As I mentioned previously, this post is about organizing the books I read about aviation in a particular structure that could be useful to other readers. This post is based partially on the post I wrote about the origins of Stealth technology and the post on aviation related books in general. In short, my classification is about civil and military aviation with some sub-categories inside each branch of aviation.

Aviation

• Civil Aviation
  • Biographies of plane engineers
    • 747 by Joe Sutter. This book could be of interest to people who not only want to learn about the 747, but also want to know who developed it, why and how it happened. Joe Sutter produced an interesting nerative that is fun to read.
  • Biographies of jet engine engineers
    • The Power to Fly: An Engineer’s Life by Brian H. Rowe. This book provides you with an information of how jet engines were developed in General Electric Engines and also provides you with author’s personal advice on engineering and management.
    • Herman the German: Just Lucky I Guess by Gerhard Neumann. While I read the book by Brian H. Rowe he mentioned that his boss at GE Aviation Engines was Gerhard Neumann who was quite a personality. I was curious so I bought this book. It was very adventurous reading to say the least. It seems like Gerhard Neumann had the most adventurous life of any person on earth. Surely, more adventurous, than Indiana Jones could ever dream of.
• Military Aviation
  • Jet Fighter Planes
    • Hornet: The inside Story of The F/A-18 by Orr Kelly. This books provides many details of how F/A-18 was conceived, designed and developed. I was very impressed with the book, taking into consideration, that at first I thought about F/A-18 as an ugly plane.
  • Biographies of military jet planes engineers
    • Kelly: More Than My Share of It All by Kelly Johnson. Well, I guess there is no need to introduce who Kelly Johnson was. And if there is a need to do this, then he’s the father of Skunk Works which brought you U-2, A-12, SR-71 and other Area 51 planes.
    • Skunk Works: A Personal Memoir of My Years of Lockheed by Ben Rich. This book is very exciting and it talks about F-117 design and development also touching on SR-71 and other planes developed by Skunk Works. Ben Rich started as a thermodynamics specialist of SR-71 in Kelly Johnson team, later to succeed him as Skunk Works director. By the way, his son Michael D. Rich is the CEO of RAND corporation.
  • Low Observable Technology aka Stealth
    • Books for general audience
      • Stealth: The Secret Contest to Invent Invisible Aircraft by Peter Westwick. This books talks about the rationale for developing stealth aircraft, how stealth technology was originated and the planes where this technology was applied to.
    • Technical books
      • Have Blue and the F-117A: Evolution of the Stealth Fighter by Albertt C. Piccirillo and David C. Aronstein. This book is an official account of F-117 procurement and manufacturing with some details on its design and development. It suits more program management inclined readers.
      • Radar Cross Section (Radar, Sonar and Navigation) by Eugene F. Knott, John F. Schaeffer, Michael T. Tulley. This is a textbook on radar applied to low observable technology.
  • Stealth Planes books
    • Area 51 – Black Jets: A History of the Aircraft Developed at Groom Lake, America’s Secret Aviation Base by Bill Yenne. This book is more about the Groom Lake which known to general public as Area 51 and the planes that called it home. Among them were a number of known and yet unknown stealth aircraft.
    • Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk Stealth Fighter by Paul F. Crickmore. This book is about F-117 in particular, including its specification, usage and more.
    • B-2: The Spirit of Innovation by Rebecca Grant. This books was written on behalf of Northrop Grumman and provides some interesting details of how B-2 was developed to be the first ever stealth bomber of the second generation.