Download or read book Aces Warriors and Wingmen written by Wayne Ralph and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2008-09-11 with total page 289 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A celebration and a tribute to the warriors of the air who as young men served their country with unselfish devotion. Hear their words. Join these young Canadians in combat. AN EXCERPT FROM THE ACCOUNT OF GROUP CAPTAIN RAYNE SCHULTZ, 410 SQUADRON. It was heading home very fast, a Junkers 188, in thin cloud, well out over the North Sea. We hit it badly, and it was flaming, two-three hundred yards [of] flames streaming behind... my navigator, being a serious-minded individual said, "Let's get in closer and take a good look at it, as it is a different type of aircraft and I can report on it when we get down." So I closed in, which was the stupidest thing I ever did.... The mid-upper gunner was not dead; he was sitting inside of the flames. The next thing I saw the gun traversing down toward us. I broke as fast as I could, but he put forty to forty-four 13mm cannon shells into us. I had pistons blown out of one engine and the constant speed unit blown out in the other. We were going to bail out! We jettisoned the door and the navigator was halfway out when the chap came back from the Ground Control Intercept (GCI) and said, "There is a Force 9 to 10 sea and we will never be able [to rescue] you." So we brought that aircraft back to Bradwell Bay and I can tell you it near flew again. My navigator was wounded, bleeding from the face. I could see the engines running red hot, one was actually running on molten metal... the whole thing glowing inside. The air bottles were shot away and I had no brakes for landing. The Mosquito was in ribbons.

Download or read book Seeking the Fabled City written by Allan Levine and published by McClelland & Stewart. This book was released on 2018-10-30 with total page 514 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this definitive and meticulously researched account of the Jewish experience in Canada, award-winning and critically acclaimed author Allan Levine documents a story that is rich, accessible, often surprising, and epic in its scope. Relying on an abundance of primary sources and first-hand documentation and interviews, Seeking the Fabled City chronicles the successes and failures, the obstacles overcome and those not conquered, of a historic journey and the people who travelled it. Seeking the Fabled City is a story that unfolds over 250 years--from the decade after the conquest of New France in 1759, when small numbers of Sephardic Jews of Spanish and Portuguese descent arrived in British North America, through the great wave of Russian and Eastern European Jewish immigration at the turn of the twentieth century, to the present, in which Canada's large Jewish community, no longer hindered by the anti-Semitism of the past, is free to flourish. This is a chronicle of a people that takes place at hundreds of locales across the country--mainly in the large urban centres of Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, and Winnipeg, but also in west coast and maritime villages and tiny prairie towns--in a riveting drama with a cast of thousands. Relying on an abundance of primary sources and first-hand documentation and interviews, Seeking the Fabled City chronicles the successes and failures, the obstacles overcome and those not conquered, of a historic journey and the people who travelled it.

Download or read book Spitfire V vs C 202 Folgore written by Donald Nijboer and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2014-04-20 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inability of the Italians and Germans to invade Malta proved decisive for Allied victory in the Mediterranean during World War II, as the islands provided the Allies with a base from which to project air power. Early Italian efforts to pound the islands into submission were supplemented by major German forces from January 1942 and in a few weeks the situation for the defenders reached a critical stage; in response, in March 1942 the first Spitfires were delivered to Malta. Throughout the summer C.202s fought over Malta, escorting tiny formations of Cant Z.1007s, SM.79s and Ju 88s. The fighting subsided in August and September, but grew in strength with the arrival of more C.202s. In October the Regia Aeronautica could muster three Gruppi with a total of 74 C.202s. For ten days the Italians pressed a relentless attack before attrition brought the offensive to a halt. Throughout the bombing campaign the British were able to supply Malta with ever increasing numbers of Spitfires.

Download or read book First of the Few 5 June July 1940 written by Brian Cull and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2014-03-26 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First of the Few covers air operations during the month or so before the 'official' start of the Battle of Britain, 5 June to 9 July 1940, a period normally overlooked. The Battle of France commenced 5 June and the handful of RAF Hurricane and Battle squadrons that remained in France were heavily engaged as were Spitfire, Hurricane and Blenheims flying in support from the UK. Meanwhile, the Luftwaffe commenced intermittent nocturnal raids over eastern and north-eastern counties of England, resulting in the first night actions by RAF Blenheim night fighters. In the other direction, RAF night bombers were making forays over Germany and the occupied Low Countries. During the first week of July, Luftwaffe reconnaissance aircraft were overflying the south-east coastal areas and harrying shipping in the Channel. All of these actions are highlighted in First of the Few, many of the RAF aircrews experiencing combat for the first time survived as the 'first of the few' to participate in the forthcoming defence of Britain. The scene was thus set for one of the greatest battles in history - one that was to save the world from Nazi domination - the Battle of Britain.

Download or read book Historical Dictionary of Malta written by Uwe Jens Rudolf and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2010-04-27 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This second edition of the Historical Dictionary of Malta compiles the unusually rich and long history of the islands comprising the country of Malta. This is done through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, and hundreds of cross-reference dictionary entries describing all of the major places, persons, institutions, and events that have shaped the history of the archipelago.

Download or read book Heroes of the Skies written by Michael Ashcroft and published by Headline. This book was released on 2012-09-13 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since the dawn of aerial combat in the First World War, the heroism of the men who put their lives at risk in the air has known no bounds. There were no more heroic airmen than the fighter pilots and bomber crews of the Second World War - men who sacrificed their own lives in order to save their crew or who, although in extreme pain, managed to get their aircraft home rather than risk becoming PoWs. In telling the stories of more than eighty such men, Heroes of the Skies paints a picture of aerial combat from the First World War right through to Afghanistan, and allows us to celebrate the extraordinary feats of our flying heroes.

Download or read book Aces and Wingman written by Danny Morris and published by . This book was released on 1989-06 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book All the Fine Young Eagles written by David L. Bashow and published by D & M Publishers. This book was released on 2016-10-15 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the six years of the Second World War, Canadian fighter pilots flew and fought with great distinction in every theatre of war to which Commonwealth fighter forces were deployed. All the Fine Young Eagles captures the spirit and magnitude of the Canadian contribution, which began in Europe's Low Countries in 1940 and ended among the Japanese Home Islands in 1945. In keeping with the country's developing autonomy, Canadians served in both RAF and RCAF units, fighting with great courage in their Spitfires, Hurricanes, Kittyhawks and Typhoons. All the Fine Young Eagles collects the wartime diaries and postwar reminiscences from a great variety of the Canadian fighter pilots who served in World War II. Their vivid first-hand accounts take the reader into the cockpit to experience dogfights, tactical manoeuvres, forced landings and injuries, as well as the often tedious periods between engagements. They also illuminate the day-to-day living conditions on base and include humorous accounts of the vivid personalities and lighter moments of wartime. To provide context for their stories, Bashow's authoritative voice offers both a large-scale historical framework and detailed information about tactics, equipment and people, including such famous flying aces as "Buzz" Beurling and "Moose" Fumerton. This updated second edition contains a substantial amount of new material that veterans have contributed since the publication of the first edition.

Download or read book NORAD and the Soviet Nuclear Threat written by Gordon A.A. Wilson and published by Dundurn. This book was released on 2012-03-17 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Explore the history of the Canadian air defence of North America during the Cold War. NORAD and the Soviet Nuclear Threat is the history of the air defence of Canada during the Cold War era. The reader is taken into the Top Secret world of NORAD, the joint Canadian-American North American Air Defence network. Ride along with the aircrew in their cockpit as they fight an electronic joust in the skies. Go deep underground to the Command Centre as the Air Weapons controllers plot the air war on their radar screens. Visit the radar sites deep in the Canadian bush as they struggle to provide the radar data for an electronic air battle happening overhead. An actual NORAD exercise on 10 May 1973, called Amalgam Mute, is used as an example. This exercise tested that NORAD was honouring its motto: Deter, Detect, Destroy, and was protecting North America from aerial threat. There is an extensive explanation of the aircraft, squadrons, weapons, radar, and radar sites involved. Included are two personal accounts of the first interception of a Soviet "Bear" bomber off the coast of Canada, and the first Canadian fighter interceptor pilot to win the coveted United States Air Force "Top Gun" award.

