Download or read book DIARY OF A SPITFIRE PILOT written by GRANVILLE ALLEN. MAWER and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Diary of a Spitfire Pilot written by Allen Mawer and published by Rosenberg Pub Pty Limited. This book was released on 2011 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is 1941 and you are 21, flying the most famous aircraft ever built. You have at your command a Merlin V12 engine and four 20mm Hispano cannon. You spend your days hunting the Hun over the English Channel and your evenings partying in London, experiencing the perils of aerial combat and the hazards of wartime romance in the same day. War doesn't get any better than this. It is 1943 and you are 23, living in a swamp that pretends to be an airstrip south of Darwin. These days the Japanese come over so infrequently that you are going troppo. None of the women you left behind in London and Sydney seems to give a damn about you. Most of your mates are dead. There is no beer. War is hell. All this and much more Flying Officer Allen Mawer confided to his diary, a candid and sometimes disconcerting record of his conquests in the air and on the ground. The highs and lows of his war, and how it ended, offer a lively and poignant insight into the human cost of armed conflict. Killed over Darwin at the end of the war Allen Mowers diary lay hidden for many years until his son, of the same name, edited it and wrote an introduction.
Download or read book The Air Battle for Malta written by James Douglas-Hamilton and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2007-01-31 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides an intriguing and realistic account of the struggle for the possession of Malta during World War II. The air battle raged for two and a half years during which time 14,000 tons of bombs were dropped on a defiant population.The history is based on the diaries of Lord David Douglas-Hamilton, the author's uncle, who was the leader of a Spitfire squadron that defended the island during the worst of the crisis.
Download or read book Malta Spitfire written by George Beurling and published by Grub Street Publishers. This book was released on 2011-07-14 with total page 147 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An aviator’s true story of WWII air combat, including two dramatic weeks in the skies above the besieged island of Malta. Twenty-five thousand feet above Malta—that is where the Spitfires intercepted the Messerschmitts, Macchis, and Reggianes as they swept eastward in their droves, screening the big Junkers with their bomb loads as they pummeled the island beneath: the most bombed patch of ground in the world. One of those Spitfire pilots was George Beurling, nicknamed “Screwball,” who in fourteen flying days destroyed twenty-seven German and Italian aircraft and damaged many more. Hailing from Canada, Beurling finally made it to Malta in the summer of 1942 after hard training and combat across the Channel. Malta Spitfire tells his story and that of the gallant Spitfire squadron, 249, which day after day ascended to the “top of the hill” to meet the enemy against overwhelming odds. With this memoir, readers experience the sensation of being in the cockpit with him, climbing to meet the planes driving in from Sicily, diving down through the fighter screen at the bombers, dodging the bullets coming out of the sun, or whipping up under the belly of an Me for a deflection shot at the engine. This is war without sentiment or romance, told in terms of human courage, skill, and heroism—a classic of WWII military aviation.
Download or read book Johnnie Johnson s 1942 Diary written by Dilip Sarkar and published by Air World. This book was released on 2020-12-28 with total page 317 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A unique insight into how fighter pilots lived, loved—and died—through the diary of the top-scoring RAF Ace who survived the Battle of Britain. A one-time household name synonymous with the superlative Spitfire, Air Vice-Marshal “Johnnie” Johnson’s aerial combat successes of World War II inspired schoolboys for generations. As a “lowly Pilot Officer,” Johnson learned his fighter pilot’s craft as a protégé of the legless Tangmere Wing Leader, Douglas Bader. After Bader was brought down over France and captured on 9 August 1941, Johnnie remained a member of 616 (South Yorkshire) Squadron. By the beginning of 1942, when Johnnie’s diary begins, Fighter Command was pursuing an offensive policy during daylight hours, “reaching out” and taking the war to the Germans in France. It was also a period in which the Focke-Wulf Fw outclassed the Spitfire Mk.V. In Johnnie’s words, the Fw 190 “drove us back to the coast and, for the first time, pilots lost confidence in the Spitfire.” As well as his participation in Rhubarb and Circus sorties, Johnnie was also involved in Operation Jubilee on 19 August 1942. In this diary, published here for the first time, we get a glimpse of the real Johnnie, and what it was really like to live and breathe air-fighting during one of the European air war’s most interesting years: 1942. Presented on a day-by-day basis, each of Johnnie’s entries is supported by an informative narrative written by the renowned aviation historian Dilip Sarkar, drawing upon official documents and his interviews and correspondence with the great man. “Provides a number of insights into life in the RAF Fighter Command of that period.—Most Highly Recommended.” —Firetrench
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 Spitfire Diary written by E. A. W. Smith and published by Ibooks. This book was released on 2006-05-01 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An account of the World War II Allied fighter plane squadron's final year of the war, told from the perspective of a veteran spitfire pilot, describes its air-to-air missions on the front lines after D-Day, from combat experiences to encounters with war-scarred Belgian and Dutch citizens. Reprint.
Download or read book The Diary Letters of a World War I Fighter Pilot written by Christopher M. Burgess and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2008-10-17 with total page 365 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is a first-hand account of the authors grandfather, Guy Mainwaring Knocker and his experiences as a pilot in the R.F.C. in the First World War written as a series of letters and diary entries. He wrote letters virtually every day to his family, while he trained in England and was in service in France, and often illustrated them with little sketches. Guy was a gifted artist, particularly pencil and Pen & ink, and also an excellent photographer. He flew with No 65 (Fighter) Squadron that was formed in June, 1916 as a fighter squadron, and flew to France in March 1917 in time to play a prominent part in the air operations during the Battles of Arras. In June 1917, the squadron moved to Calais for special patrol work in the Dover Straits area, to intercept enemy aircraft raiding England.
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 Line Shoot written by Arthur Sager and published by Harwood Academic Publishers. This book was released on 2002 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Johnnie Johnson s 1942 Diary written by Dilip Sarkar MBE and published by Air World. This book was released on 2020-11-30 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Air Vice-Marshal 'Johnnie' Johnson was a character literally from the pages of Boys' Own: an individual who became the RAF's top-scoring fighter pilot and wing leader par excellence of the Second World War. A one-time household name synonymous with the superlative Spitfire, Johnnie's aerial combat successes inspired schoolboys for generations.As a 'lowly Pilot Officer', Johnnie Johnson learned his fighter pilot's craft as a protégé of the legless Tangmere Wing Leader, Douglas Bader. After Bader was brought down over France and captured on 9 August 1941, Johnnie remained a member of 616 (South Yorkