Customer Reviews

Wings of the Weird and Wonderful

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After purchasing the new edition of "Wings of the Luftwaffe" by Eric Brown, I had to buy this book. What a great selection of aircraft - P-61 Blackwidow, Panther, Sabre, Seafires, Wildcats, Tigercats, Sea Furies plus many many others. The good, bad and ugly are covered with Eric Brown's familiar style of honest analysis of each types handling and performance. This book is so well written and easy to read I had to force myself to slow down and not finish it in one big sitting and then also not to jump to my favourite planes but to savour it. The only disappointment with this book for me was that I found one of my favourite aircraft the Westland Wyvern wasn't as good as it looked. Well I will take the word of a man who holds the world record for aircraft types flown (over 450 types not sub types) - refer to the list in the book it is amazing. Finally, the chapter on the Sikorsky R4 helicopter is a fantastic read from a bygone era (as is the one photo that will give any health and safety officer a heart attack)

Eric Brown's "Wings of the Weird & Wonderful", like his book on Luftwaffe aircraft, is a neat collection of his reports on flying 53 more of the nearly 500 types he flew during his long and illustrious career. As the name suggests, these include both one-offs and full production aircraft; as he was employed by the Royal Navy, there is a preponderance of naval aircraft, primarily British and American, but land-based types are included as well. As with the companion book, the new Hikoki edition has added content and graphics compared with the previous editions of this classic work.

Enthusiastically recommend this book for anyone with an interest in aviation history. Eric "Winkle" Brown was the best of the best and as a British test pilot in Second World War, he flew very nearly every plane there was. This book is a real treat and is worth every penny..

A must have for those interested in historical flight research or anyone who asked 'I wonder what it was like to fly this?'. It has a broad range of aircraft, some familiar and some 'weird and wonderful'. I found some of the reviews too brief and I was left wanting more detail, but the bottom line is you will not easily find this info anywhere else. Great book.

There have been other "And Then I Flew" books written by test pilots but Eric Brown is in a class by himself. During 30+ years of cloud chasing, he flew 490 different types of aircraft. In this appealing 2010 Hiko Publications release, he looks back at 53 of the most fascinating aircraft he's strapped on and offers up his thoughts on those WINGS OF THE WEIRD & WONDERFUL.

Brown examines the 50-odd aircraft alphabetically. The first a/c covered is the Avro Lancaster; the last, the Winter Zaukonig trainer. In-between those two, Brown discourses on the Avro Tudor, Bell P-39, Brewster Buffalo, Douglas Boston, Gloster Gauntlet, Grumman Wildcat, Hawker Sea Fury, Mitsubishi Zero-Sen, F-86, Reid & Sigrist Desford, Short Sturgeon, Sikorsky R-4B, Vickers Windsor and Westland Welkin. If some of those don't ring a bell, it's because they were duds and never made it into production. (Note: No GAF aircraft are included in WINGS OF THE WEIRD & WONDERFUL. You'll need to buy Brown's WINGS OF THE LUFTWAFFE for those). Chapters range in length from two to 21 pages.

Brown's book is as entertaining as it is informative. Reading his opinions of the various aircraft is fascinating...and, often-times, humorous as when he terms the Fairey Spearfish "a real old cow." Along the way, readers discover Brown's favorite aircraft (the De Haviland Sea Hornet - "Overpowered Perfection") and the rejects (the General Aircraft GAL/56 - "They Don't Come Much Worse Than This).

The book features numerous b&w and color photographs, side profiles and pilot handbook illustrations.

In short, WINGS OF THE WEIRD & WONDERFUL is a wonderful, guided tour to some of the most interesting aircraft of the past 50 years from an authority in the field. Highly recommended.