When I turned 15 and started taking flying lessons, my dad gave me a copy of one of the true bibles of piloting technique: “Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators.” First published in 1960, it remains the definitive text on applied aerodynamics for pilots — and at 15, I could barely understand a word of it. It introduced me to concepts such as L/D max, laminar flow, Reynolds number and so on – and it may as well have been written in Latin. I read it, but I didn’t understand it.
When I reread the book years later, I realized it wasn’t nearly as incomprehensible as I thought as a teenager with a scant few hours in a J-3 Cub in my logbook. It even contains some humor (which I totally missed on my first read-through), such as when the author discusses the concept of airspeed and angle of attack as they relate to glider pilots and “flameout enthusiasts.” I’m not sure how long such an enthusiast would last in Naval flight school, but I’m guessing it wouldn’t be more than a few days.
