Download or read book An Escort of P 38s written by John D. Mullins and published by Specialty Press. This book was released on 1995 with total page 189 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The definitive World War II history of the U.S. Air Force's oldest fighter unit.

Download or read book Fork Tailed Devil The P 38 written by Martin Caidin and published by ibooks. This book was released on 2016-10-05 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of America's greatest military aviation historians relates the astonishing--and true--story of the only American warplane to fight in every operational theater in World War II from Pearl Harbor to Alaska and North Africa to Northern Europe.

Download or read book P 38 Lightning vs Bf 109 written by Edward M. Young and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2023-11-23 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An exciting account of the aerial battles fought by the USAAF's P38 Lightnings and the Jagdflieger's Bf 109Gs for dominance over North Africa and the Mediterranean. USAAF fighter pilots experienced a baptism of fire when flying the technically advanced but fragile P-38 Lightning over North Africa in the wake of 1942's Operation Torch. Their opponents were battle-hardened jagdflieger of the Jadgwaffe, flying the tried and tested Bf 109 in its very lastest Gustav iteration. Responsible primarily for escorting USAAF bombers attacking Afrika Korps installations in Tunisia, the P-38 units in North Africa had to develop effective tactics to defend the bombers against Luftwaffe fighter attacks. For several months the Lightning squadrons had to also cope with shortages of aircraft and spare parts, steady losses and a lack of replacement pilots. To survive, American aviators had to learn quickly. While it is difficult to definitively attribute victories in air combat, in the air battles over Tunisia and later over Sicily and Italy, the claims made by Lightning pilots were comparable to Luftwaffe claims for P-38s destroyed. Edward M. Young turns his attention to the bitterly fought air war in North Africa and the Mediterranean in 1942–43. Using original archival sources, official records and first-hand accounts from both USAAF and Luftwaffe veterans, as well as newly commissioned artwork and 50 carefully selected photographs from official and personal archives, this book sees two of the most iconic piston-engined fighters of their era pitted head-to-head for control of the skies in a key theatre of World War II.

Download or read book P 38 Lightning Aces of the 82nd Fighter Group written by Steve Blake and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-07-20 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the 82nd Fighter Group was organized in March 1942, most of its initial pilot cadre was comprised of newly graduated staff sergeant pilots of Class 42-C – enlisted men! They learned to fly the P-38 at Muroc, in California's Mojave Desert, and then moved to the Los Angeles area to continue their training and to serve as part of its air defence. In September 1942 the group was transported to the East Coast, from where it shipped out to Ireland on the Queen Mary. By this time all its remaining sergeant pilots had been commissioned. As of VE-Day the 82nd Fighter Group's score of confirmed aerial victories stood at 548 aircraft shot down, plus a huge amount of enemy materiel – including aircraft – destroyed on the ground and the sea. It had been awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations. The cost of this success was high, however, for around 250 of the group's pilots had either been killed in action or captured.

Download or read book Lockheed P 38 Lightning Bell P 39 Airacobra Curtiss P 40 written by Mantelli - Brown - Kittel - Graf and published by Edizioni R.E.I.. This book was released on 2017-03-03 with total page 142 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Lockheed P-38J Lightning aircraft was revolutionary, extremely innovative, thanks to double-girder fuselage, the two Allison V-engines with turbochargers within the tail beams and landing gear in tricycle. The Bell P-39 Airacobra was a single-engine fighter produced by the US to low-wing Bell Aircraft Corporation. It was the most controversial fighter aircraft used by the US during World War II. It was the first fighter in the world to have the engine installed in the middle of the fuselage, behind the pilot. The Bell P-63 Kingcobra was a single-engine low-wing fighter aircraft developed by the US Air Force Bell Aircraft Corporation in the early forties and used during World War II. Evolution of the previous P-39 Airacobra, launched in an attempt to correct the defects of that model, the United States Army Air Forces will never estimated suitable for combat, relegating him to the towing role for targets. As a result, nearly two-thirds of the production was assigned to the Soviet Union and about 300 units to units of Free France. The Curtiss P-40 was a single-seat single-engine monoplane US manufacturing in the first half of the forties was taken by the Allies as a fighter aircraft or fighter in many of the theaters in which you fought the Second World War. Produced by the Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company of Buffalo, New York, never was an aircraft with exceptional characteristics (mainly because of its engine, underpowered at high altitude); However, it was also made of a large number of specimens, and his great strength (coupled with its widespread availability since the early months of the entry into the war) made it one of the most important fighter for American aviation events in the first phase of World war II, between 1941 and the summer of 1943.

