No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron 1940-1945

No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron 1940-1945 PDF Author: Tomas Polak
Publisher: Philedition
ISBN: 9782952638159
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
With additional Czech pilots arriving from France during the summer of 1940 the RAF decided, after the formation of No.310 (Czech) Squadron, to establish a second Czech fighter unit as No.312 Squadron. It quickly gained operational status and participated in the last phase of the Battle of Britain before experiencing all the ups and downs of Fighter Command's activities over the following years. It was briefly part of the 2nd TAF and took part in the D-Day landings. During its existence 145 pilots served with the squadron. This is a absolutely necessary companion to the No.310 Squadron book.

No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron 1940-1945

No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron 1940-1945 PDF Author: Tomas Polak
Publisher: Philedition
ISBN: 9782952638159
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

Get Book Here

Book Description
With additional Czech pilots arriving from France during the summer of 1940 the RAF decided, after the formation of No.310 (Czech) Squadron, to establish a second Czech fighter unit as No.312 Squadron. It quickly gained operational status and participated in the last phase of the Battle of Britain before experiencing all the ups and downs of Fighter Command's activities over the following years. It was briefly part of the 2nd TAF and took part in the D-Day landings. During its existence 145 pilots served with the squadron. This is a absolutely necessary companion to the No.310 Squadron book.

No. 313 (Czech) Squadron 1941 -1945

No. 313 (Czech) Squadron 1941 -1945 PDF Author: Phil H. Listemann
Publisher: Philedition
ISBN: 2918590754
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 43

Get Book Here

Book Description
A deep study of this unit which includes history, the men who flew with it, details on losses, claims, statistics with plenty of photos - 50 including two in colour - and colour profiles - 7.

Radio and the Performance of Government

Radio and the Performance of Government PDF Author: Erica Harrison
Publisher: Charles University in Prague, Karolinum Press
ISBN: 8024655217
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 273

Get Book Here

Book Description
Throughout the Second World War, the Czechoslovak Government-in-Exile broadcast over the BBC from London, hoping to reach out to their former compatriots living in a divided and occupied Europe. As the only way of projecting their authority, President Beneš and his colleagues relied on the radio as a stage on which to perform as the government they wished to be, representing a Czechoslovak state they hoped to recreate after the war. Despite a ban on listening to foreign broadcasts in the German-occupied Protectorate and Slovakia, many tuned in to hear ‘London calling’ and the broadcasts provided the strongest connection between the London Czechoslovaks and the audience at home. This work examines this government programme for the first time, making use of previously unstudied archival sources to examine how the exiles understood their mission and how their propaganda work was shaped by both British and Soviet influences. This study assesses the strengths, weaknesses, and limitations of the government’s radio propaganda as they navigated the complexities of exile, with chapters examining how they used the radio to establish their own authority, how they understood the past and future of a Czechoslovak nation, and how they struggled to include Slovakia and Subcarpathian Ruthenia within it.

Czechoslovakian Air Force, 1918-1970

Czechoslovakian Air Force, 1918-1970 PDF Author: Zdenek Titz
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 52

Get Book Here

Book Description


Men of The Battle of Britain

Men of The Battle of Britain PDF Author: Kenneth G. Wynn
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473847680
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 3288

Get Book Here

Book Description
Since it was first published in 1989, Men of the Battle of Britain has become a standard reference book for academics and researchers interested in the Battle of Britain. Copies are also owned by many with purely an armchair interest in the events of 1940.The book records the service details of the airmen who took part in the Battle of Britain in considerable detail. Where known, postings and their dates are included, as well as promotions, decorations and successes claimed flying against the enemy. There is also much personal detail, often including dates and places of birth, civilian occupations, dates of death and place of burial or, for those with no known grave, place of commemoration. There are many wartime head-and-shoulders photographs. Inevitably the high achievers who survived tend to have the longest entries, but those who were killed very quickly, sometimes even on their first sortie, are given equal status.The 2015 third edition will include new names and corrected spellings, as well as many new photographs. Plenty of the entries have been extended with freshly acquired information. The stated nationalities of some of the airmen have been re-examined and, for example, one man always considered to be Australian is now known to have been Irish.

Polish Air Force Fighter Aircraft, 1940-1942

Polish Air Force Fighter Aircraft, 1940-1942 PDF Author: Peter Sikora
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1399051040
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 319

Get Book Here

Book Description
Polish fighter pilots received their baptism of fire over their own country in September 1939, when they were overwhelmed by the aerial might of Germany and the Soviet Union. Despite this, they claimed over 120 enemy aircraft destroyed. When the Polish Air Force was reborn in France, the same men fought against the same enemy, yet with more experience and with better understanding of their opponents’ tactics – though, as the author reveals, the aircraft they flew were, in most cases, quite different. Polish airmen also proved themselves during the Battle of Britain, when 145 men from Poland, the biggest non-British contingent in Fighter Command, fought for the survival one of the last bastions of democracy. With an impressive tally of 126 enemy aircraft destroyed over Poland, and a further fifty-one in France, these men, including combat pilots, flying instructors and test pilots, had to be trained to serve under the command of the RAF. They had to learn a new language that was crucial for them to be part of the Fighter Command organisation, and when they finally did, for every 100 men involved in fighting Göring’s Luftwaffe in the air, up to twenty of them were Polish. During the Battle of Britain fighter pilots from Poland destroyed over 202 enemy aircraft with 303 Squadron becoming the most successful unit in the whole of Fighter Command. Ten Polish fighter squadrons were eventually formed and went on to fight alongside their British, Canadian, Australian, Belgian, or Dutch brothers in arms in the RAF’s offensive over northern Europe that began in earnest in 1941. In so doing, the Polish fighter pilots achieved many successes against the enemy in the sky as well as on the ground, though, inevitably, at a cost. Polish Air Force Fighter Aircraft, 1940-1942 tells the story that the men and machines of the Polish squadrons underwent from the Battle of France to the Dieppe Raid. The latter was almost as disastrous in the air as it was on the ground – though, from the Polish perspective, it confirmed the long-developed skills of their pilots. This book, however, is not just about the aircraft the Polish aircrew flew, it also reveals how these men lived and fought in the early years of the Second World War.

