The following is a list of books that happen to be in my personal library, and are related to aircraft design.  Many of these should be in an aircraft designer's collection.

Abbott, Ira H., and von Doenhoff, Albert E., “Theory of Wing Sections”, Dover Publications, 1958.

There’s not much theory here, but this book is the distillation of almost all information on wing sections in the US prior to the development of supercritical airfoils.

Abbott, Ira H., von Doenhoff, Albert E., and  Stivers, Louis S. “Summary of Airfoil Data”, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, NACA Report 824, 1945.

Much of the data in “Theory of Wing Sections” was originally published in this report.

Anderson, Fred, “Northrop, An Aeronautical History”, Northrop Corporation, 1976.

Valuable history of Northrop Aircraft.

Anderson, John D., "Fundamentals of Aerodynamics", Fourth Edition, McGraw-Hill, 2005.

Good undergraduate textbook.

Anon, “Jet Transport Performance Methods”, Boeing Flight Operations Engineering, Report D6-1420, 1989.

Although published for internal use at Boeing, it has been distributed widely and is not proprietary.

Anon, “Pilot’s Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge”, Federal Aviation Administration, AC-61-23B, 1980 (or later).

Fundamental book on light aircraft flight operations.

Anon, “Pilot’s Weight and Balance Handbook”, Federal Aviation Administration, AC 91-23A, 1977.

The title says it all. This is for private pilots.

Ashley, Holt, and Landahl, Marten, “Aerodynamics of Wings and Bodies”, Dover Publications, 1965.

Both Ashley and Landahl taught at MIT (before Holt Ashley moved to Stanford). A bit technical for the average reader, good for slender body theory.

Badrocke, Mike, and Gunston, Bill, “Lockheed Aircraft Cutaways”, Barnes & Noble, 2001.

Useful summary of cutaways of typical aircraft.  Helpful for students to learn about aircraft layouts.

Bilstein, Roger E., “Orders of Magnitude, A History of the NACA and NASA 1915-1990”, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA SP-4406, 1989

A good history of research related to aircraft design.

Boyne, Walter J., “Beyond the Horizons:  The Lockheed Story”, St. Martin’s Press, 1998.

Comprehensive history of Lockheed and sycophantic homage to Lockheed’s leadership. 

Cacutt, L. (Ed.), “Great Aircraft of the World”, Chartwell Books, 1992

A good book to browse on a rainy afternoon.  It has good pictures and cutaway drawings.

Campbell, James, and Chambers, Joseph, “Patterns in the Sky”, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA SP-514, 1994.

Fascinating book on flow visualization, providing useful insights as to how air flows around aircraft in flight.

Chambers, Joseph, “Partners in Freedom”, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA SP-2000-4519, 2000.

Contributions of the Langley Research Center to US military aircraft of the 1990s.

Corning, Gerald, “Supersonic and Subsonic, CTOL and VTOL, Airplane Design”,  4^th Edition, Gerald Corning (Publisher), 1976.

This has been used in some design courses, but it’s difficult to follow design procedures. Contains some useful data.

Covert, Eugene (Ed.), “Thrust and Drag: Its Prediction and Verification”,  Vol 98 Progress in Astronautics and Aeronautics, AIAA, 1988.

Somewhat specialized information for the propulsion engineer.

Crawford, Donald, “A Practical Guide to Airplane Performance and Design”, Crawford Aviation, 1981

This book is for the home-built aircraft designer, and contains basic information on design and performance of light aircraft.

Currey, Norman, “Aircraft Landing Gear Design: Principles and Practices”, AIAA Education Series, 1988.

Norm Currey worked at Lockheed in Marietta for many years, and this is the standard text for transport aircraft landing gear.

Dabney, Joseph E., “Herk, Hero of the Skies”, Larlin Corporation, 1986.

An unofficial history of the Lockheed C-130 Hercules.

Davis, D.P. “Handling the Big Jets”, Air Registration Board (UK), 1968.

The significant differences in flying qualities between jet transport aircraft and piston-engined aircraft.  Intended for the pilot transitioning into jets.  Later editions exist.

Dole, Charles E., “Flight Theory for Pilots”, Charles Dole (Publisher), 1987.

Simple flight theory used in certain USAF courses related to flight safety and accident investigation.

Ellison, A.P., and Stafford, E.M., "The Dynamics of the Civil Aviation Industry", Saxon House, 1974. 

This book is somewhat academic, and undoubtedly out of date. 

Goldstein, S. (Ed.), “Modern Developments in Fluid Dynamics”, Two Volumes, Dover Publications, 1965.

An account of theory and experiment relating to boundary layers, turbulent motion and wakes. Mostly of historical interest, but the laws of aerodynamics haven’t changed.

Green, W., Swanborough, G., and Mowinski, J., “Modern Commercial Aircraft”, Portland House, 1987.

This book is also a bit out of date, but has good data and cutaway drawings of commercial aircraft.  A more recent edition is probably available.

