RAF & East German Fast-Jet Pilots in the Cold War PDF Download
Are you looking for read ebook online? Search for your book and save it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Download RAF & East German Fast-Jet Pilots in the Cold War PDF full book. Access full book title RAF & East German Fast-Jet Pilots in the Cold War by Nigel Walpole. Download full books in PDF and EPUB format.
Author: Nigel Walpole
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1526758393
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 512
Get Book Here
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
Author: Nigel Walpole
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 1526758393
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 512
Get Book Here
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
Author: Nigel Walpole
Publisher: Air World
ISBN: 9781526758385
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 352
Get Book Here
Book Description
_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 fighter-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 defence 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.
Author: Nigel Walpole
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780953793327
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 250
Get Book Here
Book Description
'Thinking the Unthinkable' is the result of ten years of sporadic 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 fighter-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 defence of their respective homelands - and faced each other daily across the Iron Curtain. Nigel Walpole passed out from the Royal Air Force College Cranwell in 1954, and joined No.26 (Day Fighter) Squadron, flying Hunter F.4s on the front line in Germany at RAF Oldenburg. In 1957 he converted to the Swift FR.5, on No.79 (Fighter Reconnaissance) Squadron, and in 1959 began an exchange posting with the USAF at Shaw AFB, South Carolina, flying RF-101 Voodoos in the tactical reconnaissance role. On return to the UK in 1961, he was posted to the Central Fighter Establishment, where he was promoted to squadron leader and given command of No.234 Squadron, equipped with Hunter F.6 and Hunter DFGA 9 aircraft. He returned to Germany in 1965, to command No.2 Squadron, flying Hunter FR.10s committed to armed reconnaissance. This was followed by two years on the Fighter Command Tactical Evaluation team, before promotion to wing commander and an appointment to 16 Parachute Brigade, as the Brigade Air Support Officer (BASO) - this giving him a good perspective of the British Army's use of air power. Staff training at the National Defence College followed a short spell in command of No.12 Squadron, operating overland and maritime strike/attack Buccaneers, followed by a staff appointment at the MOD in London, before he returned to the front line in Germany as Officer Commanding Strike Wing, flying Jaguar GR.1s at RAF Bruggen. Promoted to group captain, he ended his military career in 1988 with four years as Assistant Chief of Staff (Offensive) in the NATO HQ at Rheindahlen, Germany. He then joined British Aerospace as its air weapons advisor, before retiring to take a university degree, and thereafter to write a series of books and articles on the Cold War - as seen from the flight line. He now lives with his Dutch-born wife in Suffolk, UK.
Author: Nigel Walpole
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1526722895
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 328
Get Book Here
Book Description
From September 1940 until May 1941, Britain - especially Greater London - suffered heavily under a barrage of day and nighttime raids by the then mighty Luftwaffe; raids which killed some 20,000 people and destroyed or damaged one million homes during what came to be known as the London Blitz. A baby blitz followed, from January to May 1944, which was destined to be the final manned bomber offensive by a much depleted Luftwaffe. Afterwards, there came the last gasp, the final blitz on London, this time delivered by the V1 flying bombs and V2 rockets which were aimed at the capital. Overall, the V weapons killed or seriously injured 31,000 in London and destroyed or seriously damaged 1.6 million houses throughout Britain. Yet despite all this, British industry, economy and morale remained largely intact.Group Captain Nigel Walpole grew up in London during the Blitz and he has traced the full history of the V1 'doodlebugs' and V2 rockets that terrorized so many at this time. He looks at the infamous missile development site at Peenemunde and the engineers who brought Hitler's horrific visions to life. He reports his vivid memories of the three Blitz campaigns and the countermeasures taken in response to them. Having been granted direct access to the history of the V weapons, he describes the evolution, development, production deployment and launch of the flying bombs and rockets. Whilst acknowledging the terrible damage inflicted by these weapons, Nigel also recognizes them as an example of Germanys extraordinary capacity for innovation and determination during one of the darkest periods of world history.
Author: Jerry Pook
Publisher: Pen and Sword Aviation
ISBN: 9781844158249
Category : Air pilots, Military
Languages : en
Pages : 0
Get Book Here
Book Description
During a twenty-five year flying career in the RAF, Jerry Pook has flown Hunter Fighter/Ground Attack aircraft in the Gulf, Harriers in West Germany, the supersonic Starfighter with the Dutch Air Force, the Harrier in Belize, Central America and the Tornado bomber at the Tri-national Tornado Training Establishment where he trained German and Italian pilots and navigators. Jerry had a long relationship with the Harrier Fighter/Ground Attack vertical take-off aircraft. This he flew in West Germany at the height of the Cold War operating from Wildenrath and off-base operations with Field Wing operations based in the fields and woods of the German countryside. Jerry saw action during the Falklands War when based on HMS Hermes and flying one of the few RAF Harriers in the Ground Attack role in support of the troops fighting ashore. He then enjoyed flying the American-built Starfighter RF 104G during a 3 year exchange tour with the Dutch Air Force - he describes the Starfighter as ' beautiful to fly, smooth and sophisticated, supremely fast and powerful - if you took liberties with it you knew it would kill you in an instant.' After 3 years with No 1(Fighter) Squadron and again flying the Harrier he moved to the then new Tornado, flying in its bomber role. This he continued to fly operationally and in the instructional role for 13 years until grounded from military flying for medical reasons.
Author: Donald Nijboer
Publisher: Erin, Ont. : Boston Mills Press
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 200
Get Book Here
Book Description
This pictorial book looks inside the cockpit of aircraft from 1947 to 1965 from the United States, United Kingdom, Sweden, Canada, France and the Soviet Union. Featured aircraft includes a pilot's perspective on what it was like to fly.
Author: John Nichol
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1398509426
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 389
Get Book Here
Book Description
'Eject! Eject!' When the call is made to abandon an aircraft, it's only the beginning of the story... From the Sunday Times bestselling writer John Nichol, author of Spitfire, Lancaster and Tornado, comes a brilliant new book that reveals the astonishing story of an invention that has saved many thousands of lives around the world, including his own: the ejection seat. Nichol tells the remarkable tale of how the ejection seat was first conceived during the Second World War as countless lives were lost in accidents and in battle. In the wake of the war, that technological race to save aircrew lives using explosive seats continued at an incredible pace. Nichol tells the story of the brave men who risked their lives testing those early devices, and interviewed the first British pilot to eject back in 1949, when ejection, from pulling the handle to being under the parachute, took thirty seconds. Today, that figure is down to around one second. Packed with interviews with aircrew who know exactly how it feels to ‘Bang Out’ from an aircraft at high speed, both in peace and in war, the book gives the reader a vivid sense of what that life-saving experience feels like, but also features the moving accounts of what happens next, from the viewpoint of both the crews and their families, who often have little or no information about whether or not their loved ones have survived. Because ejecting is just the start of a journey….. Packed with dramatic action, incredible science and moving recollections, Eject! Eject! is an essential read.
Author: Michael Napier
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1472836898
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 322
Get Book Here
Book Description
Throughout the second half of the 20th century, international relations across the globe were dominated by the Cold War. From 1949 until the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, US and Soviet strategic forces were deployed across the Arctic Ocean in North America and Northern Russia, while the best-equipped armed forces that the world had ever seen faced each other directly across the 'Iron Curtain' in Europe. In Cold War Skies examines the air power of the major powers both at a strategic and at a tactical level throughout the 40 years of the Cold War. In this fascinating book, acclaimed historian Michael Napier looks at each decade of the war in turn, examining the deployment of strategic offensive and defensive forces in North America and Northern Russia as well as the situation in Europe. He details the strategic forces and land-based tactical aircraft used by the air forces of the USA, USSR, NATO, Warsaw Pact countries and the European non-aligned nations. He also describes the aircraft types in the context of the units that operated them and the roles in which they were used. The text is supported by a wide range of first-hand accounts of operational flying during the Cold War, as well as numerous high-quality images.
Author: Nigel Walpole
Publisher: Pen and Sword
ISBN: 1783409770
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 546
Get Book Here
Book Description
The story of the supersonic fighter with “interesting insight into the period of the 1950s and early 1960s, the Cold War and of course the war in Vietnam” (Military Modelling). During the mid–1950s the United States Air Force was given its most powerful single-seat, two-engine fighter to date. The Voodoo would be deployed before the end of that decade in the tactical nuclear bomber and tactical reconnaissance roles worldwide, and in homeland defense with the two-seat, all-weather variant. In December 1957 it took the World Air Speed Record to Mach 1.6—over one and a half times faster than the sound barrier. This book looks at the evolution of the original design and its introduction into service. Chapters cover operations in Korea, Vietnam, the Cuban Crisis and in Europe during the Cold War years. Many first-hand accounts from pilots are included and the author’s own experiences with the aircraft are given with fascinating insight. The Voodoo was an elegant, mean-looking fighting machine that epitomized fast flying in the fifties and sixties. It continues to be a revered airplane. “Definitely a book that gives an in depth look at the Voodoo and the pilots who flew her.”—InScale.org
Author:
Publisher: DIANE Publishing
ISBN: 1428990488
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 228
Get Book Here
Book Description
In February 1999, only a few weeks before the U.S. Air Force spearheaded NATO's Allied Force air campaign against Serbia, Col. C.R. Anderegg, USAF (Ret.), visited the commander of the U.S. Air Forces in Europe. Colonel Anderegg had known Gen. John Jumper since they had served together as jet forward air controllers in Southeast Asia nearly thirty years earlier. From the vantage point of 1999, they looked back to the day in February 1970, when they first controlled a laser-guided bomb strike. In this book Anderegg takes us from "glimmers of hope" like that one through other major improvements in the Air Force that came between the Vietnam War and the Gulf War. Always central in Anderegg's account of those changes are the people who made them. This is a very personal book by an officer who participated in the transformation he describes so vividly. Much of his story revolves around the Fighter Weapons School at Nellis Air Force Base (AFB), Nevada, where he served two tours as an instructor pilot specializing in guided munitions.
