Reviews for Tony Blackman - Test Pilot: My Extraordinary Life In Flight

The average rating for Tony Blackman - Test Pilot: My Extraordinary Life In Flight based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2017-06-02 00:00:00 Zoe Harris A wonderful journey through the last great age of British aviation. Blackman takes us on an extraordinary journey from joining the R.A.F. and learning to fly to becoming Chief Test Pilot at AVRO aviation. So what?-well, AVRO made, among many other aircraft, the Vulcan bomber on which Blackman did a huge amount of test-flying to iron out problems and develop systems. The book isn't a page-turner, rather a thoughtful and considered glimpse into the world of the Test-Pilot. Although it reveals that they aren't-as I had assumed-all dare-devil adrenaline junkies, but steady, sober individualists who fly to prescribed programmes and spend for ever replicating tests on systems, my regard for this dying breed (Simulators and technology are reducing the reliance on Test-Pilots to some extent) is enhanced endlessly by the Author's work. Some of it sounds technical, because it has to be, but Blackman makes it easy to understand throughout. Lavishly illustrated is the phrase that springs to mind-there are photos throughout and the book has become an instant favourite with the schoolboy in me. A must for flight and history buffs. There's even a chapter on Howard Hughes, with whom the Author flew!.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-11-19 00:00:00 Philip Bay With its bits and pieces of information of which I was not aware of, this book was worth reading. (E.g. I haven't read much - if anything - about German torpedo bomber attacks on the invasion fleet, a subject to pursue?) One thing though; As my mother tongue is not English I found the 'flow of words' in the book a bit . . messy may be too strong a word. However, I sometimes found myself reading sentences and passages without getting the full meaning of them. And thus had to back and read them again. But then again, that's the challenge and the fun in reading in other languages . . . .