Customer Reviews (3)

Oh, Puh-leeeeeze!
For weeks after the book arrived at my bookstore, I was doing Jackie Cochran impersonations.

"Well, after the war, I just *had* to go to Paris. So, I took Mr. Odlum, my "wingman" and so, I went. And so I found myself near the Ritz, at Maxims! and they were closed. Closed! To me! SoMr. Odlum timidly suggested we go elsewhere. But I said nothing to it. Instead, I used some of the "animal instinct" I used back in Florida when I was but a wild child, and went back to find the "garbage can"....garbage can, if you can say that...and of course, I found oh, a great feast. Honestly, those French throw away in a day what would feed an American family in a week! And beside me, I found this ragged little gamine rootling right next to me...taking even worse scraps than I. Well! I told her how to get better than that, and put her on the payroll that week."

Jackie Cochran was indeed a great American story. But so was my great-aunt, and manyothers. If she hadn't been so ready to pat herself on the back, I would have rated her higher. Read her, if only to get her side, then read Yeager. You'll be the better for it.

Good Autobiography
I thought it was fairly well written, Jackie was not known for beingreserved. She tells about her childhood and her life as a beautician. Howshe met her rich husband and how she started her own cometic company andwhy she began flying. She tells little of how she manipulated her way intostarting the WASP's. That she was successful, demonstrates her will. Shetells about how shebroke women's speed records after the fall of theWASP's, I felt she was using her money for a last swan song. In"Jackie Cochran" written with Maryanne Bucknum Brinley, thoughtsfrom Chuck Yeager are enlightening. Brinley's book uses much of what is in"The Stars at Noon", and adds thoughts from her friends and Ifelt it was a little better organized.

Good Autobiography
I thought it was fairly well written, Jackie was not known for beingreserved. She tells about her childhood and her life as a beautician. Howshe met her rich husband and how she started her own cometic company andwhy she began flying. She tells little of how she manipulated her way intostarting the WASP's. That she was successful, demonstrates her will. Shetells about how shebroke women's speed records after the fall of theWASP's, I felt she was using her money for a last swan song. In"Jackie Cochran" written with Maryanne Bucknum Brinley, thoughtsfrom Chuck Yeager are enlightening. Brinley's book uses much of what is in"The Stars at Noon", and adds thoughts from her friends and Ifelt it was a little better organized. ... Read more

Product Description
Barnstormer, World War II fighter, test pilot, aerobatic genius -- Bob Hoover is a living aviation legend, the man General James "Jimmy" Doolittle called "the greatest stick and rudder pilot who ever lived." Hoover's career spans the history of American aviation, and now he tells his amazing story with all the flat-out honesty and gusto that have made his life an extraordinary adventure.

At twenty-two, Hoover was a decorated World War II fighter pilot, already famous both for his aerobatic abilities -- including looping under a bridge in Tunisia -- and for surviving seventeen equipment-failure crash landings as a test pilot. Then the Germans knocked his Mark V Spitfire out of the sky. He made three attempts to escape en route to the infamous Stalag I prison camp, and after sixteen brutal months, finally escaped by stealing a German plane and flying it to Holland.

After the war, Hoover tested the first jets at Wright Field, dogfighting Chuck Yeager, the man who'd come to call him "Pard." In the quest to break the sound barrier in the Bell X-1, Hoover endured every step of the grueling G-force training along with Yeager. But soon after Yeager's historic flight, Hoover broke both his legs in a desperate bailout from a blazing F-84 Thunderjet -- dashing his dreams of flying the X-1 himself.

In Forever Flying, we relive the thrills and danger Hoover continued to face as a civilian test pilot: testing the first jets to take off and land aboard aircraft carriers; flying bombing runs over North Korea; and demonstrating new planes for fighter pilots, who had to be warned not to attempt to duplicate Hoover's spectacular spins, stalls, and rolls. He became an adviser to engineering on the X-15 rocket, and rose through the corporate ranks, famed for flying his daring aerobatics routines in a business suit and straw hat instead of a pilot's "G suit."

