Big Wings

Big Wings PDF Author: Philip Kaplan
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473812402
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 694

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Book Description
In the history of aviation there have been many attempts to produce aircraft of extraordinary proportions to expand the limits of technology and create new performance standards. With few exceptions, the early attempts did not become the successes envisaged until post-World War II when such aircraft as the Boeing B-52 long-range heavy bomber and the Boeing 747 'Jumbo Jet' airliner changed the face of aviation in both the military and civil roles. Big Wings is a well-researched, highly informative and sometimes nostalgic look at the sixteen most significant giants of the air. Each chosen aircraft is introduced and its raison d'?tre explained, then follows an in-depth review of the successful and failed technical aspects of the design, its operational history, first-hand accounts from those that had flown the aircraft and finally some startling facts and statistics. The aircraft selected are as follows: Military—Douglas B–19, Boeing B-29, Consolidated B-36, Northrop B-49 and Boeing B-52, Airliners—Bristol Brabazon, Boeing 747 and Airbus A380, Heavy Lifters—Messerschmitt Me323, Consolidated XC-99, Lockheed C5 and Antonov AN-225, Flying Boats—Dornier Do-X, Martin JRM Mars, Hughes HK-1 and Saunders Roe Princess.

Big Wings

Big Wings PDF Author: Philip Kaplan
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473812402
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 694

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Book Description
In the history of aviation there have been many attempts to produce aircraft of extraordinary proportions to expand the limits of technology and create new performance standards. With few exceptions, the early attempts did not become the successes envisaged until post-World War II when such aircraft as the Boeing B-52 long-range heavy bomber and the Boeing 747 'Jumbo Jet' airliner changed the face of aviation in both the military and civil roles. Big Wings is a well-researched, highly informative and sometimes nostalgic look at the sixteen most significant giants of the air. Each chosen aircraft is introduced and its raison d'?tre explained, then follows an in-depth review of the successful and failed technical aspects of the design, its operational history, first-hand accounts from those that had flown the aircraft and finally some startling facts and statistics. The aircraft selected are as follows: Military—Douglas B–19, Boeing B-29, Consolidated B-36, Northrop B-49 and Boeing B-52, Airliners—Bristol Brabazon, Boeing 747 and Airbus A380, Heavy Lifters—Messerschmitt Me323, Consolidated XC-99, Lockheed C5 and Antonov AN-225, Flying Boats—Dornier Do-X, Martin JRM Mars, Hughes HK-1 and Saunders Roe Princess.

Bader’s Big Wing Controversy

Bader’s Big Wing Controversy PDF Author: Dilip Sarkar
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1399017160
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 406

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Book Description
Group Captain Sir Douglas Bader remains one of the most famous RAF fighter pilots to date, perhaps even the most famous of all, thanks to Paul Brickhill’s best-selling 1950s yarn Reach for the Sky and Dany Angel’s box office hit of the same name, starring Kenneth Moore. Bader, a graduate of the RAF College Cranwell and a professional, career officer, was a gifted sportsman and aerobatic pilot – but headstrong. After a crash that led to the amputation of both of his legs, the Second World War was this man of action’s salvation: passing a flying test, he returned to the RAF, first flying Spitfires with 19 Squadron at Duxford. In due course he was posted to 222 Squadron as a flight commander, seeing action over Dunkirk. Already newsworthy, the swashbuckling, legless, fighter pilot was also a favorite of his Station Commander, Wing Commander A.B. ‘Woody’ Woodhall, and, more importantly, his 12 Group Air Officer Commanding, Air Vice-Marshal Leigh-Mallory. In short order, therefore, Bader was soon elevated to Acting Squadron Leader and given command of 242 Squadron, a Canadian Hurricane squadron which he led throughout the Battle of Britain. On 30 August 1940, 12 Group was requested to reinforce 11 Group and intercept a raid on an aircraft factory at Hatfield. This was Bader and 242 Squadron’s first experience of a mass German raid, and many combat claims were subsequently filed. The events that day led Bader to submit a report arguing that the more fighters he had at his disposal, the greater would be the execution of the enemy that could be achieved. It was a concept that received support from Leigh-Mallory, who recognised an opportunity for 12 Group to play a greater part in what was clearly an historic battle. Leigh-Mallory authorised Bader to lead three, then five, squadrons – a controversial formation that came to be known as the ‘Duxford Wing’ or ‘Big Wing’. In Bader’s Big Wing Controversy, Dilip Sarkar not only explores the full story of the people and events that led to the creation of the ‘Big Wing’ at Duxford, he also fully investigates the part that its men and machines played in the Battle of Britain story. Whilst Bader was not personally intending disloyalty, as such, to his Air Officer Commander-in-Chief, Air Chief Marshal Sir Hugh Dowding, he was, as the latter once commented, ‘the cause of a lot of the trouble’. In his burning desire to propel 242 Squadron and himself, its leader, into the forefront of the action, the newsworthy acting squadron leader found himself used by darker forces, men with axes to grind and personal ambitions to further.

Big Wing

Big Wing PDF Author: Bill Newton Dunn
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Marshals
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description


Duxford and the Big Wings, 1940–45

Duxford and the Big Wings, 1940–45 PDF Author: Martin W. Bowman
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1783469501
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Book Description
A pulsating account of the young RAF and American fighter boys who flew Spitfires, Hurricanes, Thunderbolts and Mustangs during 1940-45. It is unique in that the story is told using first person accounts from RAF, German and American Eagles who fought in the skies over England in the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940 and the great air offensives over occupied-Europe from 1942 onwards. The first five and a half chapters cover the Battle of Britain period when the RAF squadrons fought dog fights with the Luftwaffe and then fought them in gathering strength using the Big Wings to meet the bomber fleets attacking London. The second part of the book covers the Eagle squadron period, which was expanded with Americas entry into the war. The action moves to the USAAF Big Wings of Thunderbolts and Mustang fighters that flew escort missions and dueled with the Luftwaffe over the continent during the massive bomber raids on German targets in France, the Low Countries and the Reich itself. A whole host of incredible first hand accounts by British, Polish, Czech, German and American fighter pilots permeate the action and describe the aerial battles as only they can. This unique book also includes many accounts and photos that have not previously been seen before while the rich mix of combat accounts from all sides are brought together for the first time in one volume.

Big Lies

Big Lies PDF Author: Joe Conason
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780312315610
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
A powerful rebuttal to the likes of Ann Coulter, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity, this is essential reading in an era of right-wing bullying and political conformity.

Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems

Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems PDF Author: Nardine Osman
Publisher: Springer
ISBN: 3319468820
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
This book features a selection of best papers from 11 workshops held at the International Conference on Autonomous Agents and Multiagent Systems, in Singapore in May 2016.The 11 full papers were carefully reviewed and selected for inclusion in this volume. They cover specific topics, both theoretical and applied, in the general area of autonomous agents and multiagent systems.

Operation Sealion

Operation Sealion PDF Author: David Wragg
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1473867401
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 321

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Book Description
During the Summer of 1940, Hitlers Germany appeared unstoppable. The Nazis were masters of mainland Europe, in alliance with Stalins Russia and only the English Channel prevented an immediate invasion.Britain stood alone. The BEF had been routed but, due to the Dunkirk miracle, most of her manpower had returned albeit without their transport and heavy equipment and guns. There was no doubt that the Nazis planned to invade all intelligence pointed that way. In the event it never materialised, thanks to the outcome of the Battle of Britain and Hitlers decision to invade Russia.Operation SEALION examines just how realistic the German threat of invasion was. The author studies the plans, the available capability and resources, the Germans record in Norway and later Crete. The author weighs these against the state of Britains defences and the relative strengths of the land, air and particularly naval forces.The result is a fascinating study of what might or might not have been.

