Author: Herbert E. Ross
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780977742509
Category : Aeronautics, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 197

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Author: John R Bruning
Publisher: Hachette Books
ISBN: 0316508640
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 555

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The astonishing untold story of the WWII airmen who risked it all in the deadly race to become the greatest American fighter pilot. In 1942, America's deadliest fighter pilot, or "ace of aces" -- the legendary Eddie Rickenbacker -- offered a bottle of bourbon to the first U.S. fighter pilot to break his record of twenty-six enemy planes shot down. Seizing on the challenge to motivate his men, General George Kenney promoted what they would come to call the "race of aces" as a way of boosting the spirits of his war-weary command. What developed was a wild three-year sprint for fame and glory, and the chance to be called America's greatest fighter pilot. The story has never been told until now. Based on new research and full of revelations, John Bruning's brilliant, original book tells the story of how five American pilots contended for personal glory in the Pacific while leading Kenney's resurgent air force against the most formidable enemy America ever faced. The pilots -- Richard Bong, Tommy McGuire, Neel Kearby, Charles MacDonald and Gerald Johnson -- riveted the nation as they contended for Rickenbacker's crown. As their scores mounted, they transformed themselves from farm boys and aspiring dentists into artists of the modern dogfight. But as the race reached its climax, some of the pilots began to see how the spotlight warped their sense of duty. They emerged as leaders, beloved by their men as they chose selfless devotion over national accolades. Teeming with action all across the vast Pacific theater, Race of Aces is a fascinating exploration of the boundary between honorable duty, personal glory, and the complex landscape of the human heart. "Brings you into the cockpit of the lethal, fast-paced world of fighter pilots . . . Fascinating." -- Sara Vladic"Extraordinary . . . a must-read." -- US Navy Captain Dan Pedersen"A heart-pounding narrative of the courage, sacrifice, and tragedy of America's elite fighter pilots." -- James M. Scott"Vivid and gripping . . . Confirms Bruning's status as the premier war historian of the air." -- Saul David

Author: Wayne Ralph
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 047015814X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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A celebration and a tribute to the warriors of the air who as young men served their country with unselfish devotion. Hear their words. Join these young Canadians in combat. AN EXCERPT FROM THE ACCOUNT OF GROUP CAPTAIN RAYNE SCHULTZ, 410 SQUADRON. It was heading home very fast, a Junkers 188, in thin cloud, well out over the North Sea. We hit it badly, and it was flaming, two-three hundred yards [of] flames streaming behind... my navigator, being a serious-minded individual said, "Let's get in closer and take a good look at it, as it is a different type of aircraft and I can report on it when we get down." So I closed in, which was the stupidest thing I ever did.... The mid-upper gunner was not dead; he was sitting inside of the flames. The next thing I saw the gun traversing down toward us. I broke as fast as I could, but he put forty to forty-four 13mm cannon shells into us. I had pistons blown out of one engine and the constant speed unit blown out in the other. We were going to bail out! We jettisoned the door and the navigator was halfway out when the chap came back from the Ground Control Intercept (GCI) and said, "There is a Force 9 to 10 sea and we will never be able [to rescue] you." So we brought that aircraft back to Bradwell Bay and I can tell you it near flew again. My navigator was wounded, bleeding from the face. I could see the engines running red hot, one was actually running on molten metal... the whole thing glowing inside. The air bottles were shot away and I had no brakes for landing. The Mosquito was in ribbons.

Author: Eric Hammel
Publisher: Daniel Hammel
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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ACES IN COMBAT The American Aces Speak Eric Hammel Adding to the acclaimed first four volumes of his exciting, in-the-cockpit series, The American Aces Speak, leading combat historian Eric Hammel comes through with yet another engrossing collection of first-person accounts by American fighter aces serving in World War II and the Korean War. As are the four earlier volumes, Aces In Combat is a highly charged excursion into life and death in the air, told by men who excelled at piston-engine and jet-engine aerial combat and lived to tell about it. It is an emotional rendering of what brave airmen felt and how they fought in the now-dim days of America’s living national history. View the Battle of Midway through Lieutenant Jim Gray’s eyes as he must balance the needs of fellow pilots against the needs of his nation. Share the fear with Captain Charlie Sullivan as would-be rescuers deep in the New Guinea jungle attempt to turn him into a blood sacrifice. Crew a Canadian Mosquito night fighter as Lieutenant Lou Luma stalks the wily Hun—and bags an ace—over an airfield deep in Germany. Share Lieutenant Bud Fortier’s and Major George Loving’s grief when, on missions nearly eight years apart, they look on helplessly as trusted wingmen dive to their deaths in treacherous ground-attack runs. And watch anxiously as Captain Tom Maloney hovers between life and death for ten lonely days after stepping on a mine on an enemy-held beach. These are America’s eagles, and the stories they tell are their own, in their very own words.

