Voices in Flight: The Wellington Bomber

Voices in Flight: The Wellington Bomber PDF Author: Martin W Bowman
Publisher: Pen & Sword Aviation
ISBN: 9781399074896
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Martin Bowman has drawn together a selection of first-hand pilot testimonies in an effort to record authentically the experience of flying the much-mythologized Wellington during one of the most challenging eras of aviation history.

Voices in Flight: The Wellington Bomber

Voices in Flight: The Wellington Bomber PDF Author: Martin W Bowman
Publisher: Pen & Sword Aviation
ISBN: 9781399074896
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Martin Bowman has drawn together a selection of first-hand pilot testimonies in an effort to record authentically the experience of flying the much-mythologized Wellington during one of the most challenging eras of aviation history.

The Wellington Bomber

The Wellington Bomber PDF Author: Martin W Bowman
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1783831766
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
The Wellington Bomber was omnipresent during the Second World War, employed in a variety of contexts in the fight against the Axis powers. The pilots who flew this aircraft did so with an immense amount of pride, and there is perhaps no-one better placed to tell the story of this incredible aircraft than these men. Martin Bowman has drawn together a selection of first-hand pilot testimonies in an effort to record authentically the experience of flying the much-mythologised Wellington during one of the most challenging eras of aviation history. The book is supplemented by two plate sections of stirring black and white images.

The Heavy Bomber Offensive of WWII

The Heavy Bomber Offensive of WWII PDF Author: Martin Bowman
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1783831936
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 257

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Book Description
This book contains fourteen stirring accounts, each conveying an authentic sense of what it was really like to fly as a member of air-crew during the various bombing operations of the Second World War. The storytellers are an eclectic mix of pilots, navigators, bomb aimers, wireless operators and gunners who flew on operations in heavy bombers. It conveys the terror of being coned by German searchlights over the target, attacks by Luftwaffe night-fighters, often catastrophic damage to aircraft and the ensuing struggle to keep the machine airborne on the return trip to base. It tells of the comradeship between the crew and the humour between them, often borne of fear. The gentle and unassuming narratives include 'Millennium'; 'One of Our Aircraft Is Missing'; Bomber's Moon; 'Bombing Berlin' 'The Ordeal Of Pilot Officer Romans DFC'; Last Man Out' operations on Whitleys and Halifaxes; Flying Officer 'X'; Stirlings; 'Rescue At Sea' 'The Incendiary Load's Alight'; 'The Night Of The Bombs' and 'The Kassel Raids of 1943' as well as BBC Broadcasts and stories by Allied war correspondents. Each of these accounts conveys the sense of purpose that these men felt in doing one of the most dangerous jobs of the war. It is a fitting tribute to those that survived and the many thousands who died in the struggle against Hitler's dreadful ambitions in Europe.

Daylight Bombing Operations 1939-1942

Daylight Bombing Operations 1939-1942 PDF Author: Martin Bowman
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1783831774
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 263

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Book Description
There are no records of war more valuable than the first-hand accounts of the individuals who were actually there. The vivid honesty of the stories on display here brings into sharp focus the personal fears as well as the sheer exhilaration of flying sorties by day, often through heavy flak, sometimes at hedge-hopping or wave- skimming heights, as the squadrons of Blenheims, Mosquitoes, Mitchells and Venturas swept across the Continent towards their targets.??From the outbreak of the Second World War to the eve of VE Day, the medium bomber crews of 2 Group RAF and 2nd Tactical Air Force flew vital operations over Europe. Here their story is told, month by perilous month, often in the words of the airmen themselves, their accounts supported by meticulous research. Their exploits include the first sorties of the war, the famous Operation Oyster to bomb the Philips works at Eindhoven and other low-level pinpoint attacks against key targets in occupied Europe and Scandinavia. ??While sharing in the triumph of their bombing successes, we are not spared details of the appalling sacrifices and the failed and aborted raids. These details are relayed in a series of poignant personal snapshots, highlighting the extraordinary valour of these ordinary men. Remarkable photographs include aerial views of targets under attack, as well as dramatic portraits of the aircraft involved. This book serves as a moving tribute to the efforts of the pilots involved in some of the most perilous daylight bombing operations of the Second World War.

'Gardening by Moonlight'

'Gardening by Moonlight' PDF Author: Peter Kaššák
Publisher: Lulu.com
ISBN: 8097189135
Category : B-24 (Bomber)
Languages : en
Pages : 162

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Book Description
205 Group RAF mining operations over the River Danube in 1944. The product of research in British, Australian, South African, German, Hungarian and Slovak archives, 'Gardening by Moonlight' is about one of the least known and most effective of the Royal Air Force's bombing campaigns of the Second World War. Operating from a group of bases around Foggia, in Central Italy, the RAF's 205 Group mined the River Danube intensively between April and October 1944, radically curtailing the movement of Axis river shipping and at times halting it altogether. The Wellington and Liberator crews had to sow their mines (hence the slang term 'gardening') at low level on moonlit nights, running the gauntlet of night fighters, flak and balloon barrages. Their courage, skill and sacrifice are celebrated in what is an important account of a virtually unknown aspect of the war in the air.