The Burning Blue

The Burning Blue PDF Author: Jeremy A. Crang
Publisher: Faber & Faber
ISBN: 0571271413
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 320

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Book Description
It was, of course, the Battle of Britain, or rather its conclusion, that prompted one of Winston Churchill's most memorable pieces of oratory that has its epitome in the sentence, 'Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.' If the Battle of Britain had been lost it is very likely the New Order to which the Axis powers had pledged themselves would have become global with unthinkable consequences for the world afterwards. The importance of the Battle of Britain cannot be exaggerated though inevitably in the succeeding years the accretion of myth has brought about many distortions. This multi-faceted symposium emerged from the Centre of Second World War Studies at Edinburgh University with the aim, in the words of the editors, 'to reassess established themes while opening up new ones.' After a masterly introduction by Brian Bond, the book is divided into six parts: Before the Battle; The Battle; The View from Afar; Experience and Memory; The Making of a British Legend and The Significance. The contributors are: Klaus A. Maier; Malcolm Smith; Horst Boog; Sebastian Cox; Sergei Kudryshov; Richard P. Hallion; Theodore F. Cook; Hans-Ekkehard Bob; Wallace Cunningham; Nigel Rose; Owen Dudley Edwards; Angus Calder; Tony Aldgate; Adrian Gregory; Jeremy Lake and John Schofield; Paul Addison and Jeremy A. Crang and Richard Overy. No survey could be more wide-ranging or fascinating. First published in 2000 to mark the 60th anniversary, it is now being reissued in 2010 to mark the 70th anniversary. 'But it is terrific. It's not only an acknowledgement of the heroism of the fighter pilots (and all the ancillary crew), but a serious contribution to the historical record. Seventeen contributors write about the Battle from pretty much every conceivable angle; and Addison and Crang have chosen them well. . . This is not an automatically worshipful book; it poses questions about the morality of war, the existence of heroism, the reliability of memory. But it treats the subject honestly and with justice. And it tells us why we won: because, it would appear, it helps to come from a society that is sceptical of authority rather than in blind, unthinking terror of it.' Nicholas Lezard, Guardian ''This book is a first-class piece of work, stimulating, informative and concise.' Brian Holden Reid, Times Higher Education Supplement. 'This is a nugget of a book . . . it assembles, most readably, a range of authoritative and international views on the Battle, its history, and its significance.' Air Chief Marshall Sir Michael Graydon, Royal United Services Institute 'This is a much told story, but the varied viewpoints of the 20 contributors to Burning Blue - ranging from a fascinating essay by Owen Dudley Edwards on the air war as reflected in children's literaturer to the memories of pilots who fought in it on both sides - give an impressive breadth and depth. And even though it strips away hindsight and refuses to burnish legends, what is left is still one of the most remarkable stories in the whole of British history. The British empire didn't last a thousand years, but the man was right: this truly was its finest hour.' David Robinson, The Scotsman

Voice of a Voyage

Voice of a Voyage PDF Author: Doann Houghton-Alico
Publisher: Sunstone Press
ISBN: 1611392764
Category : Travel
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
In 2001, sixty-year old author Doann Houghton-Alico and her husband embarked on a ten-year sailing circumnavigation visiting forty-one countries and sailing over 43,000 nautical miles. As an award-winning author of both technical books and poetry, she brings her love of research into the tangents of the stories she encountered and her lyrical voice to create a picture of the world few of us know. The author, an adept observer and an enthusiastic participant in what life has to offer, writes of her love of the sea at night far away from land, but she also describes such exotic places as remote islands of the South Pacific where black magic and wives bought for three boar tusks are the norm. She evokes the spirit of people and places by revisiting their cultural and natural history and exploring beneath the surface. Her portrayals are riveting, drawing the reader quickly into an intimate chronicle of tragedy and beauty. Doann’s poetry and photographs add additional dimensions to her evocative writing. Doann relishes places like the sandy, forbidding, uninterrupted views of the Sudanese desert from the marsas—inlets of the Red Sea, where flamingoes and camels abound—but also addresses the more serious issues she witnessed such as survival in areas of exploding populations, decreasing food supplies, climate change, and the impact of war. She describes both in a visceral, yet insightful way. Her inquisitiveness, the allure of exploration, and a strong curiosity about the world inspire her writing. Whether floating in the sea eye-to-eye with a humpback whale, escaping pirates, or drinking tea in a bombed-out Eritrean alley with refugees, Doann takes you there.

On the Edge

On the Edge PDF Author: Robert G. Brown
Publisher: GeneralStore PublishingHouse
ISBN: 9781896182872
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 212

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Book Description