Book reviews The Secret Horsepower Race by Calum E Douglas (published by Tempest, 35) Years of archive detective work are distilled into this treatise on the evolution of World War II fighter engines of the Western Front. Engineer Calum E Douglas sets up its roots in the Schneider Trophy, international one-upmanship setting the blueprint for the more veiled, destructive race that would follow. Its no dry textbook, reading like a supercharged codebreakers war. Diagrams and translated memos reveal the secretive battle of slide rules that unleashed the monster engines that might turn the tide. The engineers of both sides indirectly fought each other via a struggle against physics, chemistry and maths. One such circular battle was that increased power output required increased cooling, the drag and weight of bigger radiators offsetting any speed increase. Vital insights came from forensic analysis of captured assets: fuel scrutinised and crashed engines picked apart. To boost their superchargers, the Germans were early adopters of bottled nitrous oxide, and they interrogated pilots referring to it as ha-ha. The British did not grasp the laughing gas reference for years, persisting with the more impractical liquid oxygen. Elsewhere, the unique shape of the P-47 Thunderbolt around its engine plumbing is explained. The availability of high-octane fuel and precious metals (in the circumstances, cobalt and nickel better than gold) were also critical. Limited access to these restricted the potential of many superior designs; Gring raged that the British had all the metals, but still tormented him with the wooden Mosquito. These arguments often take place on the page, thanks to an ever-present stenographer. Basic piston-engine knowledge is a minimum different pilots will learn from it on different levels. Youre left with a deep respect for the lives lived (and lost) in the labs and workshops, pushing boundaries under wartime chaos. This dedication is echoed by the authors efforts in pulling it together, much of the material for the first time. At 450-plus pages, its as significant a beast as the engines it reveres. It takes time to read and longer to appreciate. Persevere: 80 years ago, such secrets could have ended the war for either side. By Captain Robin Evans, Senior Log Contributor The Moth and the Mountain by Ed Caesar (published by Viking 18.99) Alone and unsupported, with minimal flight hours, could you survive long enough to fly a De Havilland Moth to India in 1933 in order to be the first to summit Everest? Ed Caesar, a British writer for The New Yorker, unearths gold in this true story of what would otherwise have remained a forgotten, overlapping footnote in the history of flight and climbing. Yorkshireman Maurice Wilson is a wounded, disenfranchised World War I soldier. He is also barely an aviator and no technical mountaineer, possessed by his own blend of personal belief and temperance, rather than any knowledge of hypoxia or crampons. None of these shortcomings, nor his detractors, stop him from attempting his fools gold, driven by remarkable ingenuity and defiance the source of which Caesar is interested in pinning down. Wilson manages (relative) greatness against all the odds. He grows from the page, evolving from footloose heartbreaker to recklessly irrepressible, outwitting all attempts to stop him: a battle, ultimately, with himself. Caesar declares he worked up a cold trail over years to reconstruct this lost souls quest for redemption and purpose. He is open about this fascination, declaring early: The kind of knowledge you desire is total. He [Wilson] begins, not unhappily, to haunt your nights. Caesar uses the tale of derring-dont to unravel and correct Wilsons lost backstory: dreams, losses and motivations. In the face of commercialised, bucket-list Everesting, Wilson was the unlikeliest of pioneers. The journey also feels like closure for Caesar, who lost his father a naval helicopter pilot at a young age, subtly mentioned at the start. Haunting, original and triumphant. By Captain Robin Evans, Senior Log Contributor Would you like to review a book for The Log? If so, simply email TheLog@balpa.org BOO K R EVI EWS Our pick of the best flight-related tomes