Download or read book Vietnam War Slang written by Tom Dalzell and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-07-25 with total page 184 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2014, the US marks the 50th anniversary of the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, the basis for the Johnson administration’s escalation of American military involvement in Southeast Asia and war against North Vietnam. Vietnam War Slang outlines the context behind the slang used by members of the United States Armed Forces during the Vietnam War. Troops facing and inflicting death display a high degree of linguistic creativity. Vietnam was the last American war fought by an army with conscripts, and their involuntary participation in the war added a dimension to the language. War has always been an incubator for slang; it is brutal, and brutality demands a vocabulary to describe what we don’t encounter in peacetime civilian life. Furthermore, such language serves to create an intense bond between comrades in the armed forces, helping them to support the heavy burdens of war. The troops in Vietnam faced the usual demands of war, as well as several that were unique to Vietnam – a murky political basis for the war, widespread corruption in the ruling government, untraditional guerilla warfare, an unpredictable civilian population in Vietnam, and a growing lack of popular support for the war back in the US. For all these reasons, the language of those who fought in Vietnam was a vivid reflection of life in wartime. Vietnam War Slang lays out the definitive record of the lexicon of Americans who fought in the Vietnam War. Assuming no prior knowledge, it presents around 2000 headwords, with each entry divided into sections giving parts of speech, definitions, glosses, the countries of origin, dates of earliest known citations, and citations. It will be an essential resource for Vietnam veterans and their families, students and readers of history, and anyone interested in the principles underpinning the development of slang.

Download or read book Fight to the Finish written by Tim Cook and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2015-09-29 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2016 Ottawa Book Award The magisterial second volume of Tim Cook's definitive account of Canadians fighting in the Second World War. Historian Tim Cook displays his trademark storytelling ability in the second volume of his masterful account of Canadians in World War II. Cook combines an extraordinary grasp of military strategy with a deep empathy for the soldiers on the ground, at sea and in the air. Whether it's a minute-by-minute account of a gruelling artillery battle, vicious infighting among generals, the scene inside a medical unit, or the small details of a soldier's daily life, Cook creates a compelling narrative. He recounts in mesmerizing detail how the Canadian forces figured in the Allied bombing of Germany, the D-Day landing at Juno beach, the taking of Caen, and the drive south. Featuring dozens of black-and-white photographs and moving excerpts from letters and diaries of servicemen, Fight to the Finish is a memorable account of Canadians who fought abroad and of the home front that was changed forever.

Download or read book Flying against Fate written by S. P. MacKenzie and published by University Press of Kansas. This book was released on 2017-08-04 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During World War II, Allied casualty rates in the air were high. Of the roughly 125,000 who served as aircrew with Bomber Command, 59,423 were killed or missing and presumed killed—a fatality rate of 45.5%. With odds like that, it would be no surprise if there were as few atheists in cockpits as there were in foxholes; and indeed, many airmen faced their dangerous missions with beliefs and rituals ranging from the traditional to the outlandish. Military historian S. P. MacKenzie considers this phenomenon in Flying against Fate, a pioneering study of the important role that superstition played in combat flier morale among the Allies in World War II. Mining a wealth of documents as well as a trove of published and unpublished memoirs and diaries, MacKenzie examines the myriad forms combat fliers' superstitions assumed, from jinxes to premonitions. Most commonly, airmen carried amulets or talismans—lucky boots or a stuffed toy; a coin whose year numbers added up to thirteen; counterintuitively, a boomerang. Some performed rituals or avoided other acts, e.g., having a photo taken before a flight. Whatever seemed to work was worth sticking with, and a heightened risk often meant an upsurge in superstitious thought and behavior. MacKenzie delves into behavior analysis studies to help explain the psychology behind much of the behavior he documents—not slighting the large cohort of crew members and commanders who demurred. He also looks into the ways in which superstitious behavior was tolerated or even encouraged by those in command who saw it as a means of buttressing morale. The first in-depth exploration of just how varied and deeply felt superstitious beliefs were to tens of thousands of combat fliers, Flying against Fate expands our understanding of a major aspect of the psychology of war in the air and of World War II.

