Author: Carole Engle Avriett
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1621576558
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 198
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Book Description
"Gripping…filled with…dramatic escapes, moments of surprising humanity, and acts of bravery." —Publishers Weekly A Story of Adventure, Survival, Loyalty, and Brotherhood Taking off from England on March 16, 1944, young Lt. George Starks and the nine-man crew of his Flying Fortress were assigned to the “coffin corner,” the most exposed position in the bomber formation headed for Germany. They never got there. Shot down over Nazi-occupied France, the airmen bailed out one by one, scattered across the countryside. Miraculously, all ten survived, but as they discarded their parachutes in the farmland of Champagne, their wartime odyssey was only beginning. Alone, with a broken foot and a 20mm shell fragment in his thigh, twenty-year-old Starks set out on an incredible 300-mile trek to Switzerland, making his way with the help of ordinary men and women who often put themselves in great danger on his behalf. Six weeks later, on the verge of giving up, Starks found himself in the hands of a heroic member of the French Resistance—he calls him “the bravest man I’ve ever known”—who got him safely across the heavily guarded border. Similar ordeals awaited the other nine crewmen, who faced injury, betrayal, cap-tivity, hunger, and depression. It was nothing short of miraculous that all ten came home at the end of the war. George Starks emerged from his ordeal with two passions—to stay in touch with his crew whatever the obstacles and to return to France to find and thank the brave souls to whom he owed his life. His enduring loyalty enabled him to do both.
Author: Robert L. Thompson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 486
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Book Description
Author: Andras Sóbester
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 1441994580
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 228
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Book Description
In this book, Dr. Andras Sobester reviews the science behind high altitude flight. He takes the reader on a journey that begins with the complex physiological questions involved in taking humans into the "death zone." How does the body react to falling ambient pressure? Why is hypoxia (oxygen deficiency associated with low air pressure) so dangerous and why is it so difficult to 'design out' of aircraft, why does it still cause fatalities in the 21st century? What cabin pressures are air passengers and military pilots exposed to and why is the choice of an appropriate range of values such a difficult problem? How do high altitude life support systems work and what happens if they fail? What happens if cabin pressure is lost suddenly or, even worse, slowly and unnoticed? The second part of the book tackles the aeronautical problems of flying in the upper atmosphere. What loads does stratospheric flight place on pressurized cabins at high altitude and why are these difficult to predict? What determines the maximum altitude an aircraft can climb to? What is the 'coffin corner' and how can it be avoided? The history of aviation has seen a handful of airplanes reach altitudes in excess of 70,000 feet - what are the extreme engineering challenges of climbing into the upper stratosphere? Flying high makes very high speeds possible -- what are the practical limits? The key advantage of stratospheric flight is that the aircraft will be 'above the weather' - but is this always the case? Part three of the book investigates the extreme atmospheric conditions that may be encountered in the upper atmosphere. How high can a storm cell reach and what is it like to fly into one? How frequent is high altitude 'clear air' turbulence, what causes it and what are its effects on aircraft? The stratosphere can be extremely cold - how cold does it have to be before flight becomes unsafe? What happens when an aircraft encounters volcanic ash at high altitude? Very high winds can be encountered at the lower boundary of the stratosphere - what effect do they have on aviation? Finally, part four looks at the extreme limits of stratospheric flight. How high will a winged aircraft will ever be able to fly? What are the ultimate altitude limits of ballooning? What is the greatest altitude that you could still bail out from? And finally, what are the challenges of exploring the stratospheres of other planets and moons? The author discusses these and many other questions, the known knowns, the known unkonwns and the potential unknown unknowns of stratospheric flight through a series of notable moments of the recent history of mankind's forays into the upper atmospheres, each of these incidents, accidents or great triumphs illustrating a key aspect of what makes stratospheric flight aviation at the limit.
Author: Bob St. John
Publisher: Taylor Publishing Company (TX)
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 250
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Book Description
Author: Jon T. Hoffman
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 0307430804
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 674
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Book Description
Featured on the Commandant of the Marine Corps’ Reading List and the Chief of Naval Operation’s “Naval Power” Reading List The Marine Corps is known for its heroes, and Lieutenant General Lewis B. Puller has long been considered the greatest of them all. His assignments and activities covered an extraordinary spectrum of warfare. Puller mastered small unit guerrilla warfare as a lieutenant in Haiti in the 1920s, and at the end of his career commanded a division in Korea. In between, he chased Sandino in Nicaragua and fought at Guadalcanal, Cape Gloucester, and Peleliu. With his bulldog face, barrel chest (which earned him the nickname Chesty), gruff voice, and common touch, Puller became—and has remained—the epitome of the Marine combat officer. At times Puller's actions have been called into question—at Peleliu, for instance, where, against a heavily fortified position, he lost more than half of his regiment. And then there is the saga of his son, who followed in Chesty's footsteps as a Marine officer only to suffer horrible wounds in Vietnam (his book, Fortunate Son, won the Pulitzer Prize). Jon Hoffman has been given special access to Puller's personal papers as well as his personnel record. The result will unquestionably stand as the last word about Chesty Puller.
Author: Roy McShane
Publisher: iUniverse
ISBN: 0595754074
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 405
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Book Description
"The Old West collides with World War II." In Roy McShane's second installment of his trilogy, HWELTE, bomber pilot First Lieutenant Chuck Hewitt returns home wounded from Stalingrad, in 1943, to his parent's ranch at Flagstaff, Arizona. He's a broken man looking for answers-ultimately finding those answers in the extraordinary history of his white grandfather's and Navajo grandmother's struggle to forge a life together against all odds in the 1880s. Inspired by his grandparent's hardships, Chuck decides to get back in the war and transfers into fighters. He eventually winds up in England, in 1944, with the 354th Fighter Group-the first group to fly and fight over Europe in the new, revolutionary P-51 Mustang. Whereupon, after his initial mission escorting B-17s over Germany, Chuck makes a startling discovery about the common denominator fighter pilots and bomber pilots share: They are all condemned men living on death row. "...McShane's descriptions of the American West, and the air war in Europe during World War II, are the best I've ever read." -San Francisco Bay Guardian "The Old West collides with World War II. Strap in and hold on for the ride of your life..." -Los Angeles New Times "...a western, a war story, a flying story and a love story, McShane pulls them all together with exciting realism." -St. Louis Post-Dispatch HWELTE (whell-`tay) n. Navajo: meaning fortress or place of refuge. Author's Websites: www.thaiwave.com/hwelte www.phuketdir.com/hwelte
Author: Patrick M. Royce
Publisher: ProStar Publications
ISBN: 9780911284072
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 164
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Book Description
Author: Kenneth R. Crippen
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476652244
Category : Sports & Recreation
Languages : en
Pages : 327
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Book Description
The Buffalo Bills of the National Football League have a fervent fan base; the city's love affair with their football team dates back more than six decades. The Buffalo Bills were one of the strongest teams in the All-America Football Conference in 1948 and 1949, their final years of play. The team had such an impact on the city and on professional football that current franchise owner Ralph Wilson, when searching for a home for his American Football League team, settled in Buffalo and named the team in honor of the original Bills.
Author: Bill Edgar
Publisher: Penguin Group Australia
ISBN: 176014570X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 256
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Book Description
Imagine you are dying with a secret. Something you’ve never had the courage to tell your friends and family. Or a last wish – a task you need carried out before you can rest in peace. Now imagine there’s a man who can take care of all that, who has no respect for the living, who will do anything for the dead. Bill Edgar is the Coffin Confessor – a one-of-a-kind professional, a man on a mission to make good on these last requests on behalf of his soon-to-be-deceased clients. And this is the extraordinary story of how he became that man. Bill has been many things in this life: son of one of Australia’s most notorious gangsters, homeless street-kid, maximum-security prisoner, hard man, family man, car thief, professional punching bag, philosopher, inventor, private investigator, victim of horrific childhood sexual abuse and an activist fighting to bring down the institutions that let it happen. A survivor. As a little boy, he learned the hard way that society is full of people who fall through the cracks – who die without their stories being told. Now his life’s work is to make sure his clients’ voices are heard, and their last wishes delivered: the small-town grandfather who needs his tastefully decorated sex dungeon destroyed before the kids find it. The woman who endured an abusive marriage for decades before finding freedom. The outlaw biker who is afraid of nothing . . . except telling the world he is in love with another man. The dad who desperately needs to track down his estranged daughter so he can find a way to say he's sorry, with one final gift. Confronting and confounding, heartwarming and heartbreaking, The Coffin Confessor is a compelling story of survival and redemption, of a life lived on the fringes of society, on both sides of the law – and what that can teach you about living your best life . . . and death.
Author: Ann Rinaldi
Publisher: HarperCollins
ISBN: 0547416245
Category : Young Adult Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 243
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Book Description
Based on the true story of the Hatfield-McCoy feud, “this novel beautifully evokes a time, a place, and one of the more peculiar sagas in American history” (Booklist). Fanny McCoy has lived in fear and anger ever since that day in 1878 when a dispute with the Hatfields over the ownership of a few pigs set her family on a path of hatred and revenge. From that day forward, along the ragged ridges of the West Virginia-Kentucky line, the Hatfields and the McCoys have operated not within the law but within mountain codes of their own making. In 1882, when Fanny’s sister Roseanna runs off with young Johnse Hatfield, the hatred between the two clans explodes. As the killings, abductions, raids, and heartbreak escalate bitterly and senselessly, Fanny, the sole voice of reason, realizes that she is powerless to stop the fighting—and must learn to rise above the petty natures of her family and neighbors to find her own way out of the hatred . . . “Tautly plotted.” —Publishers Weekly “An absorbing story . . . Readers will be drawn to the Romeo and Juliet aspects and also learn a bit of little understood American history.” —VOYA
