lamdha books -
Catalogue of books on aviation

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202085 Bird, Nancy (foreword by Sir Richard Boyer) Born to Fly - signed Angus & Robertson Ltd., Sydney NSW, 1961. Octavo; hardcover, with metallic red spine titles; 190pp., with a monochrome frontispiece and 16pp. of plates likewise. Moderate wear; spine extremities lightly softened; text block and page edges toned with some marks; mild offset to the endpapers; previous owner's name in ink to the flyleaf; author's ink inscription to the flyleaf. Dustwrapper is rubbed and edgeworn with a few small tears with associated creasing; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. Click here to order $60

86042 Bishop, Lt.-Col. William A. (Stanley M. Ulanoff, ed.) Winged Warfare Bailey Brothers and Swinfen Ltd., Folkestone UK, 1975. Octavo; hardcover, with silver-gilt spine-titling; 281pp., with many line drawings and 24pp. of monochrome photographic plates. Mild wear; text block top edge dusted; offset to the endpapers; previous owner's ink inscription to the flyleaf. Price-clipped dustwrapper mildly sunned along the spine panel. Very good. The personal story of the World War I experiences of Canadian ace Lt. Colonel Billy Bishop, who ranked fourth among the aces of that war. Enlisting as an infantryman, he soon transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and rapidly proved his skill and daring in the air... There are exciting descriptions of 'dog-fights' over the lines, dodging the 'Archies' (anti-aircraft batteries) and parrying the attacks of the scarlet tri-winged Fokkers of Baron von Richthofen's squadron with a tiny Nieuport scout armed with a single Lewis gun. Click here to order $20

206051 Cooper, Anthony Darwin Spitfires The Real Battle for Australia Pen & Sword Aviation/Pen & Sword Books Ltd., Barnsley South Yorkshire UK, 2013. Octavo; hardcover, with gilt spine titles; 516pp. with many monochrome illustrations. Dustwrapper. Remainder. New. The Japanese air raids on Darwin on 19 February 1942 are well-known to most Australians, although not perhaps to the rest of the world. What happened afterwards, however, remains unknown to many. This publication attempts to illuminate a little-known period of war history, charting the exploits, losses and successes of the RAF's No 1 Fighter Wing and the contribution they made to the allied war effort... For almost two years the airspace over North West Australia was routinely penetrated by Japanese raids, tallying about 70 in total. The 1942-43 air raids on Darwin constituted the only sustained and intensive direct assault on Australian mainland territory in the whole of World War II... Telling the story of the RAF'S No 1 Fighter Wing, composed of both Australian and British Spitfire pilots, Darwin Spitfires explores the little-known 1943 season of air combat over the top end, recovering important aspects of Australian history. It brings to the attention of the world the heroic exploits of the skilled pilots who did so much to protect Australia and support the Allied effort. Click here to order $30

209418 Coster, Graham Corsairville: The Lost Domain of the Flying Boat Viking, 2000. Octavo hardcover; blue boards with silver gilt spine titling, illustrated endpapers; 275pp., b&w plates. One or two small marks on text block edges; mild wear to dustwrapper edges. Very good to near fine. Wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. The hint of an obscure legend involving the salvage of a flying boat in a corner of the Belgian Congo set Coster on this quest. His journey started in Southampton, from where Imperial Airways' Empire boats left for Britain's far-flung Dominions, and took him through Africa - down the Nile, through Uganda, Kenya and Malawi, from Lake Naivasha to Victoria Falls. He also travelled on the last passenger flying boats, 50-year-old Mallards and Gooses that took him to idyllic Caribbean islands and wild bays in Alaska, taking off in a whirl of spray and touching down with a thrilling whomph! More than a travel book, this is a remarkable piece of secret history, and a journey to a vanished age when air travel could truly change your life. Click here to order $22

209249 Cutlack, F.M. Official History of Australia in the War of 1914-18 - Volume VIII: Australian Flying Corps In the Western and Eastern Theatres of War, 1914-1918 Angus and Robertson Ltd., Sydney NSW, 1939. Reprint: octavo; hardcover, with gilt spine titles and rules; 493pp., with maps, diagrams and many monochrome plates. Mild wear; some marks to the upper board; text block edges lightly toned with some faint spotting; top edge lightly dusted with a small mark; mild offset to the endpapers with some moisture damage to the front pastedown; previous owner's ink stamp to the rear free endpaper. No dustwrapper. Very good. Click here to order $100

212162 Dick, Harold G. & Douglas H. Robinson The Golden Age of the Great Passenger Airships Graf Zeppelin & Hindenburg Smithsonian Books, Washington DC, 1985. Quarto; paperback, 226pp., with monochrome illustrations. Remainder. New. Drawing on the extensive photographs, notes, diaries, reports, recorded data, and manuals he collected during his five years at the Zeppelin Company in Germany, from 1934 through 1938, Harold G. Dick tells the story of the two great passenger Zeppelins. Against the background of German secretiveness, especially during the Nazi period, Dick's accumulation of material and pictures is extraordinary. His original photographs and detailed observations on the handling and flying of the two big rigids constitute the essential data on this phase of aviation history. Click here to order $22

59570 [Edita Lausanne] The Romance of Ballooning The Story of the Early Aeronauts. Viking Press, New York NY, 1971. Hardcover, large quarto, 197pp., monochrome and colour illustrations, fold-out maps and tipped-in colour plates. Endpapers slightly marked. Text block edges lightly toned and smudged. Cloth boards with gilt decoration on front; some scraping to lower edges. Dustwrapper heavily chipped and creased to edges; tear and creasing to lower spine and lower front corner; corners scuffed; rear panel toned and marked; professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good in good dustwrapper. From the sensational discoveries of the Montgolfier brothers in France in 1783 to Polar expeditions and African safaris, this work contains stories from eyewitness accounts, newspaper stories, reports to scientific bodies, from log-books, memoirs and letters, and is illustrated by eighteenth-century engravers and watercolourists and twentieth century photographers. The story of the free balloon is exciting, dramatic, odd, and poetic. In these days of hustle and noise, this book recaptures the peace and silence, the colour and wonder, of this ethereal enlargement of man's horizon. Click here to order $40

78755 Friends of the United States Air Force Academy Library The Genesis of Flight The Aeronautical History Collection of Colonel Richard Gimbel University of Washington Press, Seattle WA, 2000. Quarto hardcover, 372pp., colour illustrations. Minor creasing on dustwrapper front and corners; else near fine and professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Born in 1898, Col. Richard Gimbel became fascinated with humanity's preoccupation with flight and, after de-mobbing from the Air Force to take up duties with the family business and, later, with Yale University, he amassed a fantastic collection of material concerning flight dating back 5,000 years. Beginning with stone seals depicting human beings with wings dating from Babylonian days, the collection presented here follows through to include important letters and photographs produced by the Wright brothers. In between are imaginary voyages to distant lands where people regularly take to the air penned by Nicole Edme Restif de la Bretonne, posters of the accomplishments of the Montgolfiers, and copies of Verne's prophetic works including "From the Earth to the Moon". Bequeathed to the US Air Force Academy after his death, the collection is presented here in one volume - showing the highlights - and in its entirety by means of a CD-ROM included in the back of the book. This is a cornucopia of delights for anyone who has ever been interested in humanity's urge to take to the skies! Click here to order $50

98906 Fysh, Sir Hudson The Autobiography of the Flying Fysh - Three Volumes "QANTAS Rising"; "QANTAS at War"; & "Wings to the World - The Story of QANTAS, 1945-1966" Angus & Robertson (Publishers) Pty. Ltd., Sydney NSW, 1965-1970 Three volumes: octavo; hardcover, with gilt spine titles; 776pp. [296pp. + 244pp. + 236pp.], with two monochrome frontispieces and 72pp. of plates likewise. Mild wear; mild softening to the spine extremities; text block edges toned with some spots; mild offset to the preliminaries; previous owner's name in ink to the half-title page of Volume 3. Dustwrappers mildly rubbed and edgeworn; mildly sunned along the spine panels; now backed by archival-quality white paper and professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. Click here to order $300

