Aviation book reviews
May 2026: The U-2 Over the Soviet Union, Secrets of the Spitfire, Sky Daddy, Beaufighter vs Flak Ships, Junkers Ju 88C, S.E. 210 Caravelle, Lavotchkin La-5, Polish Military Aircraft 1918-1939
With so many fantastic books to review, I was spoilt for choice. Here are some recent and not-so-recent books worthy of your time. This article is free to read, so please do share it. If you’re not following our Substack blog yet, you are missing out; it’s here.
Books mentioned: The U-2 Over the Soviet Union, Secrets of the Spitfire, Sky Daddy, Beaufighter vs German Flak Ships, Junkers Ju 88C Day and Nightfighters, S.E. 210 Caravelle: A Legends of Flight Illustrated History, Lavotchkin La-5 Vol. I, Polish Military Aircraft 1918-1939, The Hush-Kit Book of Warplanes.
The U-2 Over the Soviet Union (Hardback)
America’s Famous Cold War Spy Plane from a Soviet Perspective
When I spoke to SR-71 pilot BC Thomas, he noted that you should never refer to reconnaissance pilots as spies, as this classification puts them in far greater danger and offers fewer protections under international law if they are captured. The most famous reconnaissance pilot to be captured was Gary Powers. While flying for the CIA, he was a civilian, meaning he could be treated as a spy regardless of the terminology. When his CIA U-2 was shot down over the USSR in 1960, the event proved useful to the Soviet government. spun as evidence of the USA’s villainy, at a useful point during international conferences. As this book shows, the shootdown and the rather unbelievable cover story were both points of pride and mirth for the Soviet people.
“Small arms and edged weapons, money, precious metals…it is unlikely that the pilot needed it, as the US state department is trying to claim, to explore the upper atmosphere.”
Soviets found the cover story ridiculous. Powers’ belongings, notably including a silenced pistol with 200 rounds and ladies’ rings and watches, made it abundantly clear he was a spy. The book is full of fascinating details on the Soviet perspective. It quotes Pravda (back when official propaganda channels were called Truth), which published a cartoon with the following poem:
Winged predator full of arrogance
Circled in the Soviet sky
I had to calm him down! We knocked him down
In the future, do not climb into someone else’s sky!
This is a thrilling book, showing that not all is as popularly imagined in the West of Soviet-US relations of the time. With certain early aspects of the Cuban crisis far more incendiary than the U-2 shootdown. Essential reading for Cold War readers.
Order your copy here.
Secrets of the Spitfire (Paperback)
The Story of Beverley Shenstone, The Man Who Perfected the Elliptical Wing
Forget the CF-105 Arrow; Canada’s greatest contribution to aviation was Beverley Shenstone’s design of the Spitfire’s elliptical wing. Lance Cole notes, “To Shenstone, the rate of turn advantage from a lower wing loading outweighed the quest for ultimate top speed, yet the ellipse provided both…” – the thin wing was handily decent for transonic flight and, along with the engine, a key contributor to the Spitfire’s success. Cole is bullish, verging on angry at two myths in particular: that the elliptical shape was copied or directly influenced by German designs (it is very different in concept, and Mitchell’s interest likely predates public awareness of the Heinkel) and that the wing form was chosen to cover the eight guns (it was already there when the concept had four guns, if I recall correctly). I like this anger, a welcome human touch in an engineering subject. Very enjoyable, insightful book.
Order here.
By Lance Cole
Imprint: Pen & Sword Aviation
Sky Daddy
I noticed other reviews noting the book’s weirdness, but it was not weird. If this book were an aircraft, it would not be something insane from Convair or Republic; it would be something altogether more balanced, something of sound design, its structure understated and smoothly functional. It may have a provocative paint scheme, but don’t let me mislead; reviews that have described it as weird or insane are not right (though perhaps it’s weird because of the combination of Linda’s unusual desires, combined with the unpretentiousness of its prose). Though Crash, with its similar auto distraught machine lust, might be a comparison to reach for, this delivers more enjoyable titillation than shock. The universe of the book is sensible, if Linda’s isn’t. Lust is a driver, but friendship and finding a family in the world are at the core of a story that has much heart despite the seeming antisocial nature of her needs. This friendship-and-family element gives it an American feel, and it is an American novel. And Linda is not a psychopath; she is torn by her compassion and is often considerate, but her initial lack of ego and self-esteem deprives her of getting what she wants. She is a three-dimensional and likeable character. The monomania, or pathological obsession with a class of object, is typically seen as male or autistic, and the social shame Linda feels associated with her fixation (albeit one with a self-destructive erotic core) is comical to a real-life aeroplane obsessive. The origin story of her fetish is consistent with my existing understanding of this topic (I listened to one Savage Love podcast on the subject, so I’m no expert) – a formative sexual experience during heavy turbulence.