Bob Hoover has flown more than 300 types of aircraft, dazzled crowds at more than 2,000 air shows all over the world, and is still flying today. He's set both transcontinental and "time to climb" speed records, and known such great aviators as Orville Wright, Eddie Rickenbacker, Charles Lindbergh, Jacqueline Cochran, Neil Armstrong, and Yuri Gagarin, who saved Hoover from the KGB at an international aerobatics competition in Moscow during the height of the Cold War.

Spiced by reminiscences from fellow fliers, friends, and his wife, all of whom recount Hoover's devilish practical jokes as well as his death-defying flights, Forever Flying reveals the magnificent true story of a great American hero. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (27)

Remarkable pilot
I've been a big fan of Bob Hoover for years and think that he is a remarkable aviator. Unfortunately Mr. Hoovers aeronautical skills don't carry over to his writing. This book is a quick and enjoyable read but it suffers from poor editing. Hoover and his ghost writer repeat themselves through out the book and the writing has more choppiness and air turbulence than a J-3 Cub flying in the wake of a 747. In spite of these short comings I enjoyed Mr. Hoover's literary effort and am awed by his accomplishments.

Forever Flying
A great book and an amazing man and patriot.A must read for true pilots.

Forever Flying
A review of the flying career of well known Bob Hoover. His training, military service and test work for several companies. Gives an insight in the way early jet-fighters were developed. Excellent reading for (ex) military pilots.

forever flying
Bought that book for my husband and he couldn't stop reading it.
What a great book.

Forever Hoover
Can't really say for I have not read the book yet. But it seems super. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Science and Its Times, brought to you by Gale®, a part of Cengage Learning, a world leader in e-research and educational publishing for libraries, schools and businesses.The length of the article is 1647 words.The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase.You can view it with any web browser.The histories of science, technology, and mathematics merge with the study of humanities and social science in this interdisciplinary reference work. Essays on people, theories, discoveries, and concepts are combined with overviews, bibliographies of primary documents, and chronological elements to offer students a fascinating way to understand the impact of science on the course of human history and how science affects everyday life. Entries represent people and developments throughout the world, from about 2000 B.C. through the end of the twentieth century. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Airman, published by U.S. Air Force, Air Force News Agency on September 1, 2009. The length of the article is 1893 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Sonic science: Edwards flight test center tests aircraft for the warfighter.
Author: Matthew McGovern
Publication: Airman (Magazine/Journal)
Date: September 1, 2009
Publisher: U.S. Air Force, Air Force News Agency
Volume: 53Issue: 6Page: 44(4)

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Reads as a TV serial....
I found this book at a used book store for 50 cents and decided to give it a try. The book is about Chuck Yeager's exploits with the Bell X-1 and nothing more. The book is divided into three parts:Chuck's initial introduction to the X-1 and his feelings and thoughts about flying it; followed by how he got to that stage with a look at his exploits in Europe during WWII; concluding with his initial flights in the X-1 and the X-1A.

However, the author's writing style is a bit strange. For the first and third parts of the book, Lundgren writes the story as if YOU are Chuck Yeager. For example, he will write, "As you walk into the major's office, you realize...." Initially, I asked myself, is Lundgren trying to make me understand what Chuck feels? Yes, but his constant use of "you" throws one off at first until you realize that YOU are CHUCK!

Then, Lundgren switches to the past tense when he writes about Chuck's exploits in Europe. Lundgren switches to "he" when he writes about Yeager's flying adventures over occupied Europe. Then, Yeager is re-patriated back to the States and the story segues back into the future as Lundgren's picks up the story of getting ready to fly the X-1.

The book is easy to read and seems to play out like a weekly TV series. Lundgren's writing style takes getting used to, but all in all, it's an easy book to read and can be quickly read. ... Read more