RAF Night Operations

RAF Night Operations PDF Author: Martin Bowman
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1783831944
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 265

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Book Description
The Navy can lose us the war, but only the Air Force can win it. Therefore our supreme effort must be to gain overwhelming mastery in the air. The Fighters are our salvation but the Bombers alone provide the means of victory...'?? So said Prime Minister Winston Churchill to the War Cabinet on the first anniversary of the outbreak of war. But when Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939 her bombers were predominantly twin-engined types like the Wellington, Whitley and the Hampden which after suffering carnage during the day were soon switched to night operations.??Wartime speeches alone cannot begin to describe the misery and fortitude, desperation and terror endured by the civilian population during the 'Blitz Nights' in Coventry, the London docklands and the East End as night after night bombs and incendiaries rained down on them. Their personal experiences and those of war correspondents like James Negley Farson are as vivid, poignant and descriptive as those of the bomber crews carrying the war to the enemy in the early night bomber offensive. These too are mostly recounted at first hand, sometimes in BBC broadcasts to the nation; and they include 'The Unanswerable Double'; 'Winged Words'; 'German Defences'; 'Getting Frightened'; 'Jump For It!'; 'The Night The Fuel Ran Out'; 'Flames, Flares and Fires'; 'Busted Flush'; 'The Tail Gunner's Story' and 'Hampden and 'Wimpy' Ops'. They tell just what it was like to fly in a heavy bomber over occupied Europe.

The Wellington Bomber Story

The Wellington Bomber Story PDF Author: Martin W. Bowman
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780752464169
Category : Vickers Wellington (Bomber)
Languages : en
Pages : 128

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Book Description
The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engine, long range medium bomber, universally known as the ‘Wimpy’. The only bomber in construction throughout the Second World War, the Wellington played a pivotal role in training and combat from its conception in the 1930s, through active service in the Far Eastern, Mediterranean and German arenas of conflict, until its final use by the RAF in 1953.This book follows the fascinating story of the much-loved and innovatively designed Wellington throughout its life, including many tales from the aircraft’s years with Bomber Command. Illustrated with a wide selection of images, both colour and black and white, this book is a fitting tribute to a wonderful servant of the RAF.

Lost Voices of The Royal Air Force

Lost Voices of The Royal Air Force PDF 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.

Forgotten Voices of the Blitz and the Battle For Britain

Forgotten Voices of the Blitz and the Battle For Britain PDF Author: Joshua Levine
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1409034089
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 500

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Book Description
Drawing material from the Imperial War Museum's extensive aural archive, Joshua Levine brings together voices from both sides of the Blitz and the Battle of Britain to give us a unique, complete and compelling picture of this turbulent time. In June 1940, British citizens prepared for an imminent German onslaught. Hitler's troops had overrun Holland, Belgium and France in quick succession, and the British people anticipated an invasion would soon be upon them. From July to October, they watched the Battle of Britain play out in the skies above them, aware that the result would decide their fate. Over the next nine months, the Blitz killed more than 43,000 civilians. For a year, the citizens of Britain were effectively front-line soldiers in a battle which united the country against a hated enemy. We hear from the soldiers, airmen, fire-fighters, air-raid wardens and civilians, people in the air and on the ground, on both sides of the battle, giving us a thrilling account of Britain under siege. With first-hand testimonies from those involved in Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain, Black Saturday on 7th September 1940 when the Luftwaffe began the Blitz, to its climax on the 10th May 1941, this is the definitive oral history of a period when Britain came closer to being overwhelmed by the enemy than at any other time in modern history.

Forgotten Voices of the Victoria Cross

Forgotten Voices of the Victoria Cross PDF Author: Roderick Bailey
Publisher: Random House
ISBN: 1409004805
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
'It wasn't until after he was safely back in the aircraft again that I heard that he'd actually been out on the wing to try to put the fire out ... Remember that we were flying at about 90 miles an hour at a height of 13,000 feet' Squadron Leader RP Widdowson on Sergeant James Ward, who earned his VC in 1941 The Victoria Cross, awarded to the most courageous and determined servicemen, is the highest military decoration that can be bestowed. In Forgotten Voices: Victoria Cross, first-hand accounts of soldiers, sailors and airmen describe the incredible events that earned these extraordinary men the VC in the last century. Captivating and often humbling, these stories depict exceptional acts of bravery in unimaginable situations, of men who would say they were just doing their duty. Introduction by General Sir Richard Dannatt.