Do you come from a flying family? Have you ever considered flying for a living or getting your flight license so you can experience something really great? Are you looking forward to having a flying car in your life? Well, if so, or if you just love aviation, I have a great recommendation, a great book that I think you should read. No, it is not a new book, and it is not just one book, it is actually many books in one: about 75 stories in all, easy to read and with the correct length. The name of the book is:

“Men in the Air: The Greatest Flight Stories of All Time, From Greek Mythology to the Space Age”, edited by Brandt Aymar and Walter J. Boyne, Wing Books, New York, New York, 1990, pp. 597, ISBN: 0-517-14656-8.

The book stays true to the title since the first chapter is the famous story of Daedallus and Icarus, the Greek mythology of a father and a son are flying with their artificial wings and the son gets too close to the Sun has the wax on the wing . melt and fall to his death unable to maintain his altitude. Here are several science fiction stories, including one by Isaac Asimov; “To Saturn And Back” and then the book begins with very good human-powered flight stories, I might add.

On the front of human-powered flight, there are stories about airships, balloons, and airships, then the Wright brothers, Lindberg, and the designs and history of Sikorski, who made the first viable helicopters. I found the stories of blowing up the mail, muggings, air races and early air shows quite interesting.

The book is not without its conflicts, as it talks about the flying aces of the First World War in Europe. The flight stories of World War II are numerous and involve stories of pilots on all sides of the war; Japanese, allied forces, American airmen, Luftwaffe and Russians. There are stories of pilots in the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War.

The latest set of stories is about female pilots in aviation, a must-read for inspirational input from future female pilots. I highly recommend reading all the stories there. Interestingly, there are also interesting stories about flights and weather, as well as hurricane hunters.

The book has important sections on the prop age, jet age, and space age. Our most famous Apollo astronauts tell stories, intense and heartbreaking stories. I think you will love this book as much as I do. Be cool, don’t hesitate.