Download or read book An American Fighter Pilot in the R A F Two Accounts by a Spitfire and Hurricane Pilot During the Battle of Britain in the Far East During the Seco written by Arthur Gerald Donahue and published by . This book was released on 2014-11-24 with total page 284 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two outstanding personal accounts by a fighter pilot during the Second World War This special Leonaur title, our first ever book about the Second World War, contains two accounts of the war in the air as fought by the fighter pilots of the Royal Air Force. It is remarkable because its author was an American who had elected to join the battle against fascist Germany before his own country decided to enter the war. The combat patrols and dog-fights of Fighter Command's young Spitfire and Hurricane pilots are brought vividly to life as Donahue describes his part in the momentous days of the Battle of Britain. The second book describes the author's subsequent experiences in the war against Imperial Japan. A posting eastwards to Singapore put him on the spot just as the Japanese Army was sweeping down the Malayan peninsula to assault the fortress island. Descriptions of war in the air, the ultimate fall of Singapore, his hair's-breadth escape and his flight to fight another day make riveting reading. Donahue's two books combined in this value for money Leonaur edition should not be missed by anyone interested in wartime aviation. Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.
Download or read book Hurricanes Spitfire Pilots at War written by Terence Kelly and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2004-11-19 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most people asked to name one British Second World War airplane would say the Spitfire. Yet the Hawker Hurricane flew in greater numbers, in more variants and in more theaters than the redoubtable Spitfire.Adrian Stewart has researched the evolution of the Hurricane from its 1935 maiden flight through to victory in the Far East in 1945. He brings his story alive by letting those who flew this legendary aircraft tell it as it was.After the faltering first steps in the mid 1930s the Hurricane really 'took off' and became hugely popular in the RAF and allied air forces.They Flew The Hurricane contains numerous first hand accounts from pilots operating in such diverse campaigns as the Battle of Britain, North Africa, Russia, the Far East and North West Europe from 1940 to 1945.These thrilling vignettes combine to bring to life action in the air.
Download or read book Hurricane written by Leo McKinstry and published by John Murray. This book was released on 2010-06-24 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the summer of 1940 the fate of Europe hung in the balance. Victory in the forthcoming air battle would mean national survival; defeat would establish German tyranny. The Luftwaffe greatly outnumbered the RAF, but during the Battle of Britain it was the RAF that emerged triumphant, thanks to two key fighter planes, the Spitfire and the Hurricane. The Hurricane made up over half of Fighter Command's front-line strength, and its revolutionary design transformed the RAF's capabilities. Leo McKinstry tells the story of the remarkable plane from its designers to the first-hand testimonies of those brave pilots who flew it; he takes in the full military and political background but always keeps the human stories to the fore - to restore the Hawker Hurricane to its rightful place in history.
Download or read book Life as a Battle of Britain Spitfire Pilot written by Arthur Donahue and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2015-06-15 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The perfect illustrated introduction to the story of the Battle of Britain, daily life as a fighter pilot in the summer of 1940, written by a veteran.
Download or read book Spitfire Pilot written by David Crook and published by Greenhill Books. This book was released on 2021-07-06 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spitfire Pilot is the exhilarating and moving memoir of D. M. Crook, an airman in the legendary 609 Squadron - one of the most successful RAF units in the Battle of Britain. Beginning with his fond recollections of his halcyon days in training - acrobatics, night flying and languorous days spent playing sport and nights off visiting Piccadilly Circus - Crook goes on to recount in thrilling detail the dogfights, remarkable victories and tragic losses which formed the daily routine of Britain's heroic aerial defenders in that long summer of 1940. Often hopelessly outnumbered, the men of 609 Squadron in their state-of-the-art Spitfires committed acts of unimaginable bravery against the Messerschmitts and Junkers of Germany's formidable Luftwaffe. Many of Crook's fellow airmen did not make it back alive, and the absence they leave in the close-knit community of the squadron is described with great poignancy. Spitfire Pilot offers a unique and personal insight into one of the most critical moments of British history, when a handful of men stood up against the might of the German Air Force in defence of their country. This definitive edition, the first for more than sixty years, includes a new foreword by David Crook's daughter and Air Vice Marshal Sandy Hunter, Honorary Air Commodore of the 609 Squadron. The book also has an introduction by Professor Richard Overy.
Download or read book Gun Button to Fire written by Tom Neil and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2010-03-15 with total page 329 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The amazing story of one of the 'Few', fighter ace Tom Neil who shot down 13 enemy aircraft during the Battle of Britain.
Download or read book Fighters in the Blood written by Black' Robertson and published by Air World. This book was released on 2020-08-31 with total page 440 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A retired RAF air marshal looks back on his career and the career of his World War II pilot father in this military memoir. As this fascinating memoir unfolds, moving backwards and forwards through time, two parallel stories emerge: one of a Second World War Spitfire ace whose flying career comes to a premature end when he’s shot down and loses an eye, the other of his progeny, a second-generation fighter pilot who eventually reaches the rank of air marshal. The narrative is unique in its use of two separate and distinct voices. The author’s own reminiscences are interwoven with those his father recorded more than thirty years ago, embellished by extracts from some 300 of his wartime letters. Intensely personal and revealing, controversial too at times, this account is above all about people, not least those with whom the author flew while serving with the USAF—a tour marked by tragedy; that said, they proved altogether more friendly than the P-38 pilots who twice attacked his father in North Africa! A daughter with dual citizenship subsequently helped him sustain his links with the US, both while serving and afterwards in business. The irony is that the son spent a lifetime training for the ultimate examination—one that, despite strictly limited preparation, his father passed with flying colors. To “Black” Robertson’s eternal regret he was never able to put his own training to the test. His father, “Robbie,” was awarded the DFC and retired as a flight lieutenant after five years or so. He himself served for nearly thirty-six years, earned a Queen’s Commendation, an OBE and CBE and served as an ADC to HM The Queen. But after reaching almost the top of the RAF tree, in one important sense he retired unfulfilled; his mettle was never tested under fire. Anyone interested to know more about flying, about the RAF, about leadership, about character even, need look no further than this beautifully crafted, immensely readable account. Praise for Fighters in the Blood “Offers an insightful look into the professional development of an RAF airman from Cranwell cadet to Air Marshal, the evolution of the Royal Air Force itself from the early jet era of Hunters through the demanding days of NATO versus the Warsaw Pack and the defence of British interests (e.g. the Falklands) with the Phantom, and then on into the post-Cold War world where the need to strengthen RAF airpower is challenged by drawdowns, budgetary stringencies, and often misguided Mandarins driving questionable defence policy. I was struck by how beautifully the author integrated his father into the story . . . it is at once very moving and very effective, and, once again, works to integrate the RAF "then" with the RAF of the 1960s-1990s. The photographs are wonderful. This book is a real winner.”” —Dr. Richard P. Hallion, Aerospace Historian
Download or read book Spitfire Pilot written by Flight Lieutenant David Crook DFC and published by . This book was released on 2017-08-23 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Spitfire Pilot" was written in 1940 in the heat of battle when the RAF stood alone against the might of Hitler's Third Reich. It is a tremendous personal account of one of the fiercest and most idealised air conflicts - the Battle of Britain - seen through the eyes of a pilot of the famous 609 Squadron, which shot down over 100 planes in that epic contest.David Moore Crook, DFC (1914 - 1944) was a British fighter pilot and flying ace of the Second World War.After attending the University of Cambridge, he was mobilised as part of the Royal Auxiliary Air Force on the outbreak of war. Flying the Spitfire Crook participated in the Battle of Britain, flying with No. 609 Squadron RAF (at the time this was a squadron of the Auxiliary Air Force). He initially joined the squadron on 22 September 1938 as an acting pilot officer, this rank was confirmed on 4 May 1940, and later further back-dated to 9 December 1939. He destroyed a Junkers Ju 87 of Sturzkampfgeschwader 77 (StG 77) on 9 July, and a Jagdgeschwader 53 (JG 53) Messerschmitt Bf 109 on 13 August. On 15 August 1940, he mistakenly shot down a Blenheim fighter, although the crew was only slightly injured. Two Bf 109's were claimed on 30 September 1940.Flying Spitfire IX EN662 on 18 December 1944 on a high level photographic sortie, Crook was seen to dive into the sea near Aberdeen. He was officially listed as missing in action.
Download or read book The Silver Spitfire written by Tom Neil and published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson. This book was released on 2013-02-28 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A brilliantly vivid Second World War memoir by one of 'the Few' Spitfire fighter pilots. Following the D-Day landings, Battle of Britain hero Tom Neil was assigned as an RAF liaison to an American fighter squadron. As the Allies pushed east, Neil commandeered an abandoned Spitfire as his own personal aeroplane. Erasing any evidence of its provenance and stripping it down to bare metal, it became the RAF's only silver Spitfire. Alongside his US comrades, he took the silver Spitfire into battle until, with the war's end, he was forced to make a difficult decision. Faced with too many questions about the mysterious rogue fighter, he contemplated increasingly desperate measures to offload it, including bailing out mid-Channel. He eventually left the Spitfire at Worthy Down, never to be seen again. THE SILVER SPITFIRE is the first-hand, gripping story of Neil's heroic experience as an RAF fighter pilot and his reminiscences with his very own personal Spitfire.
Download or read book RAF Fighter Pilots in WWII written by Martin W. Bowman and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2015-08-31 with total page 332 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a pulsating account of the young RAF fighter boys who flew Spitfires, Hurricanes and Defiants in England against the Luftwaffe and from Malta 1940-45 against the Regia Aeronautica. Their story is told using combat reports and first person accounts from RAF, German and Commonwealth pilots who fought in the skies in France in 1940, in England during the Battle of Britain, and in the great air offensives over Occupied Europe from 1942 onwards. Chapters include the stories of Wing Commander D. R. S. Bader, Wing Commander Adolph Gysbert 'Sailor' Malan, Oberleutnant Ulrich Steinhilper, Flight Lieutenant H. M. Stephen, Squadron Leader Robert Stanford Tuck, 'Johnny' Johnson, Squadron Leader M. N. Crossley, Squadron Leader A. McKellar, 'Cowboy' Blatchford and Squadron Leader D. H. Smith, an Australian veteran of the Battle of Malta and many others whose names have now become legendary.
Download or read book Spitfire written by Brian Lane and published by Amberley Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 122 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The remarkable Battle of Britain experiences of Spitfire pilot Brian Lane, DFC. Brian Lane was only 23 when he when he wrote his dramatic account of life as a Spitfire pilot during the Battle of Britain in the summer of 1940. Lane was an 'ace' with six enemy 'kills' to his credit and was awarded the DFC for bravery in combat. The text is honest and vibrant, and has the immediacy of a book written close the event, untouched, therefore, by the doubts and debates of later years. Here we can read, exactly what it was like to 'scramble', to shoot down Messerschmitts, Heinkels, Dorniers and Stukas and how it felt to lose comrades every day. Squadron Leader Brian Lane DFC was not only an exceptional fighter pilot but likewise a gifted leader, at all levels. In what was still a hierarchical and class conscious culture, 'Chiefy' Lane was different: he knew everyone under his command by first names, no matter how lowly their rank or status, and in the air he was always unflappable, calmly making the right tactical decision and in the process earning unlimited respect amongst pilots and aircrew. All these years later the survivors still speak of him with an unparalleled affection and respect bordering upon a holy reverence. High drama has never before been so characteristically understated, written, as it was, by the 'Finest of the Few'.
Download or read book Spitfire Ace written by Gordon Olive and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2015-07-15 with total page 462 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The amazing story of one of ‘the Few’, Spitfire fighter pilot Gordon Olive, who shot down ten enemy aircraft during the Battle of Britain.