Gunston, Bill (Ed.), “The Encyclopedia of World Air Power”, Crescent Books, 1981.

No cutaways, but plenty of color three-views (which I assume to be dimensionally accurate!).  Useful for getting dimensions of existing aircraft.

Francillon, Rene F., “Lockheed Aircraft since 1913”, Putnam, 1987.

A definitive history of Lockheed aircraft.

Heinemann, Ed, and Rausa, Rosario, “Ed Heinemann, Combat Aircraft Designer”, Naval Institute Press, 1980.

The personal history of an air combat designer.

Hoerner, S.F., “Fluid-Dynamic Drag”, Hoerner Fluid Dynamics, 1965.

This book is on the bookshelf of every applied aerodynamicist and aircraft designer.

Hoerner, S.F, and Borst, H.V., “Fluid-Dynamic Lift” Hoerner Fluid Dynamics, 1985.

Like Hoerner’s classic book on drag, this is an essential book for applied aerodynamicists and designers.

Huenecke, Klaus, “Modern Combat Aircraft Design”, Naval Institute Press, 1987.

General information on combat aircraft.

Hurt, H.H., “Aerodynamics for Naval Aviators”, Office of Chief of Naval Operations, NAVWEPS 00-80T-80, Revised Jan 1965.

This book is still in print.  A lot of simple explanations and useful figures on aerodynamics, performance, S&C, and loads.

Hygate, Barrie, “British Experimental Jet Aircraft”, Argus Books, 1990.

Detailed scale drawings and development history of 41 prototypes.  If you are interested in the prolific output of experimental aircraft in the period 1941-1986, this is great reading.

Irving, Clive, “Wide Body.  The Triumph of the 747”, William Morrow and Company, 1993.

A non-technical account of Boeing 747 development.  A fascinating account of the personal aspects of building a large airplane.

Jenkinson, Lloyd R., Simpkin, Paul, and Rhodes, Darren, "Civil Jet Aircraft Design", AIAA, 1999.

Lots of good data on commercial aircraft design, except that it's in metric units, which limits the usefulness of the book to U.S. readers.

Johnson, Clarence L., and Smith, Maggie, “Kelly, More Than My Share of It All”, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985.

A personal history of Kelly Johnson and the Lockheed Skunk Works.  A bit thin on technical information.  Ben Rich’s book is better.

Jones, Robert T., and Cohen, Doris, “High Speed Wing Theory”, Princeton University Press, 1960.

Out of print and hard to get hold of, this still contains the best summary of supersonic airflow around wings and bodies.

Jones, R.T., “Modern Subsonic Aerodynamics”, Martin Hollman, 1988.

Brief summary of subsonic aerodynamics by one of the world’s leading experts.

Kolk, W. Richard, “Modern Flight Dynamics”, Prentice-Hall, 1961.

For the advanced specialist in flight dynamics.

Lan, Edward C-T, “Applied Airfoil and Wing Theory”, Cheng Chung Book Company, 1988.

This has rather more theory than application, and is of limited use to the average designer.

Lan, Edward C-T, and Roskam, Jan, “Airplane Aerodynamics and Performance”, Roskam Aviation and Engineering, 1981.

There’s an updated edition with significant additions.  This is another “must have” book for the performance engineer.

Lennon, Andy, “Canard, A Revolution in Flight”, Aviation Publishers, 1984.

Interesting photos and drawings of strange configurations.

Loftin, Laurence, “Quest for Performance: The Evolution of Modern Aircraft”,  National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA SP-468, 1985.

Not much technical data, but a useful history of aircraft evolution from a US perspective.

Loftin, Laurence, “Subsonic Aircraft: Evolution and the Matching of Size to Performance”, NASA LaRC, Report N80-29245, 1980.

Much of the empirical performance data in Roskam’s eight-volume design series were derived from this report.

Mansfield, Harold, “Vision, A Saga of the Sky”, Madison Publishing Associates, Second Edition, 1986.

History of Boeing Aircraft.

McCormick, Barnes W., “Aerodynamics, Aeronautics, and Flight Mechanics”, John Wiley, 1979.

Good undergraduate text book.

McCormick, Barnes W., "Aerodynamics of V/STOL Flight", Dover Publications, 1999.

One of the few textbooks on the theory of V/STOL flight.

Nicolai, Leland, “Fundamentals of Aircraft Design”, METS Inc, 1975.

Every aircraft designer, aerodynamicist or performance engineer should have a copy of this book.

Niu, Michael C.Y., “Airframe Structural Design”, Conmilit Press, 1988.

Mike Niu was a designer at Boeing in the 1960s, before moving to Lockheed in the 1970s and 80s.  He has distilled many years of experience into this book.  It’s the best reference for the structural designer.

Niu, Michael C.Y., “Composite Airframe Structures”, Conmilit Press, 1992.

A follow-on to Airframe Structural Design.

Peery, David, “Aircraft Structures”, McGraw-Hill, 1950.

