The Wrong Stuff

... and many of them have honored places in my library: Colonel Robert Scott's "God Is My Co-Pilot", Heinz Knoke's excellent and sadly unknown "I Flew for the Führer", Bob Hoover's "Forever Flying", Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger's "Lost Moon" (which is as much an autobiography of Lovell as a recounting of the Apollo 13 incident)... ... and then there's this book. If you go into "The Wrong Stuff" expecting another self-congratulatory throttle-jockey memoir (not that there's anything wrong with those :), you'll be sorely disappointed, because John Moore isn't the self-congratulatory throttle-jockey type. He seems frankly surprised that he survived his aviation career, and his tongue-in-cheek delight at being alive permeates the work. Somehow, this man managed to wind up involved in some of the wackiest projects in aviation history, and his wry reminiscences make this the funniest flyboy book in history. I'm just amazed, with his karma, that Moore didn't end up testing the Pogo Planes.Highly, highly, highly recommended.

Cdr. John Moore tells it like it is (or was), back then when test flying was not as sophisticated as it is now, along with the trials of the line Carrier Pilot, during "The Korean Thing". An easy, can't-put-it-down read which had me up 'till 4 AM. It gives the reader a poignant, down-to-earth glimpse of life as he saw it and lived it, often on the edge.

John Moore does a masterful job of telling it like it is. His descriptions of life aboard ship as a fledgling Navy pilot, first combat butterflies, the realities of being a test pilot, personal tragedies and close calls draw the reader in for a close up, raw look at the life of a real pilot in a real world. No glamour here, only the stark reality of mistakes made (not necessarily by the author) and consequences suffered. Mr. Moore spices the book with a generous dose of humor guaranteed to make the reader laugh out loud. Certainly anyone who is or has been a test pilot, or those that aspire to be, or those with even a mild interest in aviation will appreciate and maybe even treasure this book. It is a book for everyone.

Much more than just a wartime book about flying, this book is a very human description of the transition from piston and jet aircraft. Death is never far away in this book; both fellow aviators and his wife. A great read.

Even on the "edge of disaster" Cdr. John Moore never lost his sense of humor. Especially when he had to jump over the side of the U.S.S. Essex, 60 feet to the water. His exploits as a North American Aviation Test Pilot is accurate and exciting during the "fifties" when more new aircraft came on the scene than any time in our history.