Fast Jets to Spitfires

Fast Jets to Spitfires PDF Author: Ron Lloyd
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1526759098
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 242

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Book Description
How often have you glanced skywards at the sound of a passing aircraft and wondered what it would be like to fly one of those gleaming metal machines? Or admired the skill and the daring of the fighter pilot swooping down upon his enemy in the awe-inspiring, unrivalled elegance of a Spitfire? Ron Lloyd has had the experience of flying the majestic propeller-driven aircraft of the Second World War as well as the roaring, sound-barrier-breaking jets of the Cold War – and in this exciting book, he places the reader in the cockpit, describing what it really feels like to be sitting at the controls of a fighter aircraft. Ron Lloyd joined the RAF after the Second World War. During his early service he was selected to be one of the pilots to fly the wartime aircraft in the famous feature film The Battle of Britain, being fortunate to fly a Spitfire and even a Messerschmitt Bf 109 during the six weeks of filming. His role with the RAF, on the other hand, saw him on the front line in the Cold War, piloting de Havilland Vampires, Hawker Hunters, Gloster Javelins, Lightnings and Phantoms. He also served on exchange in the USA where he flew Convair F-102s, Convair F-106s and Lockheed T-33s. Ron wanted to share the thrills and the dangers of flying such aircraft with those who have not had such privileges – as well as relive such moments with those who have. Packed with unique photographs of the golden age of British military aviation, _Fast Jets to Spitfires_ brings the recent past back to life and allows readers to experience, through Ron Lloyd’s graphic accounts, the pure joy of being airborne, alone and in control of the great flying machines that have helped forge this nation’s history.

Fast Jets to Spitfires

Fast Jets to Spitfires PDF Author: Ron Lloyd
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1526759098
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 242

Get Book Here

Book Description
How often have you glanced skywards at the sound of a passing aircraft and wondered what it would be like to fly one of those gleaming metal machines? Or admired the skill and the daring of the fighter pilot swooping down upon his enemy in the awe-inspiring, unrivalled elegance of a Spitfire? Ron Lloyd has had the experience of flying the majestic propeller-driven aircraft of the Second World War as well as the roaring, sound-barrier-breaking jets of the Cold War – and in this exciting book, he places the reader in the cockpit, describing what it really feels like to be sitting at the controls of a fighter aircraft. Ron Lloyd joined the RAF after the Second World War. During his early service he was selected to be one of the pilots to fly the wartime aircraft in the famous feature film The Battle of Britain, being fortunate to fly a Spitfire and even a Messerschmitt Bf 109 during the six weeks of filming. His role with the RAF, on the other hand, saw him on the front line in the Cold War, piloting de Havilland Vampires, Hawker Hunters, Gloster Javelins, Lightnings and Phantoms. He also served on exchange in the USA where he flew Convair F-102s, Convair F-106s and Lockheed T-33s. Ron wanted to share the thrills and the dangers of flying such aircraft with those who have not had such privileges – as well as relive such moments with those who have. Packed with unique photographs of the golden age of British military aviation, _Fast Jets to Spitfires_ brings the recent past back to life and allows readers to experience, through Ron Lloyd’s graphic accounts, the pure joy of being airborne, alone and in control of the great flying machines that have helped forge this nation’s history.

Lightnings to Spitfires

Lightnings to Spitfires PDF Author: Clive Rowley
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 139901563X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 304

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Book Description
A former fighter pilot chronicles his career flying for the Royal Air Force for over four decades in this action-packed memoir. For forty-four years, Clive Rowley flew with the Royal Air Force, and for thirty-one of those years he specialized as an air defense fighter pilot. Such was his love of fast fighter aircraft that, in order to stay flying, he transferred to Specialist Aircrew terms of service, relinquishing any chance of further promotion above his rank of squadron leader. During those years Clive flew Lightnings, Hawks, and Tornado F.3s but, perhaps more intriguingly, for eleven years he flew Hurricanes and Spitfires with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight (BBMF), the RAF’s, if not the world’s most famous “warbird” display team, which he ultimately led and commanded. Many readers will have watched him, perhaps unknowingly, as he flew these iconic aircraft, often alongside the Lancaster, at air shows and large-scale commemorations around the UK and Europe. During the Cold War, Clive flew the BAC Lightning from Gütersloh in Germany and in the UK, becoming an expert in the art of air combat in the process. Then for sixteen years he flew the Tornado F.3 as the RAF moved into expeditionary operations. Packed with humorous and often hair-raising anecdotes, but also revealing the shock and sorrow he felt at the deaths of friends and colleagues, this book is a highly detailed account of life as a fighter pilot in the RAF in the last three decades of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. Clive is open about the fears he sometimes felt in this dangerous world and how he allayed them to continue flying for more than four decades. This book is illustrated with wonderful photographs from his time on the front line as well as with the BBMF, many of which have never been published before. If you have ever wondered what it is like to fly supersonic jet fighters, like the Lightning and the Tornado F.3, or iconic “warbirds,” such as the Hurricane and Spitfire, Clive Rowley brings you into those cockpits and shares his experiences.

