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Author: James Goulty
Publisher: Pen and Sword Aviation
ISBN: 1526752409
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272
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Book Description
Much has been written about the Royal Air Force during the Second World Warmemoirs, biographies, histories of Fighter and Bomber commands, technical studies of the aircraft, accounts of individual operations and exploits but few books have attempted to take the reader on a journey through basic training and active service as air or ground crew and eventual demobilization at the end of the war. That is the aim of James Goultys Eyewitness RAF. Using a vivid selection of testimony from men and women, he offers a direct insight into every aspect of wartime life in the service. Throughout the book the emphasis is on the individuals experience of the RAF the preparations for flying, flying itself, the daily routines of an air base, time on leave, and the issues of discipline, morale and motivation. A particularly graphic section describes, in the words of the men themselves, what it felt like to go on operations and the impact of casualties airmen who were killed, injured or taken prisoner. A fascinating varied inside view of the RAF emerges which is perhaps less heroic and glamorous than the image created by some postwar accounts, but it gives readers today a much more realistic appreciation of the whole gamut of life in the RAF seventy years ago.
Author: James Goulty
Publisher: Pen and Sword Aviation
ISBN: 1526752409
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 272
Get Book
Book Description
Much has been written about the Royal Air Force during the Second World Warmemoirs, biographies, histories of Fighter and Bomber commands, technical studies of the aircraft, accounts of individual operations and exploits but few books have attempted to take the reader on a journey through basic training and active service as air or ground crew and eventual demobilization at the end of the war. That is the aim of James Goultys Eyewitness RAF. Using a vivid selection of testimony from men and women, he offers a direct insight into every aspect of wartime life in the service. Throughout the book the emphasis is on the individuals experience of the RAF the preparations for flying, flying itself, the daily routines of an air base, time on leave, and the issues of discipline, morale and motivation. A particularly graphic section describes, in the words of the men themselves, what it felt like to go on operations and the impact of casualties airmen who were killed, injured or taken prisoner. A fascinating varied inside view of the RAF emerges which is perhaps less heroic and glamorous than the image created by some postwar accounts, but it gives readers today a much more realistic appreciation of the whole gamut of life in the RAF seventy years ago.
Author: James Goulty
Publisher: Pen & Sword Aviation
ISBN: 9781526752376
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 272
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Book Description
Much has been written about the Royal Air Force during the Second World War-memoirs, biographies, histories of Fighter and Bomber commands, technical studies of the aircraft, accounts of individual operations and exploits - but few books have attempted to take the reader on a journey through basic training and active service as air or ground crew and eventual demobilization at the end of the war. That is the aim of James Goulty's Eyewitness RAF. Using a vivid selection of testimony from men and women, he offers a direct insight into every aspect of wartime life in the service.Throughout the book the emphasis is on the individual's experience of the RAF - the preparations for flying, flying itself, the daily routines of an air base, time on leave, and the issues of discipline, morale and motivation. A particularly graphic section describes, in the words of the men themselves, what it felt like to go on operations and the impact of casualties - airmen who were killed, injured or taken prisoner.A fascinating varied inside view of the RAF emerges which is perhaps less heroic and glamorous than the image created by some post-war accounts, but it gives readers today a much more realistic appreciation of the whole gamut of life in the RAF seventy years ago.
Author: Bryn Evans
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473834813
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258
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Book Description
“Absorbing . . . this is an excellent account of air operations and tactics of the air battles in North Africa, the Mediterranean, and Italy.”—Firetrench Compared to the RAF’s Fighter and Bomber Commands, the Desert Air Force (DAF) is far less well known, yet its achievements were spectacular. DAF led the way in North Africa and Italy in pioneering new tactics in close Army-Air Force cooperation on the battlefield; DAF and Allied air forces gave Allied armies in North Africa and Italy a decisive cutting edge. While the Axis forces used the many rivers and mountains of Tunisia and Italy to slow the Allies’ advance, DAF was there to provide that extra mobile firepower—the artillery from the sky. They were the first multinational air force, and the first to introduce air controllers in the front lines of the battlefield. With first-hand accounts by veteran airmen from Britain, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the USA, this book “tells the previously untold story of how the DAF was the most decisive single factor in winning the three battles of El Alamein, and victory in the North Africa and Italy campaigns” (Yorkshire Evening Post). “A most welcome addition to the historiography of the air aspects of the war in North Africa and the wider Mediterranean . . . [it] will have considerable appeal to a wide ranging readership, but especially those interested in the tactical detail and personal experiences of the airmen involved in the various campaigns.”—British Journal for Military History
Author: Graham Waterton
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1399080199
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 366
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Book Description
Having left his grammar school just before his 16th birthday, Brian Slade falsified his age to pursue his dream of becoming a pilot. Within a few days of his 17th birthday, he was awarded his ‘wings’. It was the start of this teenager’s remarkable wartime career. Soon after being awarded his pilot’s brevet, Brian was posted to his first squadron. Flying the venerable Vickers Wellington, he found himself experimenting with early target marking techniques. It was also there that Brian gained the nickname ‘The Boy Slade’. Though Brian’s journey through the wartime RAF mirrored the experiences of tens of thousands of young men, what was different, if not unique, was the fact before he had turned 18, which was the minimum age to begin aircrew training, Brian had already completed thirty-four operations – more than was needed for a tour. This tally included the three 1,000 bomber raids against Cologne, Essen and Bremen. He was awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for nursing his badly damaged Wellington, which sustained flak and night-fighter damage, home after a raid on Bremen. Undaunted, Brian soon after volunteered for his second tour of operations. It was at this stage that he joined the Lancaster-equipped 83 Squadron in the newly formed 8 Group, becoming an experienced Pathfinder skipper. It was a role in which he marked targets in the Battle of the Ruhr, the bombing of Hamburg (Operation Gomorrah) and the Peenemünde raid. The RAF’s Youngest Bomber Pilot of WW2, told by his nephew, a former officer in the British Army, details all of Brian’s fifty-nine missions, and captures his compelling progress with Bomber Command, alongside the technological advances in aircraft, pathfinder strategy and tactics. Sadly, Brian’s Lancaster was shot down over Berlin in August 1943. The details of its loss remained shrouded in mystery until the puzzle of his aircraft’s demise was eventually solved by tracing the family of the only survivor. The relent-less dangers, not just in operations but also in training, and the continuous loss of life, are drawn into sharp focus. But, on account of his age, Brian’s story is unique. There may have never been, nor will ever be, an RAF pilot of 19 years old with his flying and operational experience. Complemented with a collection of previously unpublished photographs, The RAF’s Youngest Bomber Pilot of WW2 is one of the Second World War’s most amazing tales.
Author: R. Leslie Oliver
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 178720006X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 158
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Book Description
In this detailed eye-witness account the author describes the realities of the fighting over and around Malta during World War II, up to and including 21 March 1942, when Malta became the subject of more heavy attacks. Written under the incessant bombardments that the small island was subjected to, R. Leslie Oliver records the unfailing courage of the defenders of the George Cross Island.
Author: William J. Birnes
Publisher: Aspect
ISBN: 9780446554695
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 304
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Book Description
Focusing on unsolved sightings of UFOs and encounters by people in a variety of situations, the authors combine their files to present a number of baffling UFO situations that remain unexplained by conventional science.
Author: Tom Docherty
Publisher: Casemate Publishers
ISBN: 1783409266
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 332
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Book Description
This first of three volumes traces the history of 72 Fighter Squadron, one of the premier squadrons in the Royal Air Force. The aircraft flown, operational personnel and missions flown are fully described with firsthand accounts from pilots and both air and ground crew.Having been first established in 1917 the squadron was disbanded in February 1918. It was re-formed in February 1937 from B Flight of 1 Squadron and was equipped with Gloster Gladiators. In 1939 it was re-equipped with Spitfires which were used in air defense and convoy protection sorties following the start of the war. In 1940 the squadron moved to assist in the evacuation of Dunkirk. During The Battle of Britain, 72 spent the early days at RAF Acklington as part of 13 Group before moving south during September to assist the main defense force. The squadron then flew penetration Circus missions over occupied Europe with the intention of causing havoc to the German forces and also to lure German fighters into combat.
Author: Robert Watson
Publisher: Da Capo Press
ISBN: 0306824892
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 314
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Book Description
The little-known story of the most intriguing ship ever to set sail
Author: John Carey
Publisher: Harvard University Press
ISBN: 9780674287556
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 564
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Book Description
Plotting the development of modern science from Leonardo da Vinci to Chaos Theory, John Carey chooses accounts by scientists themselves that are both elegant and arrestingly written. The classic science-writers are here: Darwin, Huxley, Fabre. So, too, are the luminaries of the late 20th-century genre of popular science writing.
Author: Max Arthur
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
ISBN: 1848947445
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 734
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Book Description
Max Arthur, bestselling author of FORGOTTEN VOICES: THE GREAT WAR, presents this moving collection of first-hand accounts of life in the Royal Air Force, from 1918 to the present day. LOST VOICES OF THE ROYAL AIR FORCE records the role of the RAF in World War II, and, particularly, the Battle of Britain and the desert battles of North Africa, as well as in the Falklands and in the Gulf War. Through original interviews with air and ground crew, the spirit and comradeship, the stress, courage, isolation, vulnerability and the wonder of the wartime flying experience is vividly explored.
