North Star Over My Shoulder

Craig

Craig

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Craig
Just starting this one by Bob Buck. Flying all sorts of aircraft from the 1920’s, all the way up to being a 747 captain. Looks to be interesting.
 
Anything by Buck is a good read. For those who don't know, Buck flew everything from DC-2s to 747s and logged over 2,000 Atlantic crossings. In WWII he flew a B-17 chasing hurricanes so he could fly through them to gather research data. "North Star" is fascinating autobiography.

His most popular is "Weather Flying," now being updated by his son, also Bob, and an important read for pilots.

I think most of the rest of his books are out of print but there are copies around. In addition to Weather Flying, I have:
North Star Over My Shoulder
The Art of Flying
The Pilot's Burden
Flying Know-How

Anyone knowing of any other books by him please let me know. I will hunt them down!
 
Finished it up a week or two ago. Not a bad read, just wish there were more details on some of the various projects he was involved in. Will look for some of his other books this fall.
 
I just finished Howard Hughes and TWA, which tells the story about what was going on behind the scenes at TWA during the time Bob Buck was one of their senior captains (though Buck is not mentioned in this book). It was written by Robert Rummel, who was head of aircraft procurement for TWA in that time, as well as an accomplished airplane designer in his own right. He had about as much contact with HRH as anybody at the airline did. Fascinating story; how Rummel put up with Hughes' antics as long as he did is the biggest mystery to me.
 
Just finished this one. I'm continually amazed at the level of courage pilot's of the era around WWII had regarding trans-Atlantic flights. Weather forecasting was still very much a guessing game, and nav-aids were all but useless for most of the trips.
 
I still have this book and immediately thought of it when I saw this category in the forum. My favorite line out of the book is toward the end when he mentions the funny looks he would get from awake red-eye passengers as he made his way aft with sextant and charts to take a celestial fix from the aft-lav's bubble window. Absolutely legend and something you wouldn't be able to do today.

I read it back in 2003 or so. I'm sure Mr. Buck is long since flown west. I was unaware of additional works of his until this thread. I'll have to go take a look.
 
Ross: Bob passed in 2007. He was author or editor on at least 15 books, most dealing with weather for pilots.
 
Craig said:
Ross: Bob passed in 2007. He was author or editor on at least 15 books, most dealing with weather for pilots.
Click to expand...
I know of five books, listed upthread. I would not say most of them deal with weather, except Weather Flying of course. Can you post a list of the books you know of?
 
Thanks. I didn't know about Burning Up the Sky. Just ordered a new reproduction from India via Abe Books.
 
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