207077 Gillison, Douglas Royal Australian Airforce, 1939-1942 Australia in the War of 1939-1945 Australian War Memorial, Canberra, ACT, 1962. First edition: octavo; hardcover, with gilt spine titles; 786pp., with 38pp. of monochrome plates, 5 colour maps, and various other maps and tables. Minor wear; offsetting to endpapers; toned text block edges; previous owner's inked inscription. Dustwrapper edges worn with chipping especially to spine panel extremities and corners (now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film). Very good to near fine. Although specifying a fairly narrow period of history in the title, this volume tries to paint a thorough background of Australian air capability leading up to the Japanese attacks which began in 1939. In that sense, this work actually covers a period of history from 1909 through to the wresting of air superiority from the Japanese invaders in the first quarter of 1942. The main focus of the work is the years of the Second World War and Australia's participation in, not only keeping the Japanese forces away from Australian soil, but also as part of the integrated forces which supported General Macarthur and the Allies in the War of the Pacific, when the RAAF was most strongly deployed. This is a highly readable and engaging history, not only of Australia's air war during WW2, but of the establishment of a unified national airforce. Click here to order $65

202060 Hamilton-Preston, James Marked for Death The First War in the Air Head of Zeus Ltd., London, 2015. Octavo; hardcover, with silver-gilt spine titles, decorated endpapers and a burgundy ribbon; 356pp., with 16pp. of monochrome and full-colour plates. Dustwrapper. Remainder. New. "Early in the history of military aviation, the Dutch aircraft designer and pilot Anthony Fokker famously remarked, "Every man who went aloft was marked for death, sooner or later, once his wheels had left the ground." Those skepticisms seemed justified when war erupted in August 1914. Engines were weak, and weight so critical that a pilot's chances of getting off the ground were reduced simply by donning a heavy sheepskin flying coat. Speeds were 50 to 60 miles an hour; indeed, a good headwind could cause a plane to fly backward relative to the ground. Most existing aircraft could scarcely lift the deadweight of a gun and ammunition - one early plane had a gunner perched in a crude wooden box in front of the propeller, his head only inches from the swirling blade. Luckily, there were swift improvements. Within four years, both adversaries boasted planes that could climb to 20,000 feet and fly at more than 200 mph in a dive, reaching g-forces that could have reduced earlier models to instant firewood. One important invention was a synchronized machine gun able to fire through the propeller arc (first developed by Germany, followed quickly by Britain). According to the author, the concept of aerial combat quickly achieved a firm grip on public imagination, a throwback to a cleaner sort of war: gladiatorial, personal, even romantic, a vivid contrast to trench fighting. Newspapers gave glowing accounts of such aces as the German Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen, 54 of whose 80 victims were shot down in flames. By his estimate, some 50,000 aircrew (from both sides) died in the war, including training and accidents. As he writes, airmen shared with the infantry an identical 70 percent chance of injury or death. Several men who were brave to the point of recklessness gave aviation significant boosts. Consider Noel Pemberton Billing, a strapping (six feet four inches) eccentric who learned of a German Zeppelin balloon facility near the French border. Wearing civilian clothes that would have got him shot as a spy had he been caught, Billing reconnoitred the sheds to plan a raid. Three aircraft were crated and shipped by ferry and truck to France, reassembled and each outfitted with four twenty-pound bombs. As Mr. Hamilton-Paterson writes, a new hydrogen plant the Germans had just built disappeared in a huge fireball. James Hamilton-Paterson, an Australian, is an expert on British aviation. He concedes that aviation in the vast conflict was little more than a highly visible sideshow and had limited influence in the war's outcome. But after four years, as technology developed, aviation was clearly going to change the nature of warfare and ensure its own future." - Joseph C. Goulden Click here to order $24

78229 Herington, John Air War Against Germany & Italy 1939-1943 Australia in the War of 1939-1945 Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT, 1962. Reprint: octavo; hardcover, with gilt spine-titling; 731pp., with 54pp. of monochrome photographic plates, 4 coloured maps, and various other maps and tables. Minor wear; toned text block edges. Rubbed dustwrapper with wear to edges especially at spine panel extremities and corners; lightly toned lower panel; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good to near fine otherwise. Within the period covered by this work, Australians were ubiquitous in England: starting with a single RAAF squadron and some 400 Australian individuals signed up with the RAF in Britain in 1939, these figures grew over time to a substantial 15,000 Australians individually enlisted or within 18 RAAF squadrons. Along with other Commonwealth detachments, these Dominion forces encountered various administrative and bureaucratic issues which this book is not afraid to examine. Primarily though, the text concerns itself with the actions of Australian squadrons and Australians within RAF squadrons, painting a broad narrative of this country's efforts in assisting to repel the onslaught from the Axis powers. As part of the analysis, the author examines the strategic and tactical policies initiated by the British High Command and compares these with the military responses by the the German and Italian Air Forces to arrive at a notion of just how effective the Allied force's engagements were. Click here to order $50