Download or read book Fight for the Sky written by Douglas Bader and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2006-05-01 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The only book written by the legendary “legless” ace, the double amputee World War II fighter pilot immortalized by the film Reach for the Sky. In Fight for the Sky, Douglas Bader tells the inspiring story of the Battle of Britain from the viewpoint of “The Few.” Using superb illustrations he traces the development of the Spitfire and Hurricane and describes the nail-biting actions of those who flew them against far superior numbers of enemy aircraft. As an added bonus, other well-known fighter aces including Johnnie Johnson, “Laddie” Lucas and Max Aikten contribute to Douglas’s book, no doubt out of affection and respect. This a really important contribution to RAF history by one of the greatest—and certainly the most famous—pilot of the Second World War.
Download or read book From Spitfire to Focke Wulf written by H. Leonard Thorne and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2013-09-02 with total page 287 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'I hold the greatest respect for Len for what he achieved in the RAF'. – Gordon Mitchell, son of Spitfire designer R.J. Mitchell In May 1940, 20-year-old Len Thorne joined the RAF, as did many young men during the Second World War. After two hectic tours of operational duty as a fighter pilot, including some desperately dangerous low-level flying at Dunkirk, he was posted to AFDU (Air Fighting Development Unit) and remained there as a test pilot for the rest of the war. Fortunately for us, Len kept a detailed diary, which, set alongside his log book, tells the unique story of a test pilot tasked with developing operational tactics and testing captured enemy aircraft, such as the feared Fw 190. During Len's career, he worked alongside some of the most famous fighter aces and his records cast light on some of the most famous flyers of the RAF, including Wing Commander Al Deere and Spitfire aces Squadron Leader 'Paddy' Finucane, Ernie Ryder and many others. A unique record of military aviation history, From Spitfire to Focke Wulf offers a window to this era of rapid and high-stakes aircraft development.
Download or read book Scramble written by J.R.D Braham and published by Greenhill Books. This book was released on 2021-12-03 with total page 226 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: J. R. D. ‘Bob’ Braham was Britain’s most-decorated fighter pilot and one of the most successful fighter pilots of World War II. Joining the RAF in 1938 at the age of 18, he was posted to No. 29 Squadron at Debdon, where he learned to fly the Hawker Hurricane and Bristol Blenheim. By 1939, the squadron had become a specialised night fighting unit and Braham gained his first victory in August 1940. From that point on, he was constantly in action. Famed for his individual night-time intruder sorties, he also took part in the Peenemiinde raid, the Battle of Britain, and the fight against the V1s and V2s during the Blitz. In 1943, battle fatigued, he moved into an operational role but continued to fly operations until June 1944 when he was shot down and captured. Having completed 316 missions, he spent the next eleven months as a Prisoner of War, and was finally liberated in May 1945. With 29 confirmed combat victories, Braham achieved more success in night fighting than almost any other RAF pilot and was awarded the triple Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC), the triple Distinguished Service Order (DSO) and the Air Force Cross (AFC). Told in his own words, with all the spirit and dynamism for which he was known as a pilot, this is Braham’s extraordinary story.
Download or read book Spitfire written by Parke F Smith and published by Little Star. This book was released on 2020-11-19 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a voice both timeless and distinctly greatest generational, Parke F. Smith writes about being the last US pilot accepted into the ranks of the RAF via their training exchange program at War Eagle Field, Los Angeles. After completing their course, he sailed to England on board the HMS Queen Elizabeth, swore allegiance to the King, and was offered a coveted spot training as a fighter pilot. From 1942 to 1946, Smith flew 129 missions in North Africa, Italy, and over the North Sea, before returning home. Amazingly, blessedly, he made it home, unlike so many of his friends and comrades. It is to them he dedicated his writing. Smith's war stories are only the half of it. Smith is skilled at conveying the human connection and camaraderie that forms in war's trenches and skies. He has a way of revealing enduring universal truths through anecdotes made even more humorous from his perspective as a total outsider. Ultimately, Smith's is a story about finding home-no matter how foreign-and fighting for it with all you've got. Not only did Smith love the Spitfire aircraft, his true gift was how he lived his life: fiercely determined and passionate, a real spitfire.
Download or read book Spitfire Pilot written by Roger Hall and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2013-09-15 with total page 501 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An extraordinary true story of combat in the Battle of Britain. Includes some of the most graphic and atmospheric accounts of air combat between Spitfire and Nazi Messerschmitt fighters ever published.
