The Great War Ace, The Red Baron and Beyond

The Great War Ace, The Red Baron and Beyond PDF Author: Jacquie Buttriss
Publisher: Pen and Sword Aviation
ISBN: 1399058355
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 202

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Book Description
Celebrating Sir Brian Baker's illustrious RAF career, from World War I flying ace to post-war Air Marshal, highlighting key roles like the Berlin Airlift and Operation CORK. From Rifleman to Air Marshal, Sir Brian Baker excelled in every role. Having transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and learning to fly in record time on a Maurice Farman Longhorn, he progressed to a Bristol Fighter on the Western Front. A natural pilot, he became a ‘Flying Ace’, chasing the Red Baron down and accounting for twelve Fokkers and Gothas in quick succession, earning several gallantry medals. Brian’s close shaves were legendary. Between the wars he was Commander of the famous ‘Cock Squadron’ at Biggin Hill followed by being attached to the Royal Navy, pioneering the training and use of aircraft carriers. His many key appointments during the Second World War included commanding the RAF’s North Atlantic defenses and Coastal Command. His role in the planning of Operation CORK ensured that not a single U-Boat reached the Channel throughout the D-Day landings. Post-war Sir Brian, now an Air Marshal and CinC Transport Command, master-minded the Berlin Airlift with singular success. His career achievements were recognized by decorations from allied nations. A keen sportsman, Brian captained the RAF Cricket team at The Oval and organised a farewell tour of ten countries. Celebrating the achievements of one of the RAF’s most illustrious characters, this overdue biography will be welcomed by aviation enthusiasts worldwide.

The Great War Ace, The Red Baron and Beyond

The Great War Ace, The Red Baron and Beyond PDF Author: Jacquie Buttriss
Publisher: Pen and Sword Aviation
ISBN: 1399058355
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 202

Get Book Here

Book Description
Celebrating Sir Brian Baker's illustrious RAF career, from World War I flying ace to post-war Air Marshal, highlighting key roles like the Berlin Airlift and Operation CORK. From Rifleman to Air Marshal, Sir Brian Baker excelled in every role. Having transferred to the Royal Flying Corps and learning to fly in record time on a Maurice Farman Longhorn, he progressed to a Bristol Fighter on the Western Front. A natural pilot, he became a ‘Flying Ace’, chasing the Red Baron down and accounting for twelve Fokkers and Gothas in quick succession, earning several gallantry medals. Brian’s close shaves were legendary. Between the wars he was Commander of the famous ‘Cock Squadron’ at Biggin Hill followed by being attached to the Royal Navy, pioneering the training and use of aircraft carriers. His many key appointments during the Second World War included commanding the RAF’s North Atlantic defenses and Coastal Command. His role in the planning of Operation CORK ensured that not a single U-Boat reached the Channel throughout the D-Day landings. Post-war Sir Brian, now an Air Marshal and CinC Transport Command, master-minded the Berlin Airlift with singular success. His career achievements were recognized by decorations from allied nations. A keen sportsman, Brian captained the RAF Cricket team at The Oval and organised a farewell tour of ten countries. Celebrating the achievements of one of the RAF’s most illustrious characters, this overdue biography will be welcomed by aviation enthusiasts worldwide.

The Red Battle Flyer

The Red Battle Flyer PDF Author: Manfred Freiherr von Richthofen
Publisher: DigiCat
ISBN:
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 127

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Book Description
This book is written by the Red Baron, the famous German flying ace of the Great War who was credited with 80 combat victories in flying battles. It is an autobiography, talking about his early life and love of horses and dogs, and his family. A fascinating insight into a famous figure.

Bill Lambert

Bill Lambert PDF Author: Samuel J. Wilson
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 147662612X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
World War I fighter pilot William C. Lambert of Ironton, Ohio, flew for the British Royal Air Force in 1918. When he left the Western Front in August, he had 22 victories--then the most achieved by any American pilot. (By the time of the Armistice in November, his total was surpassed by Eddie Rickenbacker, the former race car driver from Columbus, Ohio, with 26 victories.) Lambert survived the war and lived into his eighties, unwilling until late in life to seek public acclaim for his war record. This book examines his life and the wartime experiences that defined it.

Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed

Enduring Courage: Ace Pilot Eddie Rickenbacker and the Dawn of the Age of Speed PDF Author: John F. Ross
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
ISBN: 1250033780
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
The sensational true story of Eddie Rickenbacker, America's greatest flying ace At the turn of the twentieth century two new technologies—the car and airplane—took the nation's imagination by storm as they burst, like comets, into American life. The brave souls that leaped into these dangerous contraptions and pushed them to unexplored extremes became new American heroes: the race car driver and the flying ace. No individual did more to create and intensify these raw new roles than the tall, gangly Eddie Rickenbacker, who defied death over and over with such courage and pluck that a generation of Americans came to know his face better than the president's. The son of poor, German-speaking Swiss immigrants in Columbus, Ohio, Rickenbacker overcame the specter of his father's violent death, a debilitating handicap, and, later, accusations of being a German spy, to become the American military ace of aces in World War I and a Medal of Honor recipient. He and his high-spirited, all-too-short-lived pilot comrades, created a new kind of aviation warfare, as they pushed their machines to the edge of destruction—and often over it—without parachutes, radios, or radar. Enduring Courage is the electrifying story of the beginning of America's love affair with speed—and how one man above all the rest showed a nation the way forward. No simple daredevil, he was an innovator on the racetrack, a skilled aerial dualist and squadron commander, and founder of Eastern Air Lines. Decades after his heroics against the Red Baron's Flying Circus, he again showed a war-weary nation what it took to survive against nearly insurmountable odds when he and seven others endured a harrowing three-week ordeal adrift without food or water in the Pacific during World War II. For the first time, Enduring Courage peels back the layers of hero to reveal the man himself. With impeccable research and a gripping narrative, John F. Ross tells the unforgettable story of a man who pushed the limits of speed, endurance and courage and emerged as an American legend.

The Red Knight of Germany

The Red Knight of Germany PDF Author: Floyd Gibbons
Publisher: Arno Press
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description


The Origins of Air War

The Origins of Air War PDF Author: Robert F. Grattan
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857715348
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 308

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Book Description
Air power has come to be seen as a country's first line of defence; in the First World War views were vastly different. Aircraft were a novelty not always welcomed by the traditionalist military, and there were no tactics, doctrine or strategies available for the deployment of air power. Yet, within four years, proponents of the new force were making claims, often extravagant, of what aircraft could achieve. Here Robert Grattan traces the remarkable history of the emergence of air power as a force to reckon with, and its dramatic impact on military strategy. He discusses the details of aircrafts, their engines and manufacture - including the Fokker, Bristol Fighter, the Zeppelin and the DH2 - the weaponry and prominent figures, such as Albert Ball and Werner Voss. "The First Air War" is indispensable for military historians, aviation and military enthusiasts as well as those interested in strategy.

Balloon Ace

Balloon Ace PDF Author: Charles D. Dusch Jr.
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
ISBN: 1985901641
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 363