45414 Isaacs, Keith Military Aircraft of Australia 1909-1918 Australian War Memorial, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 1971. First edition: quarto; hardcover; blue boards with gilt spine titling, blue endpapers; 190pp. with many monochrome and full-colour illustrations. Mild offsetting to endpapers with very slightly faded hinges; faint spotting on upper text block edge with two small spots; mild rubbing to dustwrapper; wear to edges and small scrapes to front panel, some chipping at corners. Very good with wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. During the formative years from 1909 to 1918 aircraft design progressed from the primitive and fragile Bristol Boxkite, through the famous Bristol Fighter, Handley Page bomber and Sopwith Camel scout to the ultimate rotary-engined fighter, the Sopwith Snipe. Over 40 different types of aircraft were used by Australians and the history of each is presented in a narrative which contains a brief summary of the aircraft's designer, its development and operational background, and the details of the aircraft in Australian service. Also included are representative enemy aircraft of the 1914-18 War which operated against the Australians. Complementing the text by Wing Commander Keith Isaacs are 24 coloured pages of Harold Freedman's aircraft murals in the Australian War Memorial, and a series of line drawings by David Hammond. Click here to order $35

203354 Jacobs, Peter Aces of the Luftwaffe The Jagdflieger of the Second World War Frontline Books/Pen & Sword Books Ltd., Barnsley Sth. Yorkshire UK, 2014. Octavo; hardcover, with gilt spine titles; 208pp., with 24pp. of monochrome plates. Minor wear; some dog-eared pages at the rear. Dustwrapper lightly rubbed; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good to near fine. The air battles of the Second World War were fought ferociously and with extraordinary skill and courage on both fronts. The fighter pilots of the Luftwaffe, the jagdfliegern, in fact outscored their Allied counterparts by some margin and were some of the highest scoring fighter pilots of all time. More than a hundred recorded a century of aerial successes with two going on to surpass a quite astonishing 300 victories. In the end, the vast effort required by the Luftwaffe to maintain the air war on so many fronts proved too much and few jagdfliegern survived the last days of the Reich but their courage and ability was beyond question, and the names of some will live on in the annals of air warfare with their extraordinary achievements never to be surpassed. In Luftwaffe Fighter Aces, Peter Jacobs examines the many campaigns fought by the Luftwaffe from its fledgling days during the Spanish Civil War to its last days defending the Reich, and includes the exploits of Erich Hartmann, the highest scoring fighter pilot of all time, Hans-Joachim Marseille, the Star of Africa, Werner Molders, the first recipient of the Diamonds, and Adolf Galland, perhaps the most famous of all. Click here to order $35

91434 Jones, Geoffrey Attacker The Hudson and its Flyers William Kimber, London, 1980. Octavo hardcover; red boards with gilt spine titling; 238pp., monochrome illustrations. Owner's name on rear pastedown. Minor wear only; faint offsetting to endpaper; a few spots on text block edges. Very good to near fine in like dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. The Lockheed Hudson operated with distinction over battlefronts in all five continents. It was the first American aircraft to enter into service with the RAF. Reliable and versatile, it fought as a fighter, bombed, depth-charged, ferried, parachuted, patrolled, photographed, rescued and trained. On every front from Africa to Australia, Canada to China and Iceland to Ireland, Hudsons were to the fore. Click here to order $30

88819 Long, Elgen & Marie Amelia Earhart: The Mystery Solved Simon & Schuster, New York, 1999. Hardcover, octavo; grey papered boards with blue spine with gilt titling; 320pp., monochrome plates and illustrations. Minor wear only; near fine in dustwrapper professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Elgen and Marie Long put to rest the speculation and rumours surrounding Amelia Earhart's disappearance. The Longs prove that she was pushing the limits of technology and pushed too far. With no radar and unreliable communication, she simply missed Howland Island, her next stop. An expert author and pilot, Elgen Long has more than forty years of combat and civilian flying experience. During World War II, he flew planes virtually identical to the Electra that Earhart flew, making him one of the few living pilots who understands the primitive conditions she flew under. Elgen and his wife, Marie, spent more than twenty-five years, interviewed more than 100 witnesses, and travelled more than 100,000 miles researching this book. Click here to order $24