Somewhat out of date, but still the bible for analysis of conventional aircraft structures.

Perkins, Courtland, and Hage, Robert, “Aircraft Performance, Stability and Control”, John Wiley & Sons, 1949.

No information on jet aircraft performance and S&C, but Perkins & Hage is also the bible for S&C engineers.

Raymer, Dan, "Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach", AIAA, 4th Ed., 2006.

Textbook for many undergraduate aircraft design courses.  It has a wealth of useful material, but could do with some more cross-referencing.

Raymer, Dan, “Simplified Aircraft Design for Homebuilders”, Design Dimension Press, 2003.

Includes design spreadsheet. Weight equations are claimed to be valid for small aircraft.

Rae, William H., and Pope, Alan, "Low-Speed Wind Tunnel Testing", Second Edition, John Wiley and Sons, 1984.

A later edition contains more information on computer-based data analysis methodology, but this edition contains the fundamentals of testing techniques.

Rich, Ben, and Janos, Leo, “Skunk Works”, Little, Brown and Company, 1994.

Personal memoir of Ben Rich’s time at the Lockheed Skunk Works.  Easy reading, but it contains useful information on aircraft design and development.

Richardson, Doug, “Stealth”, Orion Books, 1989.

Deception, evasion and concealment in the air.

Roskam, Jan, “Airplane Design” Parts I through VIII, Roskam Aviation and Engineering Corp, 1985.

Trove of information for the student aircraft designer, and for the veterans. 

Schaufele, Roger D., "The Elements of Aircraft Preliminary Design", Aries Publications, 2000.

Distillation of a lifetime's accumulated knowledge from the VP and General Manager of Commercial Advanced Products at Douglas Aircraft.  Lots of useful empirical data on commercial aircraft design.

Shaw, Robert L., “Fighter Combat, Tactics and Maneuvering”, United States Naval Institute, 1985.

Do you want to be a fighter pilot?  This is probably the closest you will get.

Shevell, Richard, “Fundamentals of Flight”, Prentice Hall, 1983.

Dick Shevell was head of Advanced Design at Douglas Aircraft before taking a teaching job at Stanford University.  The book is clearly written and it has a lot of useful information.

Stinton, Darrol, “The Anatomy of the Aeroplane”, BSP Professional Books, 1985.

A lot of useful figures and fundamental information on aircraft design and performance, with pictures of interesting European conceptual designs.

Stinton, Darrol, “The Design of the Aeroplane”, BSP Professional Books, 1983.

More useful information and unusual configurations.

Sutton, O.G. “The Science of Flight”, Pelican Books, 1955.

Undoubtedly out of print, but if you find it, it’s a gem of information on the history of flight.

Sweetman, Bill, “Stealth Aircraft, Secrets of Future Airpower”, Airlife Publishing, 1986.

This book is a bit old, so it contains the history of stealth, rather than the future.

Taylor, John W.R. (Ed.), “The Lore of Flight”, Crescent Books, 1976.

Old and undoubtedly out of print, but it contains some nuggets of aircraft design data, such as landing gear and ECS systems.

Taylor, Michael, “The World’s Strangest Aircraft”, Barnes and Noble, 1996.

Fascinating accounts of the limits of aircraft design.

Thomas, G., Norris, G., Forbes Smith, C., Creedy, S., Pepper, R., "Plane Simple Truth. Clearing the air on aviation's environmental impact", Aerospace Technical Publications International Pty Ltd, 2008.

A pro-industry perspective on the commercial aircraft industry's efforts to reduce its environmental impact.

Thwaites, Bryan (Ed.), “Incompressible Aerodynamics”, Dover Publications, 1987.

Interesting summary of the state of knowledge of incompressible aerodynamics. Some useful figures.

Torenbeek, Egbert, “Synthesis of Subsonic Airplane Design”, Delft University Press, 1982.

This is the best book on commercial aircraft design.  If you ever find the large format version, buy it because it’s much easier to read.

Von Karman, Theodore, “Aerodynamics”, McGraw-Hill, 1954.

Non-technical history of aerodynamics by one of the leaders in aerodynamic theory.

Von Mises, Richard, "Theory of Flight", Dover Publications, 1959.

Originally published in 1944, this book was intended for the intermediate student in aircraft dynamics.  The fundamentals of aircraft dynamics in a subsonic environment haven't changed.

Wallace, Lane, “Flights of Discovery”, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, NASA SP-4309, 1996.

50 years at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center.

Wells, Alexander, “Air Transportation, A Management Perspective”, Wadsworth Publishing Co., 1988.

A somewhat academic book on airline management.

Whitford, Ray, “Design for Air Combat”, Jane’s, 1987.

An essential book for designers of air combat aircraft.

Whitford, Ray, “Evolution of the Airliner”, Crowood Press, 2007.

Useful overview of technical advances in commercial aircraft design and operations.

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Last modified: 04/25/10