Finally some real instruction!

[aquacat8]

You book is a great find - especially in Georgia !

May I suggest to you that you continue to investigate the "Trend & Fawcett" series of books? Lile the one you currently display they are loaded with now what is known as vintage or historical information. They were eight in number, most published in the 1950s , were paperback and several were also issued as hard covers generally around 125 pages loaded with pictures and stories and DIY articles.

FYI the following is a complete list of the books and authors

Underwater
Bill Barada

Underwater Adventure
Bill Barada

Skin diving annual
E R Cross
.
Skin and SCUBA diver
Lil Boreson & Jack Spears

Skin Diver hand book
Lil Boreson & Jack Spears

.Skin and SCUBA Diving
John E Cayford

.Skin and SCUBA Diving
Jim Martinhoff

Handbook for Skin divers
George Bronson-Horward
(the book you have!)

These books are great historical documents - a glimpse into the past when life and diving was simpler !

I congratulate you for your find and saving this very historical document from being unceremoniously tossed and forgotten except for a few

Cheers from a hill in CenCal overlooking the blue Pacific - where I am headed with little dog Lucky

Sam Miller,III

cc​

@aquacat8
@Compressor
@JamesBon92007

​

​

DD

Thanks for the list Sam, will keep an eye out for them !

 

[David Wilson]

Publication details below with illustrations of their front covers. Dates are the ones that appear in my copies.

Bill Barada (1955) Underwater: The Skindiver’s Manual. Trend Book 119.

Bill Barada (1959) Underwater Adventure. Trend Book 188.

E. R. Cross (1957): Skin Diving Annual. Trend Book 147.

Lil Borgeson & Jack Speirs (1962): Skin and Scuba Diver. Fawcett Book 616.

Lil Borgeson & Jack Speirs (1960) Skin Diver Handbook. Fawcett Book 443.

John E Cayford (1964): The How-To Book of Skin and Scuba Diving. Fawcett Book 561.

Jim Martenhoff (1967): Handbook of Skin and Scuba Diving. Fawcett Book 640.

George Bronson-Howard (1956): Handbook for Skin Divers. Fawcett Book 305.

Images courtesy of the wonderful Australian Classic Diving Book website at CLASSIC DIVING BOOKS-HOMEPAGE.

 

[JMBL]

Thanks for sharing. Where the heck did ya find such an old book in such pristine condition ? I'm very jealous.

 

[Sam Miller III]

There are a number of ways to obtain a used dive book
1) used book store
2) friends
3) SCUBA Board
4) Peter Stone - Classic dive books in Australia
( I believe the pictures are from my collection)
5) Purchased when first issued - as I did

sdm

 

[Sam Miller III]

@David Wilson
@aquacat8
@JamesBon92007
@JMBL

There were also at least three editions published in hard back with dust covers.. Interesting that the dust cover were identical to the soft cover books but the book was bound in plain one color library bindings

They are as follows

Underwater : the skin divers manual
Bill Barada '
1955
Library binding is teal colored (a citadel-trend book)
Interesting I opened the book for the first time in several years
discovered that the author Bill Barada had inscribed it to me as follows
"to Sam Miller and OLD diving buddy \
good luck, good diving
Bill Barada"
Bill and I were fellow LA CO UW Instructors and occasional diving buddies- I do not recall him inscribing the book .

Skin and SCUBA Diver
Lil Borgeson & Jack Spears
1962-1974 (third printing) LCCC # 62-16792, ISBN #0-688-00957-8
Plain teal colored library binding (Arco spots library book)

Hand book for SKIN DIVERS
George Bronson- Howard
1956 LCCC # 56-7994
pale yellow library binding with image of antique printing press on front cover

Sam Miller, 111





`

 

[aquacat8]

The old covers are so beautiful, I just love them!

 

[JMBL]

There are a number of ways to obtain a used dive book

5) Purchased when first issued - as I did

sdm

That last one would have been hard for me : I wasn't even born at that time !

 

[dmaziuk]

FYI
The Cornelius. compressor came out of WW11 .
It was designed and used in/or around one of the bombers produced during the later days of the war .

It wouldn't be a "pook-pook" from the B29 by any chance? -- Apparently when the Russians copied it: Russian B-29 Clone — The TU-4 Story, by Wayland Mayo, one of the problems they were facing was a passage in the operational manual that referred to "starting the pook-pook". The country's best English translators and cleverest linguists could not figure out what kind of technical engineering term a "pook-pook" could possibly be.

 

[JamesBon92007]

It wouldn't be a "pook-pook" from the B29 by any chance? -- Apparently when the Russians copied it: Russian B-29 Clone — The TU-4 Story, by Wayland Mayo, one of the problems they were facing was a passage in the operational manual that referred to "starting the pook-pook". The country's best English translators and cleverest linguists could not figure out what kind of technical engineering term a "pook-pook" could possibly be.

I think I read somewhere that part of the Cornelius was used in aircraft, possibly to control the flaps but I'm not an aviator so I sure wouldn't know. That's very interesting about the "pook-pook." I'll have to check mine for any evidence of Russian origin however it appears to be almost exactly like the model the US Navy was using.

 

[captain]

The Navy submarine hunter planes I flew in had Cornelius compressors. They were used for what was called the retro-ejector,. Basicly it was a devise that fired a smoke and illumination flare backward at a speed equal to to the planes forward speed so it would drop vertically to the oceans surface exactly where it left the aircraft to mark the location of the submarine.