95882 McNab, Chris The Luftwaffe, 1933-45 Hitler's Eagles Chartwell Books Inc., New York NY, 2014. Quarto; hardcover; 358pp., with many colour and monochrome illustrations. Dustwrapper. Remainder. New. At the beginning of World War II, the Luftwaffe was the world's most advanced air force. With superior tactics, aircraft and training, it cut through opposition air forces. Despite this auspicious beginning, by 1945 the Luftwaffe was a dying force. The Allies were destroying German aircraft at unequal rates, and Luftwaffe aviators were dying in their thousands in an unbalanced battle to save Germany from destruction. Hitler's Eagles charts the turbulent history of the Luftwaffe from its earliest days to its downfall. Once Hitler was in power, the Luftwaffe came out of the shadows and expanded under a massive rearmament programme, then embarked upon the war that would define its existence. As well as providing a detailed history of the Luftwaffe's combat experience, the book expands on its human and material aspects. Aces and commanders are profiled and aircraft are described both technologically and tactically. Click here to order $35

206636 Marck, Bernard (Carmella Abramowitz Moreau, trans.) Women Aviators From Amelia Earhart to Sally Ride, Making History in Air and Space Flammarion S.A., Paris France, 2009. Quarto; hardcover, with illustrated boards and decorative endpapers; 241pp., with many monochrome illustrations. Minor wear. Dustwrapper very rubbed and edgeworn; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good. Click here to order $35

90342 Newton, Dennis A Few of 'The Few' - signed by the author Australians and the Battle of Britain Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT, 1990. Quarto; hardcover, with silver-gilt spine and upper board titles and decorations; 291pp., with a monochrome photographic frontispiece and many illustrations likewise. Minor wear; signed in ink on the title page. Dustwrapper lightly rubbed (now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film). Very good to near fine When the 1.45 million pound ($3.5 million) Battle of Britain monument was unveiled in London it contained the names of the 2953 pilots who fought the German air force in the skies over southern England in 1940. These are the men so famously immortalised by Winston Churchill when he said: "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few". A few of The Few, as they became known, were Australian, and their names, too, are emblazoned in bronze alongside their comrades on Victoria Embankment. There are 33 Australians on the list, which also includes New Zealanders, Canadians, South Africans, Poles, Free French, Czechs and Belgians. The true total, however, is still a matter for conjecture. As historian Dennis Newton said in this 1990, 50th anniversary book, "A few of The Few - Australians and the Battle of Britain", original British assessments shortly after the war put the number at 21. This was upgraded to 25, and then to 29. In the introduction to his book, Newton explains that confusion about the exact numbers of The Few is to be expected: "In those days Australians travelled using a British passport and Australia was proudly part of the British Empire ... For most, to be Australian was to be British anyway. Sometimes ... British nationality was assumed". The complete list of pilots included on the new monument was being compiled by John Young of the Battle of Britain Fighter Association. Young, a former BoB wing commander, says his list of 33 Australians comes from the Australian War Memorial (AWM). Staff at the AWM, however, could only point back to Newton's book, which was published by the Memorial. Dr Peter Stanley, principal historian at the AWM, says: "If Dennis Newton reckons there were 37 Australians, and he's named them, then I would take his word for it. He knows what he's talking about". Dennis Newton, an aviation journalist, is the author of six books including "A Few of the Few", "Clash of Eagles", "Australian Air Aces" & "First Impact". He edited the Battle of Britain memoir of Gordon Olive, "Spitfire Ace", of which it was said: "Ever wonder what it was like to fly a Spitfire in the Battle of Britain? No account captures it quite so nerve-shreddingly as this new book". Dennis Newton lives in the Blue Mountains, in New South Wales. Click here to order $50

207020 Odgers, George Air War Against Japan, 1943-1945 Australia in the War of 1939-1945 Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT, 1968. Reprint: octavo; hardcover, with gilt spine titling; 533pp., with many monochrome plates, illustrations and maps. Mild wear; previous owner's inscription in ink; toned text block edge. Mild edgewear to dustwrapper with chipping at spine panel extremities; now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Very good to near fine. Click here to order $50