Illustrated Book of Fighter Aircraft

Illustrated Book of Fighter Aircraft PDF Author: Francis Crosby
Publisher: Southwater
ISBN: 9781780194066
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
This illustrated book provides both the general enthusiast and the historian with key information about the world's fighter aircraft, from the pioneering days of WWI through to the present day, and includes the Spitfire, P-51 Mustang, MiG-15, Hunter, Harrier and F-14 Tomcat.

Test Pilots of the Jet Age

Test Pilots of the Jet Age PDF Author: Colin Higgs
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1526747766
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
Eleven daring test pilots recount their experiences at the forefront of aeronautical innovation in this oral history of the Jet Age. In the years after World War II, a select band of British test pilots risked everything in the quest to fly further, faster, and higher than ever before. Their vital work made our modern age of air transport possible. This book captures the stories of eleven such pilots, as told in their own words. Britain’s aircraft industry was booming in the late 1940s, and the demand for test pilots was seemingly limitless as new aircraft designs—some legendary and others nearly forgotten—were being built. Royal Air Force veterans who had distinguished themselves in the war suddenly had a vital new mission. First, they pursued the almost mythic goal of breaking the sound barrier. But once this was accomplished, they found themselves approaching speeds no one imagined possible. Their stories of that time are both colorful and insightful—and often tinged with humor.

Fighter Pilot: From Cold War Jets to Spitfires

Fighter Pilot: From Cold War Jets to Spitfires PDF Author: Christopher Coville
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1399015605
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 250

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Book Description
A young boy sits in the back of a Chipmunk aircraft at RAF Woodvale, near Liverpool. He has never flown in anything before. As the power goes on and the little aeroplane soars into a clear blue sky, he decides at once that this is the only thing he wants to do in life: to be an RAF pilot. Fighter Pilot: From Cold War Jets to Spitfires tells the riveting story of how a boy from Liverpool, at the height of the Cold War, joined an RAF that was largely led by veterans of the Second World War. Christopher Coville arrived at the RAF College at Cranwell to find an environment shaped by English Public School traditions, but he made the grades needed to be streamed onto fighters, and went on to fly the Lightning, Phantom and Tornado F3 in the air defense role. Christopher eventually became station commander of RAF Coningsby and while in that role flew with the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight, becoming the only station commander to qualify on the Hurricane, Spitfire and Lancaster. He also qualified on helicopters and multi-engine aircraft and became responsible for the quality of the displays performed by the Red Arrows, flying with them regularly. Along the way, he steered the RAF’s biggest re-equipment programme since 1945 during a tour at the Ministry of defense and filling a challenging top NATO post during the wars in the Balkans. While this is a book about a young man from Liverpool who joined from grammar school and became a three-star Air Marshal, it is also, above all, a story written by a passionate aviator, whose affection for flying leaps out of every line, in a book which is full of excitement, deep knowledge of flying and affection for his fellow servicemen and women. But it is also a wonderful narrative about people, the great characters forged by military life, and honed by fear, exhilaration, and occasional tragedy. Fighter Pilot: From Cold War Jets to Spitfires is a unique perspective on aviation, written by a talented and dedicated pilot at the very top table of the RAF. This book culminates with his retirement, as the No.3 in the RAF, and being invited to have lunch with The Queen.

RAF & East German Fast-Jet Pilots in the Cold War

RAF & East German Fast-Jet Pilots in the Cold War PDF Author: Nigel Walpole
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1526758393
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 512

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Book Description
“You’ll learn what these pilots went through knowing that their actions or reactions could trigger a global nuclear war.” —Historic Aviation RAF and East German Fast-Jet Pilots in the Cold War is the result of ten years of research, involving many visits to the former German Democratic Republic by a small Anglo/German team of military specialists. Their purpose was to explore the lives of RAF and East German fighter and ?ghter-bomber pilots, in the air and on the ground, at work and play, during the Cold War in North Germany. The book is based largely on personal testimony from these pilots, coupled with facts drawn from official archives and comment from other historical sources. Where possible, political considerations have been avoided and no outright criticism has been intended, readers being left to draw their own conclusions on the thinking, strategies, equipment and tactics discussed. Far from being an intellectual polemic on the Cold War, the text and photographs merely record a slice of history as seen through the eyes of a select few who took up arms in the defense of their respective homelands—and faced each other daily across the Iron Curtain. In an insightful conclusion, Nigel Walpole reassess the threat that both sides believed was genuine during those tense decades of the Cold War and examines the possible course and nature of a conflict which neither NATO nor the Warsaw Pact wanted but both actively planned for. “The writer has avoided politics where possible, and in doing so reassesses the threat and uncertainty—and ultimately the fears—both air forces faced. It’s truly fascinatingl.” —Flypast

V1 Flying Bomb Aces

V1 Flying Bomb Aces PDF Author: Andrew Thomas
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1780962940
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 154

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Book Description
Shortly after the Allied landings in France the Germans unleashed the first of their so-called 'revenge weapons', the V1 flying bomb. Launched from specially constructed sites in northern France, the fast, small, pulse-jet powered pilotless aircraft were aimed at London with the sole intent of destroying civilian morale to the point where the British government would be forced to sue for peace. This dangerous new threat drew an immediate response, and the Air Defence of Great Britain (as Fighter Command had been temporarily renamed) established layers of defence that included a gun line and balloon barrage. The main element, however, were standing patrols by the fastest piston-engined fighters available to the RAF – the new Tempest V and Griffon-powered Spitfire XIV. Other types were allocated too, most notably the Polish Mustang wing, while night defence was left in the capable hands of several dedicated Mosquito squadrons. Although pilotless, the V1 was no easy foe thanks to its speed, powerful warhead and sheer unpredictability. Nevertheless, 154 pilots became V1 aces, 25 of whom were also aces against manned aircraft.

Fast Jets to Spitfires

Fast Jets to Spitfires PDF Author: Ron Lloyd
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1526759071
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 336

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Book Description
A memoir of RAF service in the postwar era and the golden age of British military aviation, including photos. How often have you glanced skyward at the sound of a passing aircraft and wondered what it would be like to fly one of those gleaming metal machines? Or admired the skill and daring of the fighter pilot swooping down upon his enemy in the awe-inspiring, unrivaled elegance of a Spitfire? Ron Lloyd has had the experience of flying the majestic propeller-driven aircraft of the Second World War as well as the roaring, sound-barrier-breaking jets of the Cold War—and in this exciting book, he places the reader in the cockpit, describing what it really feels like to be sitting at the controls of a fighter aircraft. Lloyd joined the RAF after World War II, and during his early service he was selected as one of the pilots to fly the wartime aircraft in the feature film The Battle of Britain, giving him the opportunity to fly a Spitfire and even a Messerschmitt Bf 109 during the six weeks of filming. His role with the RAF, on the other hand, saw him on the front line in the Cold War, piloting de Havilland Vampires, Hawker Hunters, Gloster Javelins, Lightnings, and Phantoms. He also served on exchange in the USA where he flew Convair F-102s, Convair F-106s, and Lockheed T-33s. Packed with unique photographs of the golden age of British military aviation, Fast Jets to Spitfires allows readers to experience, through Ron Lloyd’s graphic accounts, the pure joy of being airborne.

Allied Jet Killers of World War 2

Allied Jet Killers of World War 2 PDF Author: Stephen Chapis
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472823532
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 97

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Book Description
Allied fighter pilots began encountering German jets – principally the outstanding Me 262 fighter – from the autumn of 1944. Stunned by the aircraft's speed and rate of climb, it took USAAF and RAF units time to work out how to combat this deadly threat as the Luftwaffe targeted the medium and heavy bombers attacking targets across the Reich. A number of high-scoring aces from the Eighth Air Force (Drew, Glover, Meyer, Norley and Yeager, to name but a few) succeeded in claiming Me 262s, Me 163 and Ar 234s during the final months of the campaign, as did RAF aces like Tony Gaze and 'Foob' Fairbanks. The exploits of both famous and little-known pilots will be chronicled in this volume, detailing how they pushed their P-47s, P-51s, Spitfires and Tempests to the limits of their performance in order to down the Luftwaffe's 'wonder weapons'.

RAF in Camera: 1950s

RAF in Camera: 1950s PDF Author: Keith Wilson
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1473859859
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 451

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Book Description
This photographic record of the RAF during the 1950s looks set to appear widely. Featuring varied and dynamic visual representation throughout, the events of this important decade are enlivened to great effect. The 1950s was a pivotal decade in aviation for many reasons. The RAF were employed in a great number of post-WWII roles, and the beginning of the Cold War saw many advances in the field of developmental aviation. The early years of the decade saw the Coronation of HRH Queen Elizabeth II take place, and a variety of photographs taken at the Queen's Review flypast at RAF Oldham on the 15 July 1953 are arrayed here. Meteors, Sabres, Chipmunks, Canberras, Vulcans... the list goes on. A wide selection of action shots illustrate the impressive aesthetics of some of these aircraft in formation. Shots of aircraft utilised during the course of the Cold War also feature, as do highly intriguing photographs of the Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles, stored on Bomber Command bases towards the end of the decade. Each chapter focusses on a specific year, relaying all the most fascinating highlights. This is a colourful, insightful and image-packed history, told with narrative flair and a clear passion for the subject matter at hand.