Propellerhead - Softcover

Woodward, Antony

4.37

122 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0007107293 ISBN 13: 9780007107292

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2010

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Join the real Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines as they compete in the Round Britain race. .Woodward’s warm, wry account of learning to fly will lift hearts everywhere. BBC2 documentary based on the book - 30 January 2012.

Antony Woodward wasn’t interested in flying, he was interested in his image. So in his world of socialising and serial womanising, a microlight plane sounded like the ideal sex aid. So why – once he discovers that he has no ability as a pilot, it costs a fortune and its maddening unreliability loses him the one girl he really wants – does he get more and more hooked?

As he monitors the changes to the others in the syndicate; as he learns that there is a literal down-side to cheating in flying exams, shunning responsibility and pretending to know stuff you don’t, the question keeps on surfacing. Why? As the misadventures mount – accidents, tussles with Tornadoes, arrest by the RAF – he keeps thinking he’s worked it out. But it isn’t until The Crash, in which he nearly kills himself and Dan (taking a short-cut in the Round Britain race) that the penny finally drops....

Flying is the antidote to modern life he didn’t even know he needed. It’s the supreme way to feel real.

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Review:

Anthony Woodward was never remotely interested in flying. And you don't have to be either to enjoy Woodward's book Propellerhead which tells the story of the author's hilarious and foolhardy attempts to learn to fly a microlight. The main motivation behind Woodward's determination to get his wings is to get the girls. Ever since his mate Richard had returned from Africa having learnt to fly, women seemed to flock to him. Richard had become "a person of deeper substance; tinged with a romantic whiff of intelligence, wealth and daring. Or so the girls plainly seemed to think." Incredulously, and infuriatingly, the bank manager had become a babe magnet. Having gone through long periods of unrelieved celibacy Woodward decides to join a flying syndicate (comprising of Richard and an eccentric Norfolk landowner and his son) and spends the weekends with his head in the clouds and his heart in his mouth. A kind of Those Magnificent Men Behaving Badly in Their Flying Machines, Propellerhead recalls one astonishing aeronautical escapade after the other--such as the time Woodward finds himself slap-bang in the middle of the flight path of a Battle of Britain fly-past. As you read about the hapless pilot's close shaves, near misses and direct hits don't be surprised to find yourself instinctively adopting the crash position. Uplifting and head spinning, Propellerhead is ultimately the story of a man on a flight of self-discovery. Strap yourself in. It's going to be a bumpy ride. --Christopher Kelly

Review:

‘Inspirational...one of the best books ever written about flying.’ PILOT, May 2011

‘What Nick Hornby did for football, Antony Woodward has done for flying ... Wonderful.’ OBSERVER

‘Hugely engaging ... refreshingly amateur and low-tech ... a true love affair, albeit with clouds and air.’ SUNDAY TELEGRAPH

‘Hilarious ... chock-full of incident, heartache, historical detail and near-death-experience, in as entertaining a non-fiction narrative as I have read ... Woodward has a gift for storytelling and comic timing and his acute awareness of the absurdities of maleness make this an impossible book not to like. INDEPENDENT

'A must-read for all pilots, everywhere, ever. But would I get in a plane with this nutter? F***, no.' (Captain) ALEX JAMES, BLUR

'Nick Hornby meets Jeremy Clarkson in a cockpit. Acutely funny', MARIELLA FROSTRUP

'Woodward's a truly terrible aviator - but his enthusiasm makes even the most timid flier want to take to the skies.' FHM

‘A genuine original–smartly written, eccentric, funny, engaging, with just the right combination of anorak and anarchy...The flying sequences are fabulous, the historic ghosts of Bomber command are strangely moving, and the whole book stays wonderfully airborne throughout. It reminds me of the early lunatic Redmond O’Hanlon, and a bit of Roger Deakin’s weird, soul-searching, swim-across-England book “Waterlog”.’ RICHARD HOLMES

'Lunatic... written so engagingly as to ensnare even those who know nothing about flying.' TIM BINYON, EVENING STANDARD

'Propellerhead is one of the best aviation books of the lot, and it has almost universal appeal...Take it from me, anyone who has even an incipient trace of flying in their blood will want to read Propellerhead.' PHILIP WHITEMAN, GENERAL AVIATION

'This eccentric, charming and poignant book is full of gems...sublime.' COUNTRY LIFE

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