84520 Robertson, Bruce & W F Hepworth (paintings based on original drawings by J D Carrick and Frank Yeoman) Spitfire - The Story of a Famous Fighter Harleyford Publications, Letchworth, 1960. Quarto hardcover; blue boards with gilt spine tilting; 211pp., colour frontispiece and monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; foxing to endpapers and very faint spotting to text block edges. Illustrated dustwrapper slightly faded at front sides, rear panel mildly rubbed; tiny missing segment on head of spine and tiny chips at corners. Very good to near fine and protected in archival film with white paper backing. The Spitfire fighter aeroplane was the backbone of the British air defense during World War Two, ranked the best weapon in the armoury of the British Air Force. Without it, the results of the world conflict would certainly have been a very different matter. In this volume - recognised now as the "sine qua non" of works about the Spitfire - the role of the fighter is examined in its entirety, from the establishment of the Supermarine works in 1912, to the unveiling of the Spitfire S-4 prototype in 1924, its performance in the World War and afterwards, as well the variants that were produced in light of its success, from the postwar Spiteful, the Seafire and the Seafang. Click here to order $80

99575 Roell, Werner P. Laurels for Prinz Wittgenstein Independent Books, Keston, 1994. Octavo hardcover; black boards with gilt spine titling; 192pp., monochrome illustrations. Faint spotting to upper text block edge and slight rubbing to dustwrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. This is the story of one of the last 'Knights'. Born into the aristocratic Wittgenstein family, Prinz Heinrich saw his place as a defender of his homeland as his ancestors, the Counts von Sayn, had done in times gone by. Although a somewhat frail and sickly youth his health seemed to stabilise in maturity and he joined the 17th Cavalry Regiment in Bamberg in 1936. Subsequently he joined the Luftwaffe and was later promoted to lieutenant in 1938. After the outbreak of World War II he chalked up 150 operations in Belgium, Russia, France and England. As a nightfighter pilot he was to display outstanding courage and determination and was to account for some eighty-three four-engined bombers, sometimes attacking and shooting down as many as five in one night. By early 1944 Wittgenstein was the highest scoring German nightfighter pilot. Click here to order $40

201897 Treadwell, Terry C Rocket and Jet Aircraft of the Third Reich History Press, Stroud, 2011. Octavo hardcover; navy boards with gilt spine titling; 192pp., monochrome illustrations. Minor wear only; near fine in like dustwrapper. Throughout World War Two, the Nazi war machine headed the charge in the development of jet propulsion engines, beginning their efforts during the Spanish Civil War. The German's mastery of jet aircraft meant that they gained swift dominance of the skies with such innovations as the ME 262 jet plane and the creation of rocket-propelled bombs with which they caused mayhem in the British capital. After the war, with the benefits of America's shadowy Operation Paper Clip, much of this technology was absorbed into the US's Cold War efforts - only to be met by the Russian innovations made possible by the USSR's own version of the process of folding German scientists into their mainstream science efforts. Many of the German creations were brought to fruition; many more never left the planning stage. In this volume we are shown a thorough overview of those weapons that saw the light of day. Click here to order $40

71308 Wilson, Stewart Sea Fury, Firefly and Sea Venom In Australian Service Aerospace Publications, Weston Creek, 1993. Quarto; paperback; 211pp., colour & monochrome illustrations. Small thumbprint stain on side page edges; scuffed cover with excoriations and small creases. Very good otherwise. This series of aviation histories by Stewart Wilson are considered the final word in detailing the history of Australia's aviation development and military record. Each book details three different types of aeroplane linked by their service similarities (in this case Naval deployment) and covers a wealth of detail useful for the aircraft restorer, the historian, or the aeronautics buff. Each plane is covered in detail from its construction, development, schematics, military record and decommission status. Photographs show many pertinent details and reproduced military documents show how the service capability of each aeroplane was measured and evaluated. Detailed shots of the cockpits with instrument identification are welcome additions to the largesse of detailed information. Click here to order $40

77576 Wilson, Stewart Spitfire, Mustang and Kittyhawk In Australian Service Aerospace Publications Pty. Ltd., Weston Creek, ACT, Australia, 1988. Quarto; paperback; 185pp., with colour & monochrome illustrations. Minor wear; tiny chip on head of spine. Near fine otherwise. This series of aviation histories by Stewart Wilson are considered the final word in revealing the history of Australia's aviation development and military record. Each book profiles three different types of aeroplane linked by their service similarities (in this case important World War II projects of the Australian aeronautics industry) and covers a wealth of detail useful for the aircraft restorer, the historian, or the aeronautics buff. Each aeroplane is minutely covered from its construction, development, schematics, military record and decommission status. Photographs show many pertinent features and reproduced military documents show how the service capability of each aeroplane was measured and evaluated. Detailed shots of the cockpits with instrument identification are welcome additions to the wealth of information. Click here to order $50

