This auction is for a high-quality modern reprint of the vintage WWII flight manual entitled "Pilots' Information File", about 1945, 267p.

Buyer to pay actual shipping costs. Shipping is free via USPS Media Mail in the CONUS. For foreign, it will be roughly $13 for USPS International First Class. Please check the postage calculator to be sure.

These are not your grandmother's scans. Every page has been hand-corrected to remove as many blemishes as possible. Color correction with a known color standard sheet was used to get the colors as close to the original as possible. Special care was taken with the half-tone images to make sure all the depth and range of the originals is preserved. Manuals are printed in full-color on 24 lb paper and comb-bound with clear plastic front cover and black plastic back sheet.


The Pilots' Information file was issued to every candidate in the wartime Army Air Forces pilot-training program. Since the candidates came from all walks of life, the manual was designed in comic-book form with many illustrations and relatively straightforward text. That notwithstanding, there is a great deal of information here. The pilot of wartime aircraft had to be knowledgeable in all stations in the airplane, from gunnery to navigation to bombing and more. The pilot had to know how to ditch an aircraft safely, and how to fly with a damaged aircraft. This book could never contain all the information the pilot needs, but it was a good starting place. Sections include (runway markings, taxiing, buzzing) weather flying, altitude flying (oxygen equipment), power plant (fuel, superchargers), the airplane (landing gear, flaps, trim, control locks), navigation aids (aeronautical charts, wind, dead reckoning), emergency (ditching, parachutes, smoke grenades).

NOTE THAT THIS REPRINT IS NOT AN EXACT REPLICA OF ORIGINAL BINDING. I have printed a high-quality color scan of the front and back cover on 80-lb card stock, covered by clear acetate sheets.. It looks just like the original. it is a flat, printed image of the original leather. Again, it is NOT AN EXACT REPLICATION OF THE 3-POST BOUND MANUAL. It is a reprint of the CONTENT of the manual, but not in the exact FORM of the original manual. The book is bound using comb binding.

Please look at my other auctions, especially the Navigators' Information File, the Gunners' Information File, the Bombers' Information File, and the Radio Operators' Information File.