Special Duties Pilot

Special Duties Pilot PDF Author: John M. Billings
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1526786273
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 208

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Book Description
If there was ever a man who was born to fly, it is John M. Billings. He took his first plane ride in 1926, began taking piloting lessons in 1938, and joined the US Army Air Force in July 1942. After training he was assigned to fly Consolidated B-24 Liberator long-range bombers. He joined the 825th Bombardment Squadron of the 484th Bombardment Group. After flying fifteen daylight strategic bombing missions, Billings was selected for assignment to the 885th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) (Special). As its designation suggests, the 885th was no regular bombing unit. The 885th specialized in flying top secret, low-altitude missions at night in support of the clandestine operations of the OSS and the Special Operations Executive. The unit’s covert missions included parachuting OSS and SOE agents and supplies deep inside German territory. The most eventful and dangerous of Billings’ thirty-nine secret missions with the 885th was his assignment in February 1945 to clandestinely insert a three-man OSS team, code-named Greenup, into Austria. The drop zone selected for the Greenup insertion was located on a glacier in a valley surrounded by mountains in the middle of the snow-covered Alps. Billings and his crew finally found the weather in the Alps clear enough to spot the drop zone, slip their unwieldy B-24 between the mountain peaks and descend to an altitude just a few hundred feet above the moonlit snow. On Billings’ signal, the OSS agents parachuted right on target. The insertion of this OSS team was the inspiration for the feature film Inglorious Bastards. However, Brad Pitt’s vengeful character was far removed from the leader of the Greenup team, Fred Mayer, who achieved success by infiltrating enemy ranks to gain vital intelligence. After the war, John Billings flew with Trans World Airlines and Eastern Airlines. He also flew more than 300 ‘Angel Flight’ airlift missions which involve the specialized aerial transportation of critically ill medical patients. This is one man’s story of a remarkable lifetime of flying, both in peace and in war.

Special Duties Pilot

Special Duties Pilot PDF Author: John M. Billings
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1526786273
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 208

Get Book Here

Book Description
If there was ever a man who was born to fly, it is John M. Billings. He took his first plane ride in 1926, began taking piloting lessons in 1938, and joined the US Army Air Force in July 1942. After training he was assigned to fly Consolidated B-24 Liberator long-range bombers. He joined the 825th Bombardment Squadron of the 484th Bombardment Group. After flying fifteen daylight strategic bombing missions, Billings was selected for assignment to the 885th Bombardment Squadron (Heavy) (Special). As its designation suggests, the 885th was no regular bombing unit. The 885th specialized in flying top secret, low-altitude missions at night in support of the clandestine operations of the OSS and the Special Operations Executive. The unit’s covert missions included parachuting OSS and SOE agents and supplies deep inside German territory. The most eventful and dangerous of Billings’ thirty-nine secret missions with the 885th was his assignment in February 1945 to clandestinely insert a three-man OSS team, code-named Greenup, into Austria. The drop zone selected for the Greenup insertion was located on a glacier in a valley surrounded by mountains in the middle of the snow-covered Alps. Billings and his crew finally found the weather in the Alps clear enough to spot the drop zone, slip their unwieldy B-24 between the mountain peaks and descend to an altitude just a few hundred feet above the moonlit snow. On Billings’ signal, the OSS agents parachuted right on target. The insertion of this OSS team was the inspiration for the feature film Inglorious Bastards. However, Brad Pitt’s vengeful character was far removed from the leader of the Greenup team, Fred Mayer, who achieved success by infiltrating enemy ranks to gain vital intelligence. After the war, John Billings flew with Trans World Airlines and Eastern Airlines. He also flew more than 300 ‘Angel Flight’ airlift missions which involve the specialized aerial transportation of critically ill medical patients. This is one man’s story of a remarkable lifetime of flying, both in peace and in war.

A Special Duty

A Special Duty PDF Author: Jennifer Elkin
Publisher: Grosvenor House Publishing
ISBN: 1781482659
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
This is the true story of a young RAF pilot, his crew, a Halifax bomber and their attempts to carry agents and supplies, from bases in Libya and Italy, deep into Europe, the Balkans and Poland during the Second World War. The crew were forced to bale out during a supply drop to southern Poland, but unlike many, they survived, thanks to Polish and Russian partisans, who risked everything to shelter and protect them. They became the first RAF crew to be repatriated through Russia and, though they all survived, the personal cost forms the central thread of this story.