Author: Tom F. Cunningham
Publisher: Mainstream Publishing Company
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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During 1999 a major story in the news was the 'Orkney Homecoming'. The Orkney Homecoming was a celebration in Scotland which attracted a large number of visitors from all over the world, with a powerful contingent from the First Nations of northern Canada, claiming descent from Hudson Bay Company employees recruited in the Orkneys. Unfamiliar faces, but with incongruously familiar last names. A new bond of friendship between two very different peoples has clearly been forged. This event is merely the latest manifestation of a more ancient bond between two kindred peoples - the Scots and the Native Americans - linked forever by parallel histories (in which a bitter legacy of massacres, subjugation, forced removals and enforced acculteration have all had their part), an affinity of spirits, and a unique coincidence of destinies. This book seeks out to catalogue the many links which exist between the Scots and the Native Americans, placing special emphasis upon those interactions which have taken place on Scottish soil, and on those Native Americans who, swimming against the tide of mass emigrations in the opposite direction, have in the course of several centuries made their way to Scotland, for different reasons.

Author: Jack Ilfrey
Publisher: Schiffer Military Aviation His
ISBN: 9780764306648
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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This autobiography was originally written in 1946 by eight-victory WWII Fighter Ace, Jack Ilfrey. This new edition has been expanded with many new photographs (many never before published), a special color photo section, and three detailed aircraft profile paintings. The reader will fly through the skies with Ilfrey in his P-38 as he and his unit, the famed 94th Fighter Squadron, befome the first group of American aircraft to fly from the USA to England. Thrill to the stories of aerial combat over North Africa as Ilfrey becomes one of America's first WWII air aces. Marvel at the flying exploits of Ilfrey as a member of the 20th Fighter Group/8th Air Force and join him on his incredible evasion story through German occupied France. This book is undoubtedly one of the finest stories of aerial combat that has ever been written.

Author: Stacy T. Geere
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781578646357
Category : Air pilots
Languages : en
Pages : 179

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Author: Colin Heaton
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0593183908
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 417

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Sensational eyewitness accounts from the most heroic and legendary American aviators of World War II, never before published as a book They are voices lost to time. Beginning in the late 1970s, five veteran airmen sat for private interviews. Decades after the guns fell silent, they recounted in vivid detail the most dangerous missions that made the difference in the war. Ed Haydon dueled with the deadliest of German aces—and forced him to the ground. Robert Johnson racked up twenty-seven kills in his P-47 Thunderbolt, but nearly lost his life when his plane was shot to ribbons and his guns jammed. Cigar-chomping Curtis LeMay was the Air Corps general who devised the bomber tactics that pummeled Germany's war machine. Robin Olds was a West Point football hero who became one of the most dogged, aggressive fighter pilots in the European theater, relentlessly pursuing Germans in his P-38 Lightning. And Jimmy Doolittle became the most celebrated American airman of the war—maybe even of all time—after he led the audacious raid to bomb Tokyo. Today these heroes are long gone, but now, in this incredible volume, they tell their stories in their own words.

Author: Richard Taylor
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780998752815
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description
A compelling story of what it takes to demonstrate the magnetic compass response to being inverted, positive G's, directly above the Magnetic North Pole.

Author: Daniel Ford
Publisher: Warbird Books
ISBN: 0692734732
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 422

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Book Description
During World War II, in the skies over Burma and China, a handful of American pilots met and bloodied the "Imperial Wild Eagles" of Japan and won immortality as the Flying Tigers. One of America's most famous combat forces, the Tigers were recruited to defend beleaguered China for $600 a month and a bounty of $500 for each Japanese plane they shot down--fantastic money in an era when a Manhattan hotel room cost three dollars a night.This May 2023 revision has never-before-published information about Chennault's early years. "Admirable," wrote Chennault biographer Martha Byrd of Ford's original text. "A readable book based on sound sources. Expect some surprises." Flying Tigers won the Aviation/Space Writers Association Award of Excellence in the year of its first publication.