Aviation enthusiasts’ curse of bringing an aggressive (very literal) pedantic eye to any art form they encounter, I tried to avoid inflicting on my reading. The “I know a thing” thrill of noticing someone else’s alleged factual error is nothing to be proud of. Having said that, two things stood out when Linda, an airliner fan, said she loved the sound of turbojets. Was this a sophisticated love of vintage planes, or an ignorance of the character (which seems unlikely) or an error of the author? Likewise, was an airliner fan happy to use the designation A220 without noting its old name? In this case, I would say Linda’s largely respectful reverie for airliners may mean she was happy to accept the current name. Her love of some aircraft types over others is very satisfying, and she finds the Learjet 35 too small and pointy. There are precious few convincing arguments against the idea that everything has consciousness. With this in mind, perhaps her love is less mad than religion or soulless materialism. As a very slow, easily distracted reader, I was delighted by the almost complete lack of characters popping up after a 100-page absence, and my having no idea who they were. This didn’t happen. It was generous with its clarity, and I read and enjoyed many chapters in each session, far faster than with my normal books.
Were the crashes that obsessed her real? I will need to Google that.
The seeming one-way nature of Linda’s love seems like madness, but is it completely different to those who are not truly ‘seen’ by their partners? I would argue it’s not, and she at least at times entertains a more mundane explanation. A fun, well-written pervy book with planes, perfect as a holiday read.
Order Sky Daddy here.
Beaufighter vs German Flak Ships
North Sea and Mediterranean 1941–45
Matthew Willis (Author) , Jim Laurier (Illustrator)
Author Matthew Willis seems to have a good style-radar for what is en vogue in aviation history. Last year, he tackled the Swordfish, which is certainly enjoying a well-deserved renaissance. This year, he takes on the Beaufighter, another wartime name enjoying a comeback (with the much-anticipated Edward Rippith book on the subject out this year). This book describes the Beaufighters’ messy relationship with German flak ships. A tough bruiser of a plane, in the cold, rough North Sea, facing the ships tasked with protecting the German convoys from aircraft attack. One can only imagine the terror of a being on a flak ship facing fast, low-level attacks by Beaufighters, or being in a Beaufighter screaming towards the ship guns.
Well-researched, generously illustrated with tons of fascinating, brilliant diagrams, photographs, and other visuals, this is a worthy book well worth a read. This is number 151 in the excellent Osprey Duel series, which describes the action, tactics, and technologies of military machines facing their nemeses. I’m not totally in love with the use of drop-shadow on a three-view artwork (it is a fantastic three-view too), or it being put on a coloured background, but I also appreciate that you can be left with a lot of white hard-to-fill space with a nicely sized aircraft three-view, but this is a trifling point in what is an excellent guide and an must-have in your Beaufighter (or flak ship) collection. Strongly recommend.
Junkers Ju 88C Day and Nightfighters
Chris Goss (Author) , Gareth Hector (Illustrator) , Janusz Swiatlon (Illustrator)
‘We were quickly brought to our senses by the sound of shouting from the nearby village. A mob of screaming women and children were rushing towards us. Terror gave us the power to run towards a river some kilometres away, but the Russians closed the gap. Guth fell behind and was beaten to death by the mob…living on bark, berries and frogs, we slowly made our way west, but the strain became so great that Wirth began to go out of his mind, and on the seventh day tried to shoot me. Just as I wrestled the Luger from Wirth’s demented grip, a man emerged from a nearby wood.’
You can’t turn a bomber into a fighter. Well, apart from the Bristol Beaufighter. Oh, and the Douglas A-20 Havoc. The Osprey book dives into yet another fascinating exception to this rule: the Ju 88C. Author Chris Goss shows how the Junkers Ju 88C evolved from a speedy, adaptable bomber into a tough Zerstörer and nightfighter. Its large fuselage accommodated radar, plenty of guns and ammunition, and its 300+ mph speed kept it competitive. The book’s stories and pilot accounts really bring this transformation to life, as seen in the hair-raising extract above.
The Junkers Ju 88C night fighter was heavily armed and radar-equipped, carrying forward-firing cannon and, in later versions, upward-firing Schräge Musik guns. Its closest British rival in 1943 was the night-fighter version of the de Havilland Mosquito, the NF Mk XIII. The Ju 88C-6 was the larger and heavier aircraft. The Mosquito NF, by contrast, was lighter and significantly faster in service. Both fielded similar engine power, but the Mosquito’s lighter weight turned that power into speed and climb, while the Ju 88C prioritised equipment and endurance. In combat, those differences shaped tactics: Mosquito crews relied on speed and surprise, while Ju 88C crews operated more methodically in radar-led night defence over Germany.
