Learn About America's Jet Pilot Aircraft in New Book 'TRAINING THE RIGHT STUFF'

Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. has announced the release of Training the Right Stuff: The Aircraft that Produced America's Jet Pilots by Mark Frankel and Tommy H. Thomason.

Training the Right Stuff: The Aircraft the Produced America's Jet Pilots is a comprehensive study of the training aircraft used to transition the United States military into the jet age. At the end of World War II, high-performance jets with unfamiliar operating characteristics were replacing propeller-driven airplanes. As accident rates soared, the Air Force and Navy recognized the need to develop new trainers to introduce fledgling as well as experienced pilots to jet flight.

The first step occurred in 1948, when a two-seat jet trainer, the T-33, was developed with private funds. It was welcomed by the Air Force and subsequently the Navy, allowing both services to start building modern air arms. Over time other new trainers were developed to serve specific needs while innovations, such as high fidelity simulators, accelerated the process, reduced costs, and increased safety. The evolution continues today with the goal of producing high-quality newly winged aviators for assignment to operational squadrons.

Training the Right Stuff: The Aircraft that Produced America's Jet Pilots

Size: 8.5" x 11" | 536 color and b/w photos | 336 pp

ISBN13: 97807643850306 | Binding: hard cover | $69.99

What people are saying...

This excellent, highly-researched and very comprehensive book about US military flight trainers since 1945 deals with a subject that has not been well-covered. This book tells the interesting and sometimes complex story of how military flight training evolved since World War II and how the training aircraft were developed, selected, and used to produce our military aviators of today. It is a superb book, and I highly recommend it for all aviation enthusiasts. - CDR Doug Siegfried, Tailhook Association historian

As a Marine F4D Skyray fighter pilot who started on the prop driven T-34 and completed Naval flight training on the F-11 Tiger, I can attest that Mark Frankel and Tommy Thomason precisely capture the evolution in Training the Right Stuff. - Gary McClellan, FAA Wright Brothers Master Pilot recipient

Those of us who have been military aviators all went through flight training. It was the one common thread that began our careers. My first thought on seeing Frankel and Thomason's work was: "It's about time!" This is one book that is going on my shelf. - Walt Fink, naval aviator, United Air Lines captain

Mark Frankel and Tommy Thomason have scoured the aviation history universe to create a compendium second to none on the subject of training aircraft. Every pilot can thank these gentlemen for reminding them that it all had to start somewhere. - Craig Kodera, Air Force pilot, airline captain, aviation artist

About the Authors:

Mark Frankel is retired from the automotive industry. He studied aeronautical engineering at Cornell University and graduated from the Wharton School and Law School at the University of Pennsylvania. He served as a trial lawyer in the Navy JAG Corps during Vietnam. An avid aviation enthusiast since childhood, he soloed at the age of 17 and earned his private pilot license in 1970. He has written three books on aircraft of the Cold War-era. Tommy Thomason is retired from the aerospace industry where he served as an aeronautical engineer, flight test engineer, and executive. He graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a bachelor of science in aeronautical engineering and earned graduate degrees from the University of Southern California and Harvard. His pilot ratings include airline transport, certified flight instructor, and glider. He has accumulated over 3,000 hours of flight time and has written eight aviation books.

About the Publisher

Schiffer Publishing, Ltd. is a family-owned, independent publisher of high-quality books. Since 1974, Schiffer has published thousands of titles on the diverse subjects that fuel our readers' passions. From our traditional subjects of antiques and collectibles, arts and crafts, and military history, Schiffer has expanded its catalog to publish books on contemporary art and artists; architecture and design; food and entertaining; the metaphysical, paranormal and folklore; and pop and fringe culture, as well as books for children. Visit www.schifferbooks.com to explore our backlist of 5,500+ titles.

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