Download or read book Lockheed P 38 Lightning written by Michael O'Leary and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 1999-06-15 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The 'Cadillac' of USAAF fighters in World War 2, the Lighting was a highly innovative design produced by Lockheed of Burbank, California. In response to a challenging requirement for a long range, high speed and high altitude fighter to escort the AAF's rapidly expanding B-17 and B-24 heavy bomber fleets. To meet the criterion laid down in the requirement, the company adopted a revolutionary twin boom layout and supercharged Allison engines. The latter initially proved troublesome, but the gremlins were eventually sorted out and the type went on to see much action in Europe, North Africa, the Mediterranean, the Pacific and the CBI. Using the best Lockheed official and private archival black and white photographs available, combined with period colour advertisements, a double-page cutaway drawing and scale plans, this volume reveals all facets of the Lightning's construction and frontline use." --Back cover.

Download or read book Pilot Training Manual for the Lightning P 38 written by United States. Army Air Forces. Office of Flying Safety and published by . This book was released on 1945 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book P 38 Lightning Aces of the 82nd Fighter Group written by Steve Blake and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-07-20 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When the 82nd Fighter Group was organized in March 1942, most of its initial pilot cadre was comprised of newly graduated staff sergeant pilots of Class 42-C – enlisted men! They learned to fly the P-38 at Muroc, in California's Mojave Desert, and then moved to the Los Angeles area to continue their training and to serve as part of its air defence. In September 1942 the group was transported to the East Coast, from where it shipped out to Ireland on the Queen Mary. By this time all its remaining sergeant pilots had been commissioned. As of VE-Day the 82nd Fighter Group's score of confirmed aerial victories stood at 548 aircraft shot down, plus a huge amount of enemy materiel – including aircraft – destroyed on the ground and the sea. It had been awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations. The cost of this success was high, however, for around 250 of the group's pilots had either been killed in action or captured.

Download or read book Air Force written by and published by . This book was released on 1943 with total page 612 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Vols. 41, no. 11-v. 42, no. 5 include Space digest, v. 1-2, no. 5, Nov. 1958-May 1959.

Download or read book Winning the Next War written by Stephen Peter Rosen and published by Cornell University Press. This book was released on 1991 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rosen argues that armies and navies are not forever doomed to "fight the last war." Rather, they are able to respond to shifts in the international strategic situation.

Download or read book Fifteenth Air Force against the Axis written by Kevin A. Mahoney and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2013-04-25 with total page 519 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In Fifteenth Air Force against the Axis: Combat Missions over Europe during World War II, historian Kevin A. Mahoney provides a detailed combat history of the crucial role played by this air force from November 1943 through May 1945. Presented by month in chronological order, Mahoney describes all the major bombing and fighter missions carried out by this air force within a strategic context. Each chapter includes an introduction describing developments in the evolution of the strategic air campaign against the Germans, highlights the purpose and importance of the month’s operations, and reviews the Luftwaffe’s resistance and changes in tactics and important developments in the Fifteenth Air Force’s organization. Each monthly narrative further explores most missions, detailing the number of aircraft lost during these missions. Losses are based on an exhaustively researched database compiled by Mahoney that contains details of almost 3,000 aircraft. Target damage is mentioned, while enemy opposition is also described for each mission. Appendices include four short essays on bombing operations (planning and flying of missions, tactics and techniques, bomb types, and bombing accuracy), tactics employed by fighter escort in aerial combat and strafing, combat crews and their aircraft (including a comparison of American fighters and bombers, the training of the crews, and their combat tours), and the Fifteenth Air Force command structure (including the use of intelligence, photo and weather reconnaissance, and the considerable effect of weather on Fifteenth Air Force operations). This work of military history is ideal for students and scholars of the air war in Europe.

