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Andy Wright

@aircrewbookreview.bsky.social
325 followers 89 following 42 posts

Reviewer/advocate of WW2 RAF, FAA & Commonwealth aircrew books/authors. Tsundoku sensei. Husband/father/writer/journo/editor/freelancer/typewriter collector. aircrewbookreview.blogspot.com/?m=1 flightlinebookreview.home.blog

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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 21/05/2025
Hobby meets work! I recently edited a book on the Guadalcanal campaign and handwrote a list of names featured to keep track of them (spelling, ranks, commands, etc.) to ensure consistency within and between chapters. That ended up being three A4 sides and at least 200 names (American and Japanese).
Desk shot of the book I'm currently editing on screen and the names list in the typewriter.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 20/05/2025
A good few days for Halibags. A series of anecdotes from squadron mates collected and arranged into roles (pilots, etc). There's sketches scattered throughout, along with newspaper clippings, poetry, memorials and the like. A nicely done anthology of a unit that doesn't get a lot of coverage.
Cover image of 'Seventyfive Percent Luck' by Fred J Papple.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 19/05/2025
I really should put the recently arrived pile away (there are some older interlopers discovered during a recent 'tidy up' of other piles). I'd say this is getting out of hand, but that horse bolted quite a while ago, so I'll continue to revel in it!
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 15/04/2025
This followed me home yesterday. Haven't had time to have a play, but it certainly takes up less room than the Olivetti and Halda standard machines I acquired last week! Never seen a red one before. Already have the more-common grey Good Companion 4, though.
Red Imperial Good Companion 4 typewriter.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 29/03/2025
Finally got 'Fire and Fortitude' to complete my John McManus trilogy of the U.S. Army in the Pacific. Now I have no excuse to not read them ...
A photo of the John McManus Army in the Pacific trilogy, with his previous title 'Deadly Sky' sneaking into the image.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 17/03/2025
Affordable paperbacks, particularly with the penguin on it apparently, appear to be one of several Achilles' heels for me. I've been indulging in 'other fascinations' recently and rediscovering my love of reading. An odd thing to say, but it's my day job and sometimes you can't look at another word!
A pile of books, many of which I've bought lately. The subjects include fiction, Japanese culture, aircrew books (of course), self-discovery, bookselling and Antarctic expeditions.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 19/01/2025
Day 11 of 365 items to celebrate 250 years of the U.S. Navy.* On 17 January 1977, more than 100 sailors and marines boarded a liberty boat to return to USS Guam (LPH-9) following leave in Barcelona. They collided with a merchant ship in the harbour, throwing passengers and crew into the water. 1/2
A photo of USS Guam signed by the captain at the time.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Day 10 of posting 365 items from my collection to celebrate 250 years of the US Navy. Every now and then a response would include surprise items; the parcel from the (then) soon-to-be-decommissioned ... 1/2
Ship's crest patch of USS Comte de Grasse (DD-974).
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 10/01/2025
Day 9 of celebrating 250 years of the U.S. Navy. While my letters had a 50% response rate, about 1/3 of those included signed 10x8s. This image of the Whidbey Island-class USS Germantown (LSD-42) was the first 10x8 I received. The scanner is still in its box, so apologies again for image quality.
A 10x8 image of USS Germantown signed by its command master chief at the time.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 08/01/2025
Days 6, 7 and 8 of posting 365 things to celebrate 250s of the US Navy. You probably didn't notice, but I missed the two previous days due to a late finish at work (and not being bothered) and forgetting last night before I passed out. Anyway, here's three items from USS Sand Lance (SSN-660). 1/2
Two Welcome Aboard pamphlets (one in Spanish) and a circular sticker from USS Sand Lance.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 05/01/2025
Day 5 of my U.S. Navy 250th anniversary effort. Another souvenir to collect is the ubiquitous sticker, and this 1 has a cool story (to me, anyway). USS Asheville, an improved Los Angeles-class nuclear-powered attack submarine, visited Garden Island, the RAN base south of Perth in mid-1994.
A rectangular sticker depicting an artwork of USS Asheville breaching the service above its motto 'From the mountains, to the seas ...'
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 04/01/2025
Day 4 of my U.S. Navy 250th anniversary posting. Of course, when touring a visiting naval vessel, the ultimate item to acquire, for me anyway, was a ball cap. Happily, most ships usually had a table of memorabilia in the hangar or out on the flight deck. ...
