Heroes of Coastal Command

Heroes of Coastal Command PDF Author: Andrew D. Bird
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1526710714
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 380

Get Book Here

Book Description
Real-life, action-packed, personal stories of valor from the history of the RAF’s maritime arm during World War II. It took thirty minutes for one Coastal Command crew to sink two U-boats. The crew of Flying Officer Kenneth “Kayo” Moore in their 224 Squadron Liberator carried out this remarkable achievement on the evening of 7/8 June 1944. While patrolling the western end of the English Channel, Moore’s crew first dispatched U-629, followed just under thirty minutes later by U-373. The story of this remarkable engagement is just one of many recounted by the author in Heroes of Coastal Command. Established in 1936, Coastal Command was the RAF’s only maritime arm. Throughout the war, its crews worked tirelessly alongside the Royal Navy to keep Britain’s vital sea lanes open. Together, they fought and won the Battle of the Atlantic, with RAF aircraft destroying 212 German U-Boats and sinking a significant tonnage of enemy warships and merchant vessels. Often working alone and unsupported, undertaking long patrols out over opens seas, Coastal Command bred a special kind of airman. Alongside individuals such as Kenneth Moore, there were Allan Trigg, Kenneth Campbell and John Cruickshank, all of whom were awarded the Victoria Cross; Norman Jackson-Smith, a Blenheim pilot who flew in the Battle of Britain; Jack Davenport, who flew his Hampden to Russia; John Watson, the sole survivor of a Short Sunderland which was lost during a rescue mission; and Ken Gatward, who flew a unique daylight mission over Paris to drop a Tricolore on the Arc de Triomphe. Theirs are just some of the many exciting stories revealed by the author.

Heroes of Coastal Command

Heroes of Coastal Command PDF Author: Andrew D. Bird
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1526710714
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 380

Get Book Here

Book Description
Real-life, action-packed, personal stories of valor from the history of the RAF’s maritime arm during World War II. It took thirty minutes for one Coastal Command crew to sink two U-boats. The crew of Flying Officer Kenneth “Kayo” Moore in their 224 Squadron Liberator carried out this remarkable achievement on the evening of 7/8 June 1944. While patrolling the western end of the English Channel, Moore’s crew first dispatched U-629, followed just under thirty minutes later by U-373. The story of this remarkable engagement is just one of many recounted by the author in Heroes of Coastal Command. Established in 1936, Coastal Command was the RAF’s only maritime arm. Throughout the war, its crews worked tirelessly alongside the Royal Navy to keep Britain’s vital sea lanes open. Together, they fought and won the Battle of the Atlantic, with RAF aircraft destroying 212 German U-Boats and sinking a significant tonnage of enemy warships and merchant vessels. Often working alone and unsupported, undertaking long patrols out over opens seas, Coastal Command bred a special kind of airman. Alongside individuals such as Kenneth Moore, there were Allan Trigg, Kenneth Campbell and John Cruickshank, all of whom were awarded the Victoria Cross; Norman Jackson-Smith, a Blenheim pilot who flew in the Battle of Britain; Jack Davenport, who flew his Hampden to Russia; John Watson, the sole survivor of a Short Sunderland which was lost during a rescue mission; and Ken Gatward, who flew a unique daylight mission over Paris to drop a Tricolore on the Arc de Triomphe. Theirs are just some of the many exciting stories revealed by the author.

Coastal Command at War

Coastal Command at War PDF Author: Chaz Bowyer
Publisher: Ian Allan Pub
ISBN: 9780711009806
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 159

Get Book Here

Book Description
The Royal Air Force's Coastal Command carried out a vital but largely unknown struggle throughout World War II. Often equipped with obsolete aircraft, their mission was initially the protection of Britain's convoys during the Battle of the Atlantic. Much of this effort was directed against the German U-boats and, in fact, 192 out of 727 U-boats sunk were credited to Coastal Command. Actions were also taken against German surface raiders and aircraft, often involving long flights in bad weather. As the war progressed, Coastal Command adopted a more aggressive role, attacking German shipping in its home waters. Veteran Royal Air Force historian Chaz Bowyer's classic account relates the full story of all the many roles undertaken by Coastal Command, often told by those who actually took part. The detailed text is illustrated with a wealth of photographs.

Royal Air Force Coastal Command

Royal Air Force Coastal Command PDF Author: John Campbell
Publisher: Memoirs Publishing
ISBN: 1909544744
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 593

Get Book Here

Book Description
Royal Air Force Coastal Command was the organisation charged with keeping the sea lanes clear around the coasts of Britain for the best part of half a century, from immediately after the First World War until the 1960s. In the decades after the Second World War, John Campbell served as a Coastal Command navigator and crew captain on Shackleton aircraft in the Maritime Patrol role. Having studied in great detail the history and development of Coastal Command, he has researched and written this thorough account of its activities throughout its years of operation.

Royal Air Force Coastal Command Losses

Royal Air Force Coastal Command Losses PDF Author: Ross McNeill
Publisher: Specialty Press (MN)
ISBN: 9781857801286
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
First in a companion series to the acclaimed Bomber Command and Fighter Command Losses series, detailing losses suffered by coastal squadrons operating from UK bases under Coastal Command control as either full units or detachments from other RAF commands. Each chapter is prefaced by a brief description of the coastal campaign for the period under review. Appendices include squadron bases.

RAF Coastal Command

RAF Coastal Command PDF Author: Keith Wilson (Photographer)
Publisher: Amberley Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1445697696
Category : Transportation
Languages : en
Pages : 247

Get Book Here

Book Description
RAF Coastal Command was founded as a formation within the Royal Air Force in 1936, at a time when the RAF was restricted into Fighter, Bomber and Coastal Commands.

A Forgotten Offensive

A Forgotten Offensive PDF Author: Christina J.M. Goulter
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1135204543
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 406

Get Book Here

Book Description
The "forgotten offensive" of the title is RAF Coastal Command's offensive against German sea-trade between 1940 and 1945. The fortunes of the campaign are followed throughout the war, and its success is then evaluated in terms of the shipping sunk, and the impact on the German economy.

The Cinderella Service

The Cinderella Service PDF Author: Andrew Hendrie
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1783035463
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 407

Get Book Here

Book Description
This book reveals the vital contribution that RAF Coastal Command made to the Allies war effort. Although often referred to as the 'Cinderella Service' because by its nature, it did not gain the recognition it deserved and was overshadowed by Fighter and Bomber Commands and considering that it was not given priority in terms of aircraft and equipment, its wartime record was second to none.The two main roles of Coastal Command were anti-submarine work in the Atlantic and anti-shipping operations against enemy warships and merchant vessels. This work looks at every aspect of the command's work, equipment and aircraft and draws upon many first-hand accounts. Lengthy and comprehensive appendices cover Orders of Battle, Commanders, U boats sunk, ships sunk, aircraft losses and casualties.

Stations Of Coastal Command

Stations Of Coastal Command PDF Author: David Smith
Publisher: After the Battle
ISBN: 1399076574
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 826

Get Book Here

Book Description
Coastal Command, created in 1936 alongside Fighter and Bomber Commands in the reorganization of the RAF in its preparations for the coming war, was Britain’s mainstay in the battle against the German submarine. As more and more Allied merchantmen were sunk during the long voyage from North America, the Mediterranean, and points south, tracking down the U-Boats became a constant struggle against harsh weather on long-distance patrols out over the Atlantic and Bay of Biscay. To counter the threat, Coastal Command established a ring of bases stretching from Scotland and Northern Ireland to Iceland, and from south Wales and south-western Britain to Gibraltar and the Azores, all 53 of these stations are covered in this book.

A Separate Little War

A Separate Little War PDF Author: Andrew Bird
Publisher:
ISBN: 1909166707
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Get Book Here

Book Description
Every day for nine months from September 1944 to the end of the war, young British, Commonwealth and Norwegian airmen flew from Banff aerodrome in northern Scotland in their Mosquitoes and Beaufighters to target the German U-Boats, merchantmen and freighters plying along the coast and in the fjords and leads of southwest Norway, encountering the Luftwaffe and flakships every step of the way. This Scottish strike wing fought in some of the bitterest and bloodiest attacks of the war, all at very low level and at close quarters. Their contribution to winning the war was crucial and while the cost in precious lives and equipment was in the same proportion as Bomber Command, they inflicted far greater damage to the enemy in relation to their losses. With Group Captain The Hon. Max Aitken, DSO DFC as station commander, Banff was eventually to become the base for a total of six Mosquito squadrons (including 235, 248 and 143), together with B Flight of the elite 333 Norwegian Squadron, and would team up on missions with the nearby Dallachy Beaufighter strike wing (404 RCAF, 455 RAAF, 489 RNZAF and 144 Squadrons). A Separate Little War, then, is a well researched and detailed history of a microcosm of Coastal Command. Supported by many photographs, maps and charts, the vast majority never published before, the author has drawn on the personal accounts of, amongst others, British and Norwegian pilots, ground crew and civilians which augment the official sources, to give a compelling, accurate and fascinating depiction of an aerodrome at war. It is a subject which will be of great interest and value to the general reader and to those students of the Luftwaffe, Kriegsmarine, RAF and former Commonwealth Air Forces, the Polish Air Force and of maritime air operations during World War Two.

I Seek My Prey In The Waters: The Coastal Command At War

I Seek My Prey In The Waters: The Coastal Command At War PDF Author: Sqn. Ldr. Tom Dudley-Gordon
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 1786257262
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 383

Get Book Here

Book Description
THE beginnings of Coastal Command are obscure. It is held by some that, in embryo, it consisted of five officers and four Bleriot monoplanes that were detached from Netheravon in August 1914 for coastal reconnaissance duties. At this time, however, there was a flourishing Naval Air Service which had its being up and down our coasts and which could properly be regarded as a coastal air force... In 1918 the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service were amalgamated into the Royal Air Force. By this time there were many aircraft of all sorts employed on coast-watching, convoy protection and the attack of submarines, and very effectively they carried out their duties. After the war this coastal organization was much reduced in size, being composed of a few flying-boat squadrons and one or two torpedo-carrying units. In addition, the disembarked squadrons of the carrier-borne air force were controlled and administered by what was then known as the Coastal Area. When, however, under the menace of Hitlerism, the expansion of the Royal Air Force took place, Coastal Area, by that time renamed Coastal Command, took its share. Working in close co-operation with the Royal Navy, the Command developed the activities which are so well described in this book. Coastal Command has always been a rather independent part of the Royal Air Force. Its operations have an element of mystery about them which is a trifle aggravating to the rest of the Service. It has a jealous spirit of its own which makes its personnel, when they are posted away, hanker to come back and strive and contrive to that end unceasingly. It is immensely proud of its job and of the way it does it. In fact, it has all the attributes of a first-class team. Long may it flourish as such.