The book is thoroughly researched and highly readable, with superb artworks throughout. Seen from 2026, when radicalised populist nationalism is again on the rise in many countries, this book is a sobering reminder—not just of the hell such regimes inflict on their enemies, but of the pointless pain and death they also bring to their ‘own’ people.
S.E. 210 Caravelle: A Legends of Flight Illustrated History by Wolfgang Borgmann
Schiffer Military Books
Lavishly illustrated with gorgeous memorabilia, this is a lovely hagiography of that most elegant of airliners, the French Caravelle. It may feature the ‘looks right, flies right’ cliche in the second paragraph, but we can forgive that, as this is a handsome book researched and made with great care. Marvel at gaudily colourful menu cards offering rich French fare, including Mignottes Caravelles and Brioche à la jet (I made neither up), sigh at period photos of this beautiful jet, and fall in love with Finnair art. The mind boggles at the work they must have done to source the images and then clear the photo rights. Clearly a labour of love, author Wolfgang Borgmann and designer Christopher Bower have done a superb job and reading this was a welcome break from my normal military reading. Here is a cool enough jet to even entice fighter fans. Sublime. Other aircraft covered in this excellent series include the P-39 and Black Widow.
Order here.
Lavotchkin La-5 Vol. I: Volume 1 (Monographs)
by Dariusz Paduch (Author)
We have been writing a series of articles presenting the case for aircraft X or Y being the greatest fighter of the Second World War. Of course, there is no real definitive answer, but each case presents different reasoning, a chance to explore a different angle. We have covered the Hellcat, Bf 109, Whirlwind, P-47, Corsair and Spitfire, among others. Each time I’ve done one, it’s been an opportunity to spend time immersing myself in the story of a particular aircraft and to pressure-test what I think I know and the common myths. Recently, I made the case for the La-5FN and quickly fell in love with this aircraft. As with most Soviet aircraft, research is a bloody nightmare of contradicting reports, information vacuums and terrible photos that look like they’ve been photocopied under the tracks of a T-34. I wish I had had this book during my research. Paduch has done a brilliant job of making sense of the story of this insanely agile fighter, the king of low-level air combat. Of course, many photos are grubby and grainy; this is par for the course with Soviet war stuff, but many of these grainy photos are gold dust, rare glimpses into the development, production and deployment of these amazing machines. Perhaps it’s apt that they are not monkeyed around with and coloured, and instead retain their flavour. A welcome splash of colour comes with the ten large, high-quality colour artwork profiles and many excellent line drawings. With technical depth and an intriguing development story in truly desperate times, this is a welcome book on an important aircraft that is often overlooked outside Russia.
Polish Military Aircraft 1918-1939
From Regaining Independence to Hitler’s Blitzkrieg
That Poland achieved anything in the 20th century, let alone designing brilliant, innovative aircraft, is remarkable given the tough times it had. As we noted in our article on the top 10 Polish aircraft, “The Independent nation of Poland is younger than the aeroplane itself, and spent its formative years in bloody wars with Ukraine and the Soviet Union, before invasion by Germany..” P.24s were exported to Bulgaria, Greece, Romania and Turkey, and the airliner production was put ahead of the PZL.50 Jastrzab
The dearth of English-language books on Polish subjects makes this all the more appealing. The book notes that in the early 1930s, Polish fighters were among the best in the world, but despite excellent designers, some unfortunate decisions were made.
An aside comes to mind: after the heroic help of Polish airmen in the Battle of Britain, the Western abandonment of Polish independence in exchange for a chance of post-war stability was a heartbreaking outcome for many. Today, despite a healthy Polish population in the UK, there is a strange absence of Polish characters on British TV. All I can think of is Zosia March (Holby City) and the two cafe workers from a Harry Enfield sketch.
The PZL.38 II twin-engined heavy fighter-bomber.
Order your copy here.
Rowland White reviews The Hush-Kit Book of Warplanes
I absolutely love this book. Seriously well-informed, seriously funny, authoritative and full of passion for its subject. The care lavished on aeroplanes that never even existed beyond the drawing board is worth the price of admission alone. Joe Coles always finds a fresh angle on a familiar subject, but he’s even better at bringing to life an unfamiliar one. Or just letting imagination run riot with unlikely flights of fancy that still somehow manage to ring true. Every word and every picture in The Hush-Kit Book of Warplanes has been chosen with a knowledge, enthusiasm and attention to detail that’s irresistible. No one writes about aviation like Joe Coles. We’re lucky to have him. The Hush-Kit Book of Warplanes is my aviation book of the year.
Order your copy here (if you wish it to be signed, please specify the name you wish it signed to in your order)
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