17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Snakes in the Cockpit, 2 Feb 2003
By Dennis J. Tyra - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Snakes in the Cockpit: Images of Military Aviation Disasters (Paperback)
I was somewhat disappointed by the book. Having been around airplanes a good part of my life, I've seen countless photos of crashes and mishaps. Many of the photographs selected were rather mundane and some of the captions questionable. As an example, a B-52 sequence is described as being the aftermath of a "crash." A close look at the photo shows ground equipment still hooked up to the "Buff" and it parked next to a hanger. Obviously this was some sort of a ground/maintenance mishap. Another shot shows an F4F Wildcat-not F6F Hellcat--against a carrier's island. I can never understand why books are published with detracting errors like this in them.
I would have liked more descriptive text attached to the photos. What happened to the crew? What were the circumstances of the crash/mishap? Was the accident due to mechanical failure or human error?
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good, but buy used., 14 May 2006
By S. C. SCHUYLER - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Snakes in the Cockpit: Images of Military Aviation Disasters (Paperback)
I need to state up front that I'm an airplane fanatic. If they put a picture of an airplane on rat poison I'd buy it. Ok, so I've thought about buying this book for a while, and have. Here's what I think: the book is solid, good, and well printed. The content, though, is a little "fluffy." What the author has done is blown up old grainy pictures, and included brief descriptions of what he supposes happened (which as other reviewers have mentioned is sometimes just DEAD WRONG!). IMHO, Googling airplane military crash would get you about the same results. I'm a little disappointed with the deliberate sepia toning that's been done here too.
On the plus side, the book is well bound, printing is crisp (despite lousy image quality in some cases) & the sheer variety of subject matter is mildly impressive.
Summing up, this is an odd book, worth a quick look at the library, but not essential to the military aviation buff.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Agonizing Photos, 4 Jan 2006
By Michael Makar - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: Snakes in the Cockpit: Images of Military Aviation Disasters (Paperback)
I bought this book at the Warner Robins Air Museum in Georgia. What grabbed me is the agonizing photo of a Loring AFB Maine B-52 burning. Having been stationed there and very fond of the B-52 it was like looking at a old friend pass away. Lots of good photos and I agree with the reviewer about the lack of text. Should have had more information on the incidents. Overall I would buy this book again just for the pictures.