Few aircraft encompass as many contradictions as the Fairey Swordfish - the legendary Stringbag naval torpedo bomber was approaching antiquation at the start of the war yet struck mortal blows against some of the most powerful battleships in the Axis fleets. Naval Aviation historian Matthew Willis explores how modern technology such as radar ......
Fighter pilots! Images of Baron Manfred von Richthofen and Eddie Rickenbacker in the Great War, Johnnie Johnson, Robert Stanford Tuck and Richard Bong in the Second World War, or Robin Olds in Vietnam, all spring to mind. Volumes have been written about them, past and present. Understandably, most of these revolve around the skill, cunning and ......
A comprehensive illustrated history of snipers and their battlefield role in World War II. Thousands of volumes have been published about World War II but relatively little attention has been given to the sniper. Drawing from memoirs, government documents and interviews, Snipers of World War II incorporates eyewitness accounts to weave a ......
The history of aviation is full of striking and unusual designs, from the biplanes and triplanes of World War I, through the giant bombers and streamlined fighters of World War II to the stealthy shapes and unusual configurations of modern military aircraft like the Northrop Grumman B-2 and V-22 Osprey. Military Aircraft Visual ......
This is the story of a tank regiment: the 2nd Fife and Forfar Yeomanry in the Second World War. Raw and visceral personal recollections from the men themselves recall some of the most dramatic and horrific scenes imaginable - the sheer nerve-wracking tension of serving in highly inflammable Sherman tanks, the sudden impact of German shells, the ......
Within weeks of war being declared, Wolfgang Fischer had volunteered to join the Luftwaffe and spent nearly five of the succeeding six years of hostilities in uniform. During this time, he was given a succession of postings varying from a long-range recce unit; as a decoder in a met office in occupied France; to a bomber squadron; and as a ......
With a detailed introduction from acclaimed Luftwaffe historian J. Richard Smith and illustrated throughout with photographs from private family albums, Luftwaffe Eagle is a fascinating insight into the life of an exceptional Luftwaffe pilot and navigator. In this compelling memoir, Erich Sommer recalls his life in pre-war Germany and the ......
On the night of 13/14 October 1939, the German commander of U-boat U-47, Gunther Prien, steered past the sunken block ships and chains which inadequately protected the British naval base at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands. The U-Boat sank the old British World War I battleship HMS Royal Oak and then escaped into the North Sea. The loss of the ......
While large numbers of aeroplanes had been produced In America for the war effort overseas at the Western Front, it was found that that the British, French and Germans were far ahead of them when it came to flight technology, which led to a huge surplus of aeroplanes in the United States. The governments solution to recover some of the money ......
On 27 August 1939, Flugkapitan Erich Warsitz became the first man to fly a jet aircraft, the Heinkel He 178 and in June of the same year he flew the first liquid-fuel rocket aircraft, the Heinkel He 176. His legendary flying skills enabled him to assist the pioneering German aircraft and engine design teams that included Wernher von Braun and ......
Idris (Taff) James was a driver in the Royal Army Service Corps and one of the thousands of young British soldiers taken prisoner by the Japanese in early 1942. He was ordered to become a medic by his Company Commander, who must have been a very shrewd judge of character. His account of the conditions and suffering endured by his fellow ......
The Falkland Islands had been invaded and a Task Force was already steaming south at full speed. On board the carriers were the Harriers that would provide essential aerial cover for the British troops and ships sent to re-capture the islands. They would be entering particularly hostile territory, and the types capabilities had urgently to be ......
Flight Lieutenant David Moore Crook DFCs original Spitfire Pilot ranks among the finest first-hand accounts published during the Second World War, particularly for a Battle of Britain airman. It rightly remains a sought-after classic.
A Spitfire pilot during the epic aerial battles of the summer of 1940, DMC became a ......
Nimrod Boys is a collection of eighteen first-hand accounts of operating the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod an aircraft which served at the forefront of the Cold War. As the first jet-powered maritime aircraft, it could reach critical points for rescues or for operational requirements in rapid time. Its outstanding navigation and electronics systems ......
A myth-busting, page-turning history of the Battle of Britain Summer, 1940- western Europe has been conquered, and Hitler turns his attention to the invasion of England. Fighter is Len Deightons thrilling history of the ensuing Battle of Britain - the aerial combat between the RAF and the Luftwaffe that was fought over the summer of 1940. ......
John OHalloran was a country boy from Tamworth, NSW, who was called up for national service not long after the start of the Vietnam War. As a tough and determined 21-year-old, he guided 6 RARs B Company 5 Platoon through some of the biggest conflicts of the war, including Operation Hobart and the Battle of Long Tan. But he faced his hardest ......
A riveting tale of persistence, innovation, and the incalculable wages of war, from the international bestselling author of Talking to Strangers and host of the award-winning podcast Revisionist History Most military thinkers in the years leading up to World War II saw the airplane as an afterthought. But a small band of idealistic strategists ......
Robert Verkaik makes a revisionist case for an unsung aircraft, the Boulton Paul Defiant. This two-seat gun-turret fighter is, argues Verkaik, the forgotten fighter of Dunkirk and the Battle of Britain; the effectiveness as well as the courage of its crews is overlooked in standard accounts. To advance his case, he notes that a Defiant ......
A useful contribution to an overcrowded field of history by giving deserved attention to the ordinary men and unsung machines that arent usually included in the dramatic narrative. - The TimesA great read and a real eye-opener to anyone who thinks the Battle of Britain is only about Brits and Germans and Messerschmitts and Spitfires. The value ......
Jocelyn Pereiras vivid and colourful narrative of the 5th Battalion Coldstream Guards advance from Normandy to Cuxhaven in 1944-45 is a priceless piece of regimental history and a tribute to those who served in that final, testing phase of the war. It is a story of war, an intensely human endeavour, with its highs and lows, good times and bad.
The AIF and the Hundred Days Battlefields such as Gallipoli, Fromelles, Pozières, Bullecourt and Passchendaele are burnt into the Australian Great War psyche. Unfortunately the sheer guts, fortitude and sacrifice of the diggers in those battles had often been wasted by poor leadership and planning. From an Australian perspective, such sacrifice ......
The story of Frank Whittle - RAF pilot, mathematician of genius, inventor of the jet engine and British hero. In 1929, a twenty-two-year-old maverick named Frank Whittle - a self-taught aeronautical obsessive and risk-takingly brilliant RAF pilot - presented a blueprint for a revolutionary, jet-powered aircraft engine to the Air Ministry. His ......
Richard Cullen takes the reader through the Great War history, led by the medals of five who served, each decorated for distinguished service. Their stories are untold and open our eyes to the struggles that so many faced without formal recognition. They are tales of sadness, power, modesty, compassion, bravery and a fulfilled post-war life.
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