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Book Description
In 1927, when aviator Charles A. Lindbergh flew his famous monoplane in a triumphant tour of the United States, the Spirit of St. Louis touched down in Wheeling, West Virginia, for his visit to the Linsly School. There, Lindbergh laid a wreath at the foot of the Aviator—a statue erected by Sallie Maxwell Bennett bearing the likeness of her son, Louis Bennett Jr., West Virginia's only First World War flying ace. Though largely unknown today, Bennett was an airpower innovator whose tragically short combat career would have an enduring impact on American flight and on war memorials both at home and abroad. In Balloon Ace: The Life of an Early Airpower Visionary, historian Charles Dusch reconstructs Louis Bennett Jr.'s lost legacy. Advocating for a national aviation reserve years before the writings of "Billy" Mitchell, Bennett created a state aerial militia in 1917, complete with supporting airbases and an airplane factory. When the US Army refused to accept his unit, a frustrated Bennett joined the Royal Air Force to fight on the Western Front, destroying nine German balloons and three aircraft in a matter of days before he himself was shot down. In the second act of Bennett's story, Dusch traces Sallie Bennett's quest to clandestinely recover her son's body. Posing as a journalist, Sallie traveled to Europe searching the cemeteries on the Western Front and later commissioned twelve memorials to Bennett, including a chapel in France, the RAF window in Westminster Abbey, and the Aviator at Linsly. Moved by the vast destruction of the continent, she would eventually cross political boundaries to bring much-needed publicity to other mothers' demands for the US government to repatriate their own fallen loved ones. From West Virginia to the Western Front and back again, Balloon Ace is more than a multifaceted and insightful account of the pioneer aviators who prepared the United States for combat in the first air war—it is also a remarkable look at the commemoration culture that spanned the American Civil War to war-torn Europe in the early twentieth century.

Oswald Boelcke

Oswald Boelcke PDF Author: R.G. Head
Publisher: Grub Street Publishers
ISBN: 191069066X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
This biography of the pioneering WWI flying ace who mentored the Red Baron is “fascinating . . . [it] captures combat aviation at its inception” (MiG Sweep: The Magazine of Aviation Warriors). With a total of forty victories, Oswald Boelcke was Germany’s first ace in World War I—and a century later he remains a towering figure in the history of air warfare, renowned for his character, inspirational leadership, organizational genius, development of air-to-air tactics, and impact on aerial doctrine. Paving the way for modern air forces across the world with his pioneering strategies, Boelcke had a dramatic effect on his contemporaries. The famed Red Baron’s mentor, instructor, squadron commander, and friend, he exerted a tremendous influence upon the German air force. He was one of the first pilots to be awarded the famous Pour le Mérite, commonly recognized as the “Blue Max.” All of this was achieved after overcoming medical obstacles in childhood and later life with willpower and determination. Boelcke even gained the admiration of his enemies: After his tragic death in a midair collision, Britain’s Royal Flying Corps dropped a wreath on his funeral, and several of his captured foes sent another wreath from their German prison camp. His name and legacy live on, as seen in the Luftwaffe’s designation of the Tactical Air Force Wing 31 “Boelcke.” This definitive biography reveals his importance as a fighter pilot who set the standard in military aviation.

Aces High

Aces High PDF Author: Bill Yenne
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 1101002662
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Capturing the hearts of a beleaguered nation, the fighter pilots of World War II engaged in a kind of battle that became the stuff of legend. They cut through the sky in their P-38s to go one-on-one against the enemy—and those who survived the deadly showdowns with enough courage and skill earned the right to be called aces. But two men in particular rose to become something more. They became icons of aerial combat, in a heroic rivalry that inspired a weary nation to fight on. Richard “Dick” Bong was the bashful, pink-faced farm boy from the Midwest. Thomas “Tommy” McGuire was the wise-cracking, fast-talking kid from New Jersey. What they shared was an unparalleled gallantry under fire which won them both the Medal of Honor—and remains the subject of hushed and reverent conversation wherever aerial warfare is admired. What they had between them was a closely watched rivalry to see who would emerge as the top-scoring American ace of the war. What they left behind is a legacy of pride we will never forget, and a record of aerial victories that has yet to be surpassed anywhere in the world.

The Red Baron

The Red Baron PDF Author: Wayne Vansant
Publisher: Zenith Press
ISBN: 076034602X
Category : Comics & Graphic Novels
Languages : en
Pages : 107

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Book Description
In The Red Baron, historian and graphic artist Wayne Vansant profiles and illustrates the story of Manfred von Richthofen, whose unparalleled prowess as a German WWI pilot forever made him a part of nonfiction military lore.