Cessna Warbirds: A Detailed and Personal History of Cessna's Involvement in the Armed Forces - Softcover

Shiel, Walt

9781879825253: Cessna Warbirds: A Detailed and Personal History of Cessna's Involvement in the Armed Forces

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1879825252 ISBN 13: 9781879825253

Publisher: Slipdown Mountain Publications LLC, 1995

NOTE: The updated Second Edition is being released as a series of books in full color. The first two in the series are:

T-41 MESCALERO: THE MILITARY CESSNA 172 (ASIN 0974655333), released in 2007.
CESSNA WARBIRDS: THE WAR YEARS (1941-45): THE T-50 BOBCAT AND THE CESSNAS IMPRESSED INTO MILITARY SERVICE (ASIN 1934631310), released May 2015.

This landmark book by former Air Force pilot and internationally-known aviation author Walt Shiel, provides the complete and rarely-told story of the 12,000+ Cessna aircraft that have served in the US military and in armed forces around the world. Cessna Warbirds blends hard technical information about each aircraft with personal anecdotes by the pilots who flew them. Over 400 photos, many in color, illustrate the aircraft and their operational use. Read about amazing feats accomplished by ordinary men with extraordinary courage when these aircraft were flown in hot conflicts around the world. This book is perfect for anyone who has flown military aircraft, is interested in military aviation, owns of flies Cessna aircraft, or experiences a military Walter Mitty episode whenever they take to the skies.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From the Publisher:

Dave Menard of the National Museum of the US Air Force, noted that "[This] book on military Cessnas is going on the reference shelf for sure!"

General Aviation News & Flyer (September 27, 1996) called Cessna Warbirds "a comprehensive, fact-filled and readable account."

Oklahoma Aviator (February 1996) declared, "No warbird enthusiast’s library is complete without this awesome history of Cessna warbirds."

Kirsten Tedesco, Deputy Director/Curator of Collections, Pima Air & Space Museum, said, "Cessna Warbirds fills a void in aviation literature. Walt Shiel’s attention to detail and foreign usage as well as domestic, is much appreciated by researchers and historians."

Gerald Knox Bishop, Curator, Frontiers of Flight Museum, said, "[The] depth of material is truly outstanding, covering a great many 'nooks & crannies' not often seen by professional historians, let alone the general public."

From the Author:

Almost half of my 4000 military flying hours were flown in Cessnas -- as an instructor in the T-37 and T-41 and as a forward air controller in the O-2. Many of the stories in Cessna Warbirds are my personal recollections. I also interviewed over a dozen other military pilots as well as some of the people who developed and tested the aircraft. Each chapter includes some of their stories and many include photos from their personal collections, published here for the first time. My own experiences coupled with in-depth research for the book have led me to a deep respect for a company that dominated the civilian lightplane market while producing over 12,000 aircraft in a dozen different models for the US and foreign armed forces.

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