63193 Winley, Bruce A. (Foreword by Nancy Bird Walton) Aussie Moths De Havilland D.H.60 Moths in Australia Bruce A. Winley, Kiama NSW, 1997. Quarto; hardcover, with gilt spine-titling; 271pp., with many monochrome photographic illustrations. Minor wear. A near fine copy in like dustwrapper now protected in non-adhesive polypropylene. The de Havilland D.H.60 Moth is a simple aeroplane, easy to fly and cheap to build. The first one arrived in Australia in 1925 and over the course of the Great Depression, these craft almost single-handedly kept Australia's aviation industry operating. By the early '30s, almost half the registration on the Civil Aviation Register were for Moths. Winley's book tracks the history and enthusiasm that Australians had for this little workhorse of a 'plane, accompanied by many monochrome and full colour photographs - a great source for fans of Australia's civil aviation history. Click here to order $80

74219 Wohl, Robert The Spectacle of Flight Aviation and the Western Imagination 1920-1950. Melbourne University Press, North Carlton Vic., 2005. Quarto hardcover, 364pp., colour and monochrome illustrations. Fine in lightly rubbed dustwrapper (now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film). "But those looking for a little instant nostalgia should open Wohl's lavishly illustrated book, smell the reek of old flying leathers and feel the past rush like slipstream off its pages. " JG Ballard, The Guardian. In the decades following the First World War, when aviation was still a revelation, flight was perceived as a spectacle to delight the eyes and stimulate the imagination. Historian Robert Wohl takes us back to this time, recapturing the achievements of pioneering aviators and exploring flight as a source of cultural inspiration in the United States and Europe. Wohl begins the story of flight in this era with a fresh account of the impact of Charles Lindbergh's dramatic New York-Paris flight, then goes on to explain how Mussolini identified his Fascist regime with the modernist cachet of aviation. Wohl shows how the Hollywood film industry, drawing on the talents of such director-flyers as William Wellman and Howard Hawks and the eccentric millionaire Howard Hughes, created the aviation film; how writers such as Antoine de Saint-Exupery helped foster France's self-image as the 'winged nation'; and how the spectacle of flight reached its tragic apotheosis during the bombing campaigns of the Spanish Civil War and World War II. Generously illustrated with rare photographs, paintings, and posters and elegantly written, this book offers a gripping account of aviation and its hold on the popular imagination during the years between 1920 and 1950. Click here to order $50

91101 Wood, J.P. Aircraft Nose Art 80 Years of Aviation Artwork Salamander Books, London, 1996. Quarto hardcover; illustrated boards; 144pp., colour illustrations. Tiny scrapes at lower board corners and mild rubbing to dustwrapper. Otherwise near fine with wrapper now professionally protected by superior non-adhesive polypropylene film. Aircraft Nose Art surveys the history of unofficial artwork from World War One to the 1991 Gulf War. Often frowned upon by authority these colourful decorations have in turn been inspiring, emotive, aggressive, humorous, cynical, brash or even tasteful. The author considers some of the common themes that have been used through the years by fighting airmen of all nationalities. These range from plain graffiti to cartoon characters, animals or the scantily-clad female figure. More than 250 illustrations of nose art accompany the text. Click here to order $30

33333 Xaudaro, Joaquin The Perils of Flight Mayflower, New York, 1979. Quarto; hardcover, with illustrated boards; 48pp., with colour illustrations throughout. Minor wear; front board very slightly bowed; mild spotting to pastedowns, browning to text block and page edges; a few spots here and there; tiny tear on base of spine and a few tiny bumps on board edges. No dustwrapper. Good to very good. Joaquin Xaudaro y Echau (1872 to 1933) was a Spanish cartoonist, illustrator, and caricaturist. His gently humorous depictions of the new technologies of his time, and specifically aviation, was first published as "Les peripeties de l'aviation" in 1911. Proof that early aviators didn't necessarily always take themselves seriously! Click here to order $18