Specialty Press | Corky Meyer's Flight Journal: A Test Pilot's Tales of Dodging Disasters-Just in Time

Reviewed by Floyd S. Werner, Jr.

Specialty Press
Corky Meyer's Flight Journal
A Test Pilot's Tales of Dodging Disasters - Just in Time
ISBN # 1-58007-093-0
Price $27.95
254 pages
color and b&w photographs

Every so often you come across something that turns out to be much better than you expected. Such is the case with this new book from Specialty Press. I must admit that I have tended to turn a blind eye towards any books not specifically related to the combat history of military aircraft. This book is the second instance in which that attitude has proven to be short-sighted. The first was the excellent text by Vought test pilot Boone Guyton called Whistling Death covering the testing and development of the F4U Corsair. This new volume was written by one of Grumman's chief test pilots, Corky Meyer, and covers the development and testing of every major Grumman military aircraft design from the F4F Wildcat up through the F-11 Tiger. In addition, the author offers critiques of other non-Grumman designs including the Corsair, P-47 Thunderbolt, P-38 Lightning, and P-51 Mustang. The author even compares and contrasts the performance of these classics with the major fighters used by the axis based on his test flights in all of them and offers his picks of the best fighters of the European and Pacific theaters. Oddly enough - and I don't think this should be a surprise- Mr. Meyer selected the Grumman Hellcat at the best fighter in the Pacific. I suppose he should be permitted a bit of author's bias in this regard.

The volume is lavishly illustrated with numerous color and black and white photographs. Many of these are ones I had not seen before, though quite a few are of restored warbirds. Not a major problem for me but worth noting for reference purposes. To be honest, I never thought the flight testing of these aircraft would be as interesting as it turned out to be. I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the trials and errors involved in developing the famous Grumman line of Navy aircraft. It was also illuminating to learn about the very few missteps along the way such as the XF-10 Jaguar. It is still a neat looking plane though.

In addition to some great aviation writing, the author provides a bit of background on his personal life including meeting his wife, (you guessed it) Dorky. (Reviewer's note: I sure wouldn't have wanted to be one of this guy's kids in high school!). Names aside, these personal glimpses add a nice touch of human interest to the technical aspects of flight testing. It's interesting to me how a lot of these famous pilots had such strong marriages a la Chuck and Glennis Yeager. I suppose it took a strong relationship to withstand all the years of danger involved in testing experimental aircraft.

All told, this is a fine volume and a nice companion to the straight ahead history books that fill most modeler's shelves. I would highly recommend it to anyone with more than a passing interest in naval aviation.

Highly recommended.

© Floyd S. Werner, Jr. 2006

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This review was published on Saturday, July 02 2011; Last modified on Wednesday, May 18 2016