Download or read book A History Of The B 17 Flying Fortress in Over 400 Photographs Stories And Analyisis Including The U S Army Air Forces in World War II Combat Chronology 1941 1945 American Air Power in WWII written by and published by Jeffrey Frank Jones. This book was released on 2015-08-01 with total page 1421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: PREFACE The chronology is concerned primarily with operations of the US Army Air Forces and its combat units between December 7, 1941 and September 15, 1945. It is designed as a companion reference to the seven-volume history of The Army Air Forces in World War 11, edited by Wesley Frank Craven and James Lea Cate. The research was a cooperative endeavor carried out in the United States Air Force historical archives by the Research Branch of the Albert F. Simpson Historical Research Center. Such an effort has demanded certain changes in established historical methodology, as well as some arbitrary rules for presentation of the results. After International and US events, entries are arranged geographically. They begin with events at Army Air Forces Headquarters in Washington then proceed eastward around the world, using the location of the headquarters of the numbered air forces as the basis for placement. For this reason, entries concerning the Ninth Air Force while operating in the Middle East follow Twelfth Air Force. When that headquarters moves to England in October 1943, the entries are shifted to follow Eighth Air Force. The entries end with those numbered air forces which remained in the Zone of the Interior, as well as units originally activated in the ZI, then designated for later movement overseas, such as Ninth and Tenth Air Forces. The ZI entries do not include Eighth and Twentieth Air Forces, which were established in the ZI with the original intent of placing them in those geographical locations with which they became historically identified. For these two units, original actions are shown either under AAF or in their intended geographic area of location. All times and dates used are those of the area under discussion. The entry "1/2 Jun" indicates that an event occurred during the night between the two given dates, while "1-2 Jun" indicates an action over a period of time. In dealing with people, again arbitrary decisions were implemented. For military men below the general officer or equivalent level, full grade and name were used. For general officers and those of equal grade in other US and foreign services, the complete rank (both that at the time first mentioned and the highest rank held prior to the end of the war) and name will be found in the index. Only an abbreviated rank (e.g., Gen or Adm) and last name are used in the text. The exception is where two general officers had the same last name; in such cases, the first name is also included. Similarly for civilian leaders, only the last name is used; full name and title are given in the index. Location of all towns, islands, etc., is also made in the index. In all cases, attempts were made to cite place names in use by the native population at the time of or immediately before the war. No names imposed by a conqueror are used. For example Pylos Bay, not Navarino Bay, is used. Further, as appropriate, native geographic terms are used: Shima for island in. Japanese island groups, See for lake in Germany. However, two exceptions were made. In cases in which the place became infamous because of the actions of the conquering power, that name is preferred-for example Auschwitz would be used rather than the Polish name of Oswiecim. Also, in larger international cities, such as Roma, Koln and Wien, the anglicized name is used. Where a village or hamlet was difficult to locate or where there were several such places with the same name in a general area, the coordinates are given in the index. In some cases, with no extant navigational aids of the attacking force, the best possible guess was made based upon all available evidence. In other instances, such as the bridge at Hay-ti-attacked so often by Tenth Air Force-- a logical guess could not be made. In these cases, a question mark is placed in brackets after the index entry. Accent marks, such as umlauts, were omitted.

