Warbird Information Exchange

Hi All,

I grew up reading Martin Caidin books (B-17 Flying Fortress, B-29 Superfortress, Samurai, Marooned, Moon of Mutiny, Ragwings and Heavy Iron...lots more; just can't remember them all), and I truly enjoyed his books and learned a lot about airplanes and warbirds from him. In my opinion, he made history interesting and exciting, and was just the ticket for a Midwestern suburban kid aspiring to fly and be around airplanes in the '50's and '60's like myself. On occasion (here on WIX), I've read less than flattering remarks about Mr. Caidin and his writings. Of course no one is perfect and those comments have not diminished my respect for Mr. Caidin, nor my my memories of the enjoyment I found in his books and magazine articles. But I do wonder how his work might look in retrospect, in light of today's focus on uber accuracy in all things historical.

So, how about a discussion about Mr. Martin Caidin and his writings? What is his legacy in the Warbird movement? How has his work held up over time? Anecdotes about him from those of you who have met him--pro or con--would also be appreciated.

So whaddya think about Martin Caidin?

Thanks...

--Tom

As a kid I read his book Thunderbirds, an excellent book on the team, circa 1960.

I aso read Everything but the Flak....I wasn't sure what was true...but I was very young and may have missed some of what he was trying to say.

Finally I read Cyborg...the book that became the Six Million Dollar Man, an okay novel, not great, not terrible.

Yes, he occasionally gets a bum rap here, but he did alot to promote the warbird movement.

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Remember the vets, the wonderful planes they flew and their sacrifices for a future many of them did not live to see.

I remember Whip and The Last Dogfight. Loved them both. At 39, yeah, some stuff was probably not accurate. At 11 though, it really didn't make a difference to me in the least.

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Sure, Charles Lindbergh flew the plane... but Tom Rutledge built the engine!

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I have only read 'Ragwings and Heavy Iron' and possess it as one of the greatest books in my meager collection....enhanced and embellished a bit? Probably...a great read? Definitely. I look at it like the TV series 'Black Sheep Squadron'....probably a lot of it was made up but it had its roots in a true story, and it grabbed our imagination and took off with it and as someone once said, 'It gave wings to the burgeoning Warbird movement at a time when it needed it', only in print form instead of on TV. As to the rest of his writings I cannot comment, but I sure as he11 enjoyed 'Ragwings'.

Mark

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Mark Morris

Read 'Riding the Dragon' about the fun filled life of a test pilot.

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Don't make me go get my flying monkeys-

Spot on, Django. Reading Caidin's books during the time when Chuck Taylor All Stars were the Air Jordans of the day, my mom would buy my jeans so long they had to be cuffed, and she always asked as I went out the door-when it was raining-if I had my rubbers, was a whole lot like building those Aurora or Lindberg kits: it was the emotional experience that counted, rather than the the emotion AND enjoyment of accuracy that comes from reading, say, Coonts, or building a modern kit.

Since those days when I found my library books using a card catalog, I've always been able to see in my mind's eye a B-29, engine on fire and surrounded by clouds and beams of light, in one of his picture books. The caption was something like, 'Surrounded by a cathedral like setting, a B-29 over Kobe breathed its last.' However the caption goes, it read like classic prose to an 11 year old.

Also, until the library stopped carrying it, I made a ritual of reading the first few pages of "Whip" every summer here in Phoenix. The heat outside set the stage perfectly for the 25's coming in to that hell hole of a field.

I love Mr Caidin's work! He also was one of the nicest guys EVER to a kid at airshows back in Florida where I grew up. I used to be found peeking at the weirdest things on his JU-52 and he'd always come over and ask me what I was looking at, and then talk about it.

Once, I asked what his next book was going to be about, and he said "Which one? I have six done waiting to publish right now..." He wasn't sure if I meant which next to publish or what he planned to write next. He found I had an interest in writing and encouraged it in me. He did say that books change in the way they are written, and many of his books were written quickly, "in the the spirit of the times" that they were written. I had the feeling he knew exactly how accurate they were, and also had a skill in getting things past editors more concerned with commas than details of the subject matter.


My FAVORITE memory of him was sneaking along under the right wing of Iron Annie and looking up to see a small access door on the bottom of the wing marked in block letters as "Nuclear Weapons Locker"....

He was a rather loud and larger than life man every time I meet him, but I loved that he shared his passion for flight with everyone he could.

I believe he is credited with writing around 110 books or so. Years ago I sold at least 40 of those titles, and now, through the magic of eBay I am working to recover them and more. Just got "Ragwings and Heavy Iron".

I wish I could find my photos of him at shows back in the 70's....

He writes good adventure stories. As long as the reader recognizes that they are mostly fictional stories set in historical times and places then they're fun reading.

James

Samurai was a great book! I remember my copy had neat cover art with Sabaru all shot up and his eye a mess. As a kid I thought it was cool....

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"Everyone wants to live here (New Jersey), evidenced by the fact that it has the highest population per capita in the U.S..."

This is probably the post that will inspire negative accounts of Mr. Caidin. The fact is that he basically stole the life story of Saburo Sakai and made more money with that book than probably any other he wrote. Mr. Sakai didn't see a dime even after suing. At least that is the story as I pieced it together over the years. I am sure there are others that have a more accurate accounting. I think Caidin could write very well when he really liked the subject and could mail it in when he didn't and still get published. I know his accounts helped to inspire my love of warbirds.

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"I can't understand it, I cut it twice and it's still too short!" Robert F. Dupre' 1923-2010 Go With God.

I read "Whip" in 6th Grade--there is not enough time in the day to allow me to read fiction books these days, since there are so many real histories to catch up on.

I was always a big fan of Martin Caiden's awesome B-17 history: FLYING FORTS, which I have read and re-read several times in the last 35 years.

Great stuff, especially the account of the Regensburg mission.

TonyM.

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"Welcome back Mr. Lasky."

My Dad had a copy of Air Force, which was a black and white hardback book reviewing the history of the Army Air Corps through its transition to the USAF, and up through some of the earlier jets. It was well illustrated and the narritive was pretty brief. I remember sitting in Dad's lap having him read the book to me as a small kid. I still have that book somewhere.

My next Caidin experience was "The Last Dogfight", which I read when I was in about 6th grade. After that, I read virtually everything he wrote, from Thunderbolt to Flying Forts, to the military fiction (e.g. The Last Fathom), to the science fiction (6 Million Dollar Man series, Exit Earth, Messiah Stone, and many others), and on to his more recent non-fiction such as Warbirds and Heavy Iron and Iron Annie.

Anyway, his writing was inspiring, entertaining, educational, and interesting, even though his non-fiction works were sometimes only loosely tied to facts. I enjoyed about 90% of his books, which is a pretty good record (IMO) for any author.

At the end of the day, about 40 of his books are in my great big 'ol pile of "do not discard" books, and I usually browse the book stacks at airshows looking for his books.

If I had to chose my favorites , they would be: The Last Fathom, Jericho 52, Wingborne, Messiah Stone, Ragwings and Heavy Iron, and Iron Annie. Bad ones? Exit Earth, his books in the Indiana Jones series, and his books about metaphysical stuff (aargh).

I've got a first edition of "Everything but the flak" and have read it about 100 times. I've lived a few of those stories, but not to that extent, in the military flying and warbird flying I've done. I wish I could have met him...

Yep, THUNDERBOLT is good and I have the large hardback AIR FORCE as described above. Lots of good photos. I have a lot of his non-fiction titles.

One Caiden book not mentioned so far:

ZERO!

He collaborated with Masatake Okumiya and Jiro Horikoshi on this book in 1956.

TonyM.

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"Welcome back Mr. Lasky."

Lets just say that as a historian, Mr. Caiden wrote some great fiction

The YB40-captured 38 saga being a classic example of this.

I did enjoy "Everything but the Flak" quite a bit.