I should have given a disclaimer: if you're not a practitioner in the area or not completely interested in the details, "Have Blue and the F-117A" can be in dry

I should have given a disclaimer: if you're not a practitioner in the area or not completely interested in the details, "Have Blue and the F-117A" can be in dry in parts. I have not read "Area 51 Black Jets"; title clearly intended for pop appeal, but hopefully it's substantial content. I believe I read "Inside the stealth bomber" about 15 years ago and thought it was decent. Bill Sweetman is one of the better aerospace writers out there, if a bit quick to extrapolate from some data points (makes sense given he's a journalist whose trade is to discuss things about which little info is publicly available). The recommendation for Skunk Works by Rich (I think ghostwritten by Leo Janos who also ghost wrote for Yeager) is also seconded. There also a few choice publications of decent length on the web: "Winning the ATF" by Sherm Mullin, PM for the YF-22: https://www.afa.org/20140207afaorg/publications/michellinstitutepapers https://www.afa.org/20140207afaorg/publications/michellinsti... -> "Winning the ATF" "B-2: Spirit of Innovation" by Rebecca Grant: http://www.northropgrumman.com/Capabilities/B2SpiritBomber/SpiritOfInnovationBook/Pages/default.aspx http://www.northropgrumman.com/Capabilities/B2SpiritBomber/S... Great NASA e-book series: https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/aeronautics_ebooks_archive_1.html https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/aeronautics_ebooks_archi... The only potential thing to watch out about the NASA books is that NASA sometimes has a tendency to play up their own contributions to programs that were very joint (e.g., AF/NASA/DARPA and Industry). Small fault to find given that NASA is awesome enough to put these high-quality publications together, employ some really great historians and photographers, and make the pubs freely available. In particular, the F-16XL story ("Elegance in Flight") is one that I'd never seen told with such completeness anywhere else. The X-29, Active Aeroelastic Wing, and Low-Boom Supersonic books are also recommended.