A History of the Battle of Britain Fighter Association

A History of the Battle of Britain Fighter Association PDF Author: Geoff Simpson
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473852315
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 193

Get Book Here

Book Description
In 1945 it was announced that Allied airmen who had taken part in the Battle of Britain in 1940 would be entitled to the immediate award of the 1939-1945 Star, with Battle of Britain Clasp. This was the only Clasp awarded with the 1939-1945 Star.In the following years holders of the Clasp held informal get-togethers. In 1958 the Battle of Britain Fighter Association (BBFA) was formed, with full membership only available to holders of the Battle of Britain Clasp. Lord Dowding was the first President. Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother became Patron. That post is now held by HRH The Prince of Wales.As well as organising reunions and providing some welfare assistance to members and widows, the Association has played a key role in researching entitlement to the Clasp and pronouncing on claims for the Clasp. A considerable part of the knowledge existing today on these matters came from the work of successive BBFA archivists, the late Group Captain Tom Gleave and the late Wing Commander John Young.The Association has also become closely associated with the Battle of Britain thanksgiving service held every September in Westminster Abbey.The Association's archives are held in part by the Secretary of the BBFA, Group Captain Patrick Tootal and in part by the Air Historical Branch, RAF (AHB) at RAF Northolt.Geoff Simpson has now been invited by the Association to use these archives as the basis of a book on the history of the organisation.

The Hurricane Pilot Who Became a Gestapo Agent

The Hurricane Pilot Who Became a Gestapo Agent PDF Author: M J Morgan
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1399035630
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 239

Get Book Here

Book Description
Tucked away in the archives of the Museum for Transport and Technology in Berlin is an old photograph of a Hawker Hurricane on public display. The image must have been taken before the night of 23/24 November 1943, when the museum and the greater part of its collection – including the Hurricane – were destroyed in a RAF bombing raid. The aircraft in the photograph bore a squadron commander’s pennant under the cockpit, had broken propellor blades and carried the squadron markings PA-A on its fuselage, as well as the serial number W9147. Intrigued by what he had seen, the picture launched the author on an investigation that uncovered an incredible story of wartime treachery and betrayal. That tale concerns one man in particular – Augustin Přeučil. Also known to his family and friends as Gustav Přeučil, it was Augustin who had been the Hurricane’s last RAF pilot. A 26-year-old aviator from Czechoslovakia, on first appearances Přeučil had fled his homeland after Nazi Germany took control and created the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia – part of Hitler’s Greater Germany. Having initially traveled to Poland, he then escaped to France and, from there, ultimately reached Britain, where he joined the RAF Volunteer Reserve. Augustin Přeučil seemed to be just like many of the men who had arrived in the UK to continue the fight against Hitler. He appeared to be settled and even married an English girl in July 1941. But on 18 September of that year, he was posted missing, believed killed, while undertaking a training flight off the coast of Sunderland and Hartlepool. Přeučil’s body was never recovered and nothing more was heard of him. His young wife received a war widow’s pension; he was just another sad statistic of the war. However, Augustin Přeučil was far from dead. Having landed the ‘stolen’ Hurricane near Bastogne in Belgium, he was treated by local people as a downed Allied pilot, sheltered and then passed into the care of the local Resistance group. Přeučil repaid their trust by handing himself into the Gestapo – and revealing all he knew. The Gestapo’s response was swift and brutal. For Přeučil, this marked the start of a new career as an undercover agent for the Gestapo, principally in Czechoslovakia. As the author reveals, how he ended up serving Hitler’s Third Reich and betraying his homeland, his adopted country and a new wife, is a story that while strange is completely true. It is also one that ended with his death. Found guilty of High Treason, Přeučil was hanged by the Czech authorities in April 1947.

Strategy For Defeat: The Luftwaffe, 1933-1945 [Illustrated Edition]

Strategy For Defeat: The Luftwaffe, 1933-1945 [Illustrated Edition] PDF Author: Williamson Murray
Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing
ISBN: 178625770X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 883

Get Book Here

Book Description
Includes the Aerial Warfare In Europe During World War II illustrations pack with over 200 maps, plans, and photos. This book is a comprehensive analysis of an air force, the Luftwaffe, in World War II. It follows the Germans from their prewar preparations to their final defeat. There are many disturbing parallels with our current situation. I urge every student of military science to read it carefully. The lessons of the nature of warfare and the application of airpower can provide the guidance to develop our fighting forces and employment concepts to meet the significant challenges we are certain to face in the future.

To Inherit the Skies

To Inherit the Skies PDF Author: R. A. Mason
Publisher: Brassey's
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 126

Get Book Here

Book Description
Fifty years after the Battle of Britain, Air Vice Marshall Tony Mason describes the inheritance of "The Few". the modern aircraft, weapons, and ground-support systems operated by the men and women who now guard the skies of the United Kingdom. 80 photographs.