The Aircraft Designers: A Grumman Historical Perspective (Library of Flight)

As a 37 year Grumman employee with 25 years on the F-14 program I enjoyed the book. It was written by old friend. The book provides good insights into a great company full of wonderful people! Hey, we put a man on the moon with our lunar module (LEM) and built the greatest carrier fighter ever built...the F-14D. And I helped....Jim D.

My father, who will be celebrating his 96th birthday later this month, had a career spanning more than 30 years at Grumman. When I happened to come across this book, written by someone my dad frequently spoke of with Hugh regard, I knew I’d found the perfect gift. I’d not realized how perfect until it arrived and I started to read it, coming across my own father’s name. This is a wonderful retrospective of one of the largest aerospace companies of the 20th century. Mr. Ciminera has chronicled the history of this dynamic company- and the extraordinary people who made it so.

Many thanks to Mike Ciminera for taken his time to write a book about the engineers that made Grumman a great company.This book brought tears to my eyes because I had the honor and privilege to work with these great engineers and leadership over my 49 years at Grumman/NorthropGrumman (1958-2007).I would hope that young Americans would read this book so that they might be inspired to study engineering and work in a environment as Mike's book describes.The Aircraft Designers: A Gumman Historical Perspective will be enjoyed by anyone who works in the Aerospace Industry or has an interest in Aerospace.Thanks for the memories Mike.

I enjoyed the book and the perspective of who did what and how key products came to be.

Mike Ciminera has captured the essence of how talented and ethical aerospace pioneers created a company that advanced the state of the art and stayed true to fostering an atmosphere of strong teamwork and ethical business practices. By focusing on the individuals involved rather than the products they developed you got a clearer picture of how the company established a strong foundation for long term growth and technological advancement. On a personal basis, it was a great trip down memory lane, where, as a young engineer I was able to learn my trade and hopefully contribute. Thanks for the journey Mike!

This is an insider's report on the design of the Grumman F-14 Tomcat.Kids dreamed of flying it. There are the people who turned dreams into hardware.

The author, Michael Ciminera, was my boss at Grumman, Bethpage NY for several years in the 90's. I quickly came to recognize that I was in a high-energy workplace with an extraordinary leader. Beyond that, his book is what one would expect of so keen an intellect; thoroughly researched, articulately presented - a gold mine of history of the engineers and products of GAC.

If you're into aircraft design, this book and Volume 2 are a must have. My only problem was many, many pages of Volume 1 were wrinkled. I didn't realize this book was from AIAA. I'd recommend buying from them direct to make sure you are not getting poor quality books.