Download or read book The Necessary War Volume 1 written by Tim Cook and published by Penguin Canada. This book was released on 2014-09-09 with total page 608 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Co-winner of the 2014-2015 Charles P. Stacey Award Tim Cook, Canada’s leading war historian, ventures deep into World War Two in this epic two-volume story of heroism and horror, of loss and longing, sacrifice and endurance. Written in Cook’s compelling narrative style, this book shows in impressive detail how soldiers, airmen, and sailors fought—the evolving tactics, weapons of war, logistics, and technology. It gauges Canadian effectiveness against the skilled enemy whom they confronted in battlefields from 1939 to 1943, from the sweltering heat of Sicily to the frigid North Atlantic, and from the urban warfare of Ortona to the dark skies over Germany. The Necessary War examines the equally important factors of morale, discipline, and fortitude of the Canadian citizen-soldiers. The war was an engine of transformation for Canada. With a population of fewer than twelve million, Canada embraced its role as an arsenal of democracy, exporting war supplies, feeding its allies, and raising a million-strong armed forces that served and fought in nearly every theatre of war. The nation was mobilized like never before in the fight to preserve the liberal democratic order. The six-year-long exertion caused disruption, provoked nationwide industrialization, ushered in changes to gender roles, exacerbated the tension between English and French, and forged a new sense of Canadian identity. Canadians were willing to bear almost any burden and to pay the ultimate price in the pursuit of victory. As with his award-winning two-volume series on WWI, Tim Cook uses original sources, letters from soldiers, rare documents, and maps of battlefields to illustrate the contributions and sacrifices made by what is often called the greatest generation. Magisterial in its scope, The Necessary War illuminates Canada’s past as never before. From the Western Front to the home front, Canadians served many roles in a war that had to be fought and won.

Download or read book The Canadian Experience of the Great War written by Brian Douglas Tennyson and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2013-05-01 with total page 595 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although the United States did not enter the First World War until April 1917, Canada enlisted the moment Great Britain engaged in the conflict in August 1914. The Canadian contribution was great, as more than 600,000 men and women served in the war effort—400,000 of them overseas—out of a population of 8 million. More than 150,000 were wounded and nearly 67,000 gave their lives. The war was a pivotal turning point in the history of the modern world, and its mindless slaughter shattered a generation and destroyed seemingly secure values. The literature that the First World War generated, and continues to generate so many years later, is enormous and addresses a multitude of cultural and social matters in the history of Canada and the war itself. Although many scholars have brilliantly analyzed the literature of the war, little has been done to catalog the writings of ordinary participants: men and women who served in the war and wrote about it but are not included among well-known poets, novelists, and memoirists. Indeed, we don’t even know how many titles these people published, nor do we know how many more titles were added later by relatives who considered the recollections or collected letters worthy of publication. Brian Douglas Tennyson’s The Canadian Experience of the Great War: A Guide to Memoirs is the first attempt to identify all of the published accounts of First World War experiences by Canadian veterans.

Download or read book Double Threat written by Ellin Bessner and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2019-01-24 with total page 439 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "He died so Jewry should suffer no more." These words on a Canadian Jewish soldier's tombstone in Normandy inspired the author to explore the role of Canadian Jews in the war effort. As PM Mackenzie King wrote in 1947, Jewish servicemen faced a "double threat" - they were not only fighting against Fascism but for Jewish survival. At the same time, they encountered widespread antisemitism and the danger of being identified as Jews if captured. Bessner conducted hundreds of interviews and extensive archival research to paint a complex picture of the 17,000 Canadian Jews - about 10 per cent of the Jewish population in wartime Canada - who chose to enlist, including future Cabinet minister Barney Danson, future game-show host Monty Hall, and comedians Wayne and Shuster. Added to this fascinating account are Jews who were among the so-called "Zombies" - Canadians who were drafted, but chose to serve at home - the various perspectives of the Jewish community, and the participation of Canadian Jewish women.

Download or read book Kingdom of Night written by Mark Celinscak and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2022 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Kingdom of Night tells the stories of Canadians - in their own voices - during the liberation of the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

Download or read book Distance from the Belsen Heap written by Mark Celinscak and published by University of Toronto Press. This book was released on 2015-01-01 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Distance from the Belsen Heap examines the experiences of hundreds of British and Canadian eyewitnesses to atrocity, including war artists, photographers, medical personnel, and chaplains.