The Night Stalkers

The Night Stalkers PDF Author: Michael J. Durant
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1440625166
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
From the New York Times bestselling authors of In the Company of Heroes comes a thrilling account of military aviation for history buffs and “for those who love vivid tales of battlefield heroics” (Publishers Weekly). In the world of covert warfare, Special Operations pilots are notoriously close-lipped about what they do. They don’t talk about their missions to anyone outside their small community. But now, Michael J. Durant and Steven Hartov shed fascinating light on the mysterious elite commandos known as SOAR (Special Operations Aviation Regiment) and take readers into a shadowy world of combat they have only imagined.

Special Military Operations

Special Military Operations PDF Author: United States. Federal Aviation Administration
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Air traffic control
Languages : en
Pages : 366

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Book Description


Pilot Training Manual for the Lightning

Pilot Training Manual for the Lightning PDF Author: United States Army Air Forces
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781533050076
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 110

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Book Description
Air Air Forces Manual 51-127-1. This manual is the text for your training as a P-38 pilot. The Air Forces' most experienced training and supervisory personnel have collaborated to make it a complete exposition of what your duties as a pilot ore, how each duty will be performed, and why it must be performed in the manner prescribed. The techniques and procedures described in this book are standard and mandatory. In this respect the manual serves the dual purpose of a training checklist and a working handbook. Use it to make sure that you learn everything described herein. Use it to study and review the essential facts concerning everything taught. Such additional self-study and review will not only advance your training, but will alleviate the burden of your already overburdened instructors. This training manual does not replace the Technical Orders for the airplane, which will always be your primary source of information concerning the P-38 so long as you fly it. This is essentially the textbook of the P-38. Used properly, it will enable you to utilize the pertinent Technical Orders to even greater advantage

A Memoir

A Memoir PDF Author: Norbert Ostrye
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781425110857
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The book traces the growth of a young man on a farm in Western New York during the great depression, through what became a thirty-year career spanning the time frame from WW II through the Korean War and the Vietnam Conflict in the United States Air Force. It describes in much detail, the training prior to and during some of the combat and other operational missions. He covers the interaction of the various crew members and the importance of their duties. Some of the fun stuff as in extra curricular activities including gold panning in Alaska, intramural sports, hunting and fishing as well as bush flying. During the period immediately following the end of the Berlin Airlift he was assigned to an organization whose mission was the collecting of electronic intelligence against what was at that time, our most worthy adversary, the Soviet Union. While much of that activity is still classified and cannot be elaborated on, US News and World Report did manage to publish a Special Investigative Report. The author uses much of the report by permission. It was risky business and some of the missions are described in detail and many of our losses are enumerated. Some of our crewmembers are still unaccounted for. The author pays many compliments to his family and especially his wife for their unquestioning support and help during times of great stress. The importance of a good Air Force wife cannot be overstated.

The Navy's pilot shortage; a selective bonus and other actions could improve retention

The Navy's pilot shortage; a selective bonus and other actions could improve retention PDF Author: United States. General Accounting Office
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Air pilots, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 24

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Book Description


A Special Duty

A Special Duty PDF Author: Jennifer Elkin
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780993336072
Category : World War, 1939-1945
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
This is the true story of a young RAF pilot, his crew, a Halifax bomber and their attempts to carry agents and supplies, from bases in Libya and Italy, deep into Europe, the Balkans and Poland during the Second World War. The crew were forced to bale out during a supply drop to southern Poland, but unlike many, they survived, thanks to Polish and Russian partisans, who risked everything to shelter and protect them. They became the first RAF crew to be repatriated through Russia and, though they all survived, the personal cost forms the central thread of this story.

Airborne Espionage

Airborne Espionage PDF Author: David Oliver
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752495526
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 323

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Book Description
At the outbreak of the World War I there was no formal organization for the transport of spies across enemy lines by aircraft and no communications network between the air forces and their agents. The exploits of British and Commonwealth, American, Free European, Soviet, German, Italian and Japanese airmen and units are recorded in this account.

Special Operations Association

Special Operations Association PDF Author:
Publisher: Turner Publishing Company
ISBN: 1596521562
Category : Special forces (Military science)
Languages : en
Pages : 180

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Book Description