USS Valley Forge (CG-50) ball cap.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 03/01/2025
Day 3 of my U.S. Navy 250th anniversary posts. Often sent to me was a list of items available from the ship's store. I managed a rare purchase on occasion, usually from a ship soon to decommission or, in the case of nuclear-powered vessels, be inactivated.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 02/01/2025
Day 2 of commemorating the U.S. Navy's 250th year. At the height of my collecting, I wrote to active ships, hoping to trade postcards from Perth/Fremantle, a popular USN port visit, for a 'Welcome Aboard' brochure and/or a 10x8. I think I had a 50% hit rate. This was the 2nd response I received.
A photo of USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) signed by several crewmembers.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 01/01/2025
Crikey, day one of my U.S. Navy 250th anniversary thing and I almost forgot to post (somewhat regetting my decision making, but here we are). This is a tile inside a wooden plaque showcasing the ship's crest of USS Peleliu (LHA-5), the last of the five Tarawa-class amphibious assault ships ...
A tile inside a wooden plaque. The tile features the crest of USS Peleliu.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 30/12/2024
With the U.S. Navy's 250th anniversary year being 2025, I thought I might share a daily post featuring items from my collection. Whether I have 365 things I can share remains to be seen. It will also be subjects from the 20th century and early 21st as that's what I collected. Fingers crossed.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 22/12/2024
How is the Christmas book pile shaping up, folks, or is there still some mystery to it? Image for some colour (and a decent one to add to your list; the calibre of the contributing authors is off the hook).
Cover of 'In The Fight: Australians and the War in Burma 1942-1945'.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 13/12/2024
Completely agree with Matt's assessment of this book being the aviation title of the year. Can't wait to get stuck into the second volume.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 03/12/2024
Until 18 December, use the code 'aircrewbooks' to get 25% off at @grubstreetuk.bsky.social, the publisher that continues to produce some of the finest aviation memoirs and anthologies on the market. grubstreet.co.uk/product-cate...
grubstreet.co.uk
Aviation | Product categories | Grub Street Publishing
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 11/11/2024
Red-letter day last week with 4 review titles arriving for the TBR wing of the house. Australians in Burma, women in Australia's air force, an anthology of B-29 crews (and saving their stories), and Vol 2 of a rabbit hole I really need to avoid, but can't - Helion's US Air Power 45-90 tech series.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 10/11/2024
This releases next week and is launched at the Queensland Air Museum at the end of the month. I commend it to you; it is the biography Don Bennett has always deserved. Volume 2 won't be released until 2026 at the earliest but, if you're in the UK, the author will be doing a speaking tour in May.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 09/11/2024
Had a ball doing this. Probably should have had more notes for more of the books we covered, but that would have meant less silly faces and an easier editing job for Matt. Can't have that! Very much looking forward to the next one in a month or so, but need to get reading.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 09/11/2024
Had an RAAF splurge and it would appear I am in my blue period. L-R, 30 Squadron novel written by a son using his dad's records, etc.; the only 459 Sqdn memoir I can think of at present, he ended up in Stalag Luft III; and a less-than-60 page account of a 30 Sqdn wireless/air gunner.
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 06/08/2024
Avonmore has released 'Admiral VAT Smith'. Glorious. Some of the greats of the FAA feature – 'they have their exits and their entrances'; VAT 'in his time plays many parts'. Aircrew book of 2024. Australia: avonmorebooks.com.au?page=3&id=196 Northern Hemisphere: pen-and-sword.co.uk/Admiral-VAT-...
avonmorebooks.com.au
Admiral VAT Smith - The extraordinary life of the father of Australia’s Fleet Air Arm
Graeme Lunn, hardback with dustjacket, full colour, fully illustrated, 250 x 176mm, 248 pages, Avonmore Books, 2024. ISBN 9780645700480 RRP $49.95 NOW AVAILABLE
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Andy Wright @aircrewbookreview.bsky.social · 13/01/2024
Photos taken before boxing! This is an investigation into the loss of the Liberator carrying Gen. Sikorski. Besides being a typical Grub Street HB, it peels away the layers to look at components and assemblies to consider theories and failures. Seriously impressive during a thumb through.
Cover of Sabotage!, by Chris Wroblewski and Garth Barnard, showing the wreck of the Liberator.Two page spread of component diagrams used to illustrate the narrative.Diagrams, maps and photos of the Liberator and Gibraltar.
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