Writer Seeking Help

[VincentAA]

Hi! I'm a writer (science fiction) and I'm working on a story that involves aviation. My knowledge of aviation is very limited. But I've always had an interest in it, mostly WWI era. But I had an idea for a story based around pilots of light craft. The story takes place after a war (centuries after) - a weapon of mass destruction was used to end the war which caused massive disruptions in the atmosphere and weather patterns. The world the story takes place in is now harried by fierce, wild wind currents. One group of survivors has built a society inside a long/deep canyon. Among them are "cults" of pilots who escape their drab existence by learning to ride the winds. They make light aircraft from salvaged materials and challenge each other and themselves in the air, an almost Zen/Bushido discipline, spiritual and at the same time competitive.

I'm doing a lot of research into atmospheric phenomena, weather etc. but I also need to get up to speed on aviation. I'd love to have some help from pilots and aviation buffs who can point me in the right direction for information and also let me know if there are any insurmountable technical mistakes in the basic premise. I usually start from research but this idea came from an image: I was driving on a country road almost at sunset and I saw a white aircraft zip across the sky, and it just conjured up this whole story.

I'm new here so don't hesitate to school me on how you prefer to do things in this Forum

Are there any books you would recommend?
I'd also love to read as many memoirs by pilots as possible, if anyone can recommend some. I remember loving Wind, Sand & Stars by St. Exupery. Are there any memoirs by WW2 Japanese pilots?

Thanks!

[L.E.D.]

Re: Writer Seeking Help

Sounds to me like you should read up on soaring, and especially hang gliding. There are dozens of books on that subject.

There's a very good book about Saburo Sakai, the highest scoring surviving WWII Japanase ace, written by Martin Caidin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai!

[VincentAA]

Re: Writer Seeking Help

Hi! I'm a writer (science fiction) and I'm working on a story that involves aviation. My knowledge of aviation is very limited. But I've always had an interest in it, mostly WWI era. But I had an idea for a story based around pilots of light craft. The story takes place after a war (centuries after) - a weapon of mass destruction was used to end the war which caused massive disruptions in the atmosphere and weather patterns. The world the story takes place in is now harried by fierce, wild wind currents. One group of survivors has built a society inside a long/deep canyon. Among them are "cults" of pilots who escape their drab existence by learning to ride the winds. They make light aircraft from salvaged materials and challenge each other and themselves in the air, an almost Zen/Bushido discipline, spiritual and at the same time competitive.

I'm doing a lot of research into atmospheric phenomena, weather etc. but I also need to get up to speed on aviation. I'd love to have some help from pilots and aviation buffs who can point me in the right direction for information and also let me know if there are any insurmountable technical mistakes in the basic premise. I usually start from research but this idea came from an image: I was driving on a country road almost at sunset and I saw a white aircraft zip across the sky, and it just conjured up this whole story.

I'm new here so don't hesitate to school me on how you prefer to do things in this Forum

Are there any books you would recommend?
I'd also love to read as many memoirs by pilots as possible, if anyone can recommend some. I remember loving Wind, Sand & Stars by St. Exupery. Are there any memoirs by WW2 Japanese pilots?

Thanks!

Thank you, that's dead-on! If you think of anything else at all please share