This is the story of Americas bid to obtain atomic weapons and the aircraft that were developed to deliver them, first tested in July 1945 and the subsequent use of uranium and plutonium bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively, an event that pushed Japan to total surrender and the end of the Second World War.Tells the background story of ......
The XB-40 and XB-41 were secret, little-known experimental modifications of the B-17F and B-24D, respectively, into heavily-armed bomber gunships sometimes referred to as "bomber escorters". They were developed during early World War II in response to the lack of a USAAF long-range fighter aircraft able to escort and protect regular B-17 ......
The Vickers Wellington was one of very few aircraft types to have been in production and frontline service throughout World War II, and more than 10,000 Wellingtons were built in the period. They took part in the first RAF bombing mission of the conflict when, on 4 September 1939, 14 examples from Nos 9 and 149 Sqns undertook a daring daylight ......
Fairey Swordfish was a British biplane torpedo-bomber and reconnaissance aircraft designed to operate from aircraft carriers or as a reconnaissance seaplane operating from catapult launchers. The prototype was built in 1933 at the Fairey Aviation Co. Ltd.
The aircraft had its first flight in 1933, too. It had an open cabin for a ......
Barely a decade passed from the Wright Brothers first powered flight to aircraft becoming lethal instruments of war. The Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service took off in the very early days of The Great War and captured the publics imagination and admiration. Sydney and Richard Carline happened to be both pilots and artists as was ......
Between June 1940 and August 1943, RAF Bomber Command undertook a little-known strategic bombing campaign in Europe. The target was Mussolinis Italy. This air campaign was a key part of the strategic policy of Britain from 1940 to 1943, which aimed at securing Italys early surrender. However, it posed unique challenges, not least of which was ......
Organised chronologically by type, German Bomber Aircraft of World War II offers a highly-illustrated guide to the main types of aircraft used by the German Luftwaffe during World War II. The book offers a comprehensive survey of German aircraft, from the Junkers Ju 87A Stuka dive-bomber and Dornier Do 17Z-2 that participated in the ......
This is a welcome reissue of a book which has been described as one of the best accounts about life in Bomber Command during World War II. Lancaster Target is the classic story of one crews fight to survive a full tour of operations in the night skies of wartime Europe. Flying Lancaster bombers from RAF Wickenby in Lincolnshire between 1943 and ......