Download or read book The Jagged Edge of Duty written by Robert L. Richardson and published by Rowman & Littlefield. This book was released on 2017-04-15 with total page 400 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The World War II fighter-pilot story On the very first day of the invasion of Sicily, three months into his combat career, Allan Knepper flew his P-38 Lightning fighter in a squadron sent out to sweep the island and interdict German ground targets. Retreating German infantry unexpectedly pounded the American flyers. Knepper was one of two shot down; he was never found. Knepper’s story is the story-in-microcosm of thousands of American fighter pilots in World War II. Richardson recounts Knepper’s experiences from training through combat and uses them to discuss the aircraft, tactics and doctrine, training, base life, and aerial combat of the war. This is the intimate account of one pilot at war, but also the anatomy of the fighter-pilot experience in World War II.

Download or read book Weapons of the Eighth Air Force written by Frederick A. Johnsen and published by . This book was released on with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Flying at 25,000 feet, loaded with 6000 pounds of bombs, bristling with thirteen .50 caliber machine guns, and with a highly trained and motivated flight crew, the B-17 Flying Fortress became the physical symbol of America's Mighty Eighth Air Force. Arrayed against the Eighth Air Force was Nazi Germany's veteran, battle tested air armada the Luftwaffa. But the B-17 didn't go to war alone. The Eighth Air Force also deployed some of the most famous aircraft: the rugged B-24 Liberator, the nimble P-38 Lightning, the P-47 Thunderbolt with its four pairs of deadly wing mounted .50 caliber machine guns, and the quick and high flying P-51 Mustang.

Download or read book A History of the Mediterranean Air War 1940 1945 written by Christopher Shores and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2018-11-05 with total page 697 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This fourth volume in the comprehensive series “fills a gap in the existing narrative” of WWII’s Mediterranean air war (Journal of Military History). The fourth volume in this momentous series commences with the attacks on the Italian island fortress of Pantellaria, which led to its surrender and occupation achieved almost by air attack alone. The account continues with the ultimately successful, but at times very hard fought, invasions of Sicily and southern Italy as burgeoning Allied air power, now with full US involvement, increasingly dominated the skies overhead. The successive occupations of Sardinia and Corsica are also covered in detail. This is essentially the story of the tactical air forces up to the point when Rome was occupied, just at the same time as the Normandy landings were occurring in northwest France. With regards to the long-range tactical role of the Allied heavy bombers, only the period from May to October is examined, while they remained based in North Africa, with the narrative continuing in a future volume. This volume also delves into the story of “the soldiers’ air force.” Frequently overshadowed by more immediate newsworthy events elsewhere, the soldiers’ struggle was often of an equally Homeric nature. “No future publication on the Mediterranean air war will be credible without use of this series.” —Air Power History

Download or read book Armchair Warriors written by Joel R. Davidson and published by Naval Institute Press. This book was released on 2008-10-01 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a history of public information and personal ideas, specifically ideas about war and the military over the last century. It examines the interplay between popular media coverage of the nation’s wars and the perceptions of ordinary Americans regarding military issues. Armchair Warriors begins with the premise that the press provided most Americans with their primary source of insight into the practical military problems confronting the United States. In a nation where military service was the exception rather than the rule, the public relied on news outlets to make sense of what war “really” was. Such articles and editorials not only celebrated the country’s successes in war, but also attempted to explain its setbacks, as well as the perils and opportunities that lay ahead.The American people responded to this abundance of information by taking an active role in the intellectual aspects of the nation’s military effort.Often encouraged by various media sources, ordinary citizens produced a wealth of proposals aimed at solving particular tactical or strategic conundrums.These armchair warriors often sidestepped the press, and sought to bring their ideas directly before those entrusted with directing U.S. armed forces.Together, the media accounts of military issues and the practical-minded suggestions from the masses constitute a heretofore unexamined nationaldialogue about one of the most important aspects of U.S. history.

Download or read book Combat Chronology 1941 1945 written by and published by . This book was released on 1975 with total page 1008 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: