"A riveting historical mystery that sweeps four continents and fills a void in the Victoria Cross story." Frederick Whirlpool’s Victoria Cross is displayed near the entrance to the Hall of Valour at the Australian War Memorial, Canberra. It was the first VC pinned to an Australian uniform, yet almost nothing was known about its enigmatic ......
Pat Hughes is today perhaps the greatest unsung hero of the Battle of Britain. Ranked sixth in the `ace of aces of the aerial campaign of summer 1940, he shot down at least fourteen enemy aircraft, mostly the Spitfires closely matched rival the Messerschmitt Me 109. As a flight commander in 234 Squadron he advocated bold, close-in tactics and ......
"The enemy bomber grew larger in my sights and the rear gunner was sprayed by my guns just as he opened fire. The rest was merely a matter of seconds. The bomber fell like a stone out of the sky and exploded on the ground. The nightmare came to an end." In this enthralling memoir the author recounts his experiences of the war years and traces ......
In the early morning of 20 April 1942, 47 Spitfire Vs of 601 and 603 Squadrons of the Auxiliary Air Force launched from the deck of the American aircraft carrier USS Wasp, which had sailed to a position in the western Mediterranean Sea north of Algiers. The planes were bound for Malta. At the time, the island was under heavy siege by Axis naval ......
Father of the Flying Corps and Father of Australian Aviation were two of the unofficial titles conferred on Oswald ("Toby") Watt when he died in tragic circumstances shortly after the end of the First World War. He had become the Australian Armys first qualified pilot in 1911, but spent the first 18 months of the war with the French Air ......
Duncan Menzies flew with the RAF in the Middle East, the Aeroplane and Armament Evaluation Establishment, and finally Fairey Aviation in a flying career that lasted from the late 1920s to the 1950s. In doing so he saw the world of flying change from a carefree one of open cockpits and few rules to the jet age, with its complexities and crowded ......
If Id have been a Vietcong youd be dead. - Len Opie Len was a soldier above soldiers. - Keith Payne VC Through three wars across 30 years, Len Opie carved a reputation as one of the countrys greatest infantrymen. A cold-eyed killer who drank nothing stronger than weak tea, he fought with his bare hands, a sharpened shovel and piano wire. He was ......