaw. The later development was shaped by politics as much as aerodynamics, and so I got to combine two of my interests.

Hopefully it will find an audience beyond its author!

Best wishes
Steve
 
Flyaway said:
NASA’s Lost Missions

NASA Lost Missions Operations Manual: 1965-2030 (Post-Apollo Program) An insight into the abandoned NASA concepts and studies planned to extend its space programme in the post-Apollo era: Baker, Dr. David: 9781785212116: Amazon.com: Books

NASA Lost Missions Operations Manual: 1965-2030 (Post-Apollo Program) An insight into the abandoned NASA concepts and studies planned to extend its space programme in the post-Apollo era [Baker, Dr. David] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. NASA Lost Missions Operations Manual...
www.amazon.com
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GeorgeA said:
Release date 12/31/2025??
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David Baker's Haynes Manual, NASA Lost Missions: 1964-75 (ISBN 978-1-78521-211-6), got as far as to have a front cover advertised (see attached) before the end of Haynes. This orphaned book project was subsequently adopted by Crécy Publishing of Manchester, England. A Crécy representative told me today that while the project remains active, it has seen further delays and won't be ready before 2026. So GeorgeA, the then far-future release date for which you expressed surprise will turn out to be an underestimate. I still expect the published book will be a worthwhile read, considering the interesting topic, and knowing of Dr Baker's rich previous works.
 

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GTX said:
Now available:

5314-entry-0-1734311925.jpg


Q-Birds - The Impact of American Manned Aircraft as Drones

  • Authors: Frederick A. Johnson & Frederick A Johnsen
  • Imprint: Hikoki
  • Extent: 202 Pages,
  • Dimensions: 8.3 x 11.7 in,
  • Photographs: Approx. 225
  • Cover: Hardcover
  • ISBN 9781800352797
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Finally got this book and it is great! Very complete and colorful. (I haven't seen so much Insignia Red in a long time!)
 
DWG said:
Alternately, "and after" has been accidentally chopped off the subtitle, and the title was intended to match his Cruisers and Coastal Forces works. We'll have to wait and see. I do wonder how you would handle the longer-lived designs across two volumes; do you chop coverage of the Light Fleets in half?
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sdmuleman said:
Rather annoyingly this book seems to only be available within the UK at the moment.
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I see that on the Amazon UK website (still nothing on Amazon USA), Norman Friedman's forthcoming book now has a blurb and a front cover image. Although the cover shows biplanes and the subtitle is identical to Dr Friedman's British submarines volume that was the first of two, the blurb states "This book tells (and explains) how that happened over more than a century of British carrier development". So it seems this one book will cover the entire history of British aircraft carriers in 400 pages. Unlike submarines, the Royal Navy invented aircraft carriers, so I would have thought Dr Friedman could get two volumes out of this expansive subject. The book is not by Seaforth/Naval Institute Press, I notice, but rather by Pen & Sword: maybe the Pen & Sword editor demanded a tighter book? In any case, I look forward to publication.
 
RocketJavelin said:
Hello!

Thank you very much for the interest. I am indeed hopeful that publication will be Q2 this year, although I don’t know about the American arrangements I’m afraid. I’m sure Morton’s could advise.

The aim of the book is to say something different. I’m an aerodynamicist by trade and so I’ve used that as the jumping-off point. The books you mention, and many others, offer great histories of RAF’s use and something about the development process. I wanted to really dig into the aerodynamic development and explain how the unique form came to be, and to an extent, how HP as the rival manufacturer came to very different conclusions. The book draws on the wind tunnel test reports from the RAE in particular, who conducted most of the high speed, high Reynolds number testing of the Vulcan and Victor, and contributed to the maths and the designing by hacksaw. The later development was shaped by politics as much as aerodynamics, and so I got to combine two of my interests.

Hopefully it will find an audience beyond its author!

Best wishes
Steve
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Good; I expect a detailed, in-depth technical development history of the lovely Avro Vulcan will be a rewarding read.

To my knowledge, the wing intended for the derived Avro Atlantic airliner proposal was not identical to that of the Vulcan B.1 or B.2. Will your forthcoming book engage with the Atlantic design?
 
Owens Z said:
I see that on the Amazon UK website (still nothing on Amazon USA), Norman Friedman's forthcoming book now has a blurb and a front cover image. Although the cover shows biplanes and the subtitle is identical to Dr Friedman's British submarines volume that was the first of two, the blurb states "This book tells (and explains) how that happened over more than a century of British carrier development". So it seems this one book will cover the entire history of British aircraft carriers in 400 pages. Unlike submarines, the Royal Navy invented aircraft carriers, so I would have thought Dr Friedman could get two volumes out of this expansive subject. The book is not by Seaforth/Naval Institute Press, I notice, but rather by Pen & Sword: maybe the Pen & Sword editor demanded a tighter book? In any case, I look forward to publication.
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Seaforth is an imprint of Pen & Sword.
 
Nice one Hood, I seriously cannot wait until April. Fingers and toes firmly crossed that it does not get delayed.
 
Owens Z said:
Good; I expect a detailed, in-depth technical development history of the lovely Avro Vulcan will be a rewarding read.

To my knowledge, the wing intended for the derived Avro Atlantic airliner proposal was not identical to that of the Vulcan B.1 or B.2. Will your forthcoming book engage with the Atlantic design?
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Nothing on the Atlantic I’m afraid, although the design wind tunnel tested by the RAE used the original Vulcan B.1 wing, and was actually used for the phase 2 (kinked) leading edge development.

There’s a preview (of sorts) of the book in the Feb 2025 Aeroplane Monthly: https://www.key.aero/article/avro-vulcan-how-legend-was-created
 
Owens Z said:
Thanks for the notice of this appealing book, DWG, which I find doesn't yet appear on American websites. From the subtitle, it seems Dr Friedman intends this to be a "world wars" volume for British carriers, with perhaps later a "postwar" volume, just as he did two volumes successfully on British submarines. A new richly dense Friedman tome arriving at my door is like a visit from an old friend; I look forward to being able to buy a copy next year.
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Yes, there is to be a postwar volume. Plans originally called for a single volume, but there was too much material for that. Members may also be interested in a U.S. Naval Institute volume due some time this year, a history of anti-submarine warfare during the Cold War. The overall shape of Cold War ASW may be surprising, in that after about 1960 it was not at all clear that it would be about protecting North Atlantic shipping from hordes of Soviet submarines (and by that time it was also not at all clear that a big war was the likeliest scenario for East-West tension). Both this book and the carrier book are currently in the production stage, and it appears that the British carrier book will appear first. For those interested in naval air on the other side of the Atlantic, a history of U.S. naval attack aircraft appeared (I think) last year.
 
I would think that both would compliment each other, Damien Burke's book is a good read though.
 
So should expect "British Aircraft Carriers in the Cold War era" and maybe after in a couple of years
 

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