Contrails over the Mojave: The Golden Age of Jet Flight Testing at Edwards Air Force Base

George Marrett, an acclaimed aviator, Air Force officer, combat pilot and test pilot, has proven again that he’s among the elite of aviation writers. Yes, that’s because of the stories he tells, his personal experiences and those he’s known in the world of aviation. Yes, also, because he’s a fine writer. What a pleasure to read about these exciting and historical adventures from someone who is a master writer! Great, great tales from a really fine AF officer and gentleman. Thank you George Marrett for another wonderful book.

The first I heard of George Marrett was in reading a book about my favourite (the F-14 Tomcat).Mr Marrett having left the Air Force and Test Pilot program, wound up flying for the HughesAircraft company and subsequently went on to fly many hours in the Tomcat while developing thelegendary AIM-54 Phoenix/AWG-9 combination that was to give the Tomcat capabilities other aircraftcould only dream of. Mr Marrett recounts details of this program and others in the 3rd of threebooks he's written about his flying exploits - Testing Death.The next time I came across his name was when I ordered a book called Cheating Death and went onto read about his time flying the A-1 Skyraider (another favourite aircraft of mine) in Vietnam.I'm not reviewing that book here obviously, but if you haven't read it, I suggest you remedy thatsituation at your earliest convenience.So to Contrails Over the Mojave. This details stories of the heady days at Muroc/Edwards when thenewest, fastest, hottest aircraft were showing up to be rung out by the brave men of the test pilotfraternity. Mr Marrett details his own experiences and many of those experienced by his friends andcollegues. Many of the stories don't have happy endings for those involved as this was an inherentlydangerous occupaption. Many of the stories are amusing. ALL of them are compelling and well written.For anyone interested in flying, this is a great read. For those interested in military aviation,this is a must read.I highly reccommend this book to all and thank Mr Marrett for sharing his experiences with us.

I highly recommend ALL of George Marrett's books. The are very entertaining and very informative.George Marrett's career as a combat pilot, and a military & civilian test pilot is one that maybe only a handful of pilots can approach. His books will keep you anchored to your chair, forsaking all other activities, until you've read the whole thing - maybe twice.

A glimpse of what was to be a Test Pilot on the "Mecca" of the Test Pilots, the Desert of Mojave. Fantastic pictures and first hand account from a former Test Pilot....

Well written description of events in flight testing during Marrett's tenure as a USAF test pilot.

I would estimate that 70 to 80 percent of the boys in my generation dreamed of living the life George Marrett lived, flying all of the latest and best fighter planes, and helping to develop their already superior safety and performance features into awsomeness. George tells his stories so well you almost feel you are participating. How much better can that be?

"Contrails Over the Mojave" is certainly an entertaining book about one of my favorite subjects. I learned a lot of details about some of the famous and not-so-famous flight test projects at Edwards. The author's qualifications to write this book are beyond reproach.However...There are at least two pages in the book (pages 68-69, Chapter 6) that are nearly identical to text found in Chapter 10 of a book entitled " Aerospace Pilot ," by Charles Coombs, published in 1964 by William Morrow and Company, Inc. There is no attribution or acknowledgement of the source of the text in either book, so I don't really know what to think here. Using substantial portions of material without attribution has a name -- it's called plagiarism.To be fair, perhaps the section of text in question was actually written by Marrett originally, and used by Coombs first in his 1964 book. I don't know. What I do know is that SOMEBODY wrote it, and one of the authors appears to have lifted it from another.This was a minor detraction from what is otherwise a very good book.

This is an entertaining book which combines the author's flight-test experience with some other aspects of his life as an AF pilot. I bought it expecting backstage stories of flight-testing at Edwards AFB, which it indeed has plenty of. I was somehow disappointed because when I finished reading it, I wish it was longer and had more stories (the time period covered in the book could be expanded). I definitely recommend it as reading material for those interested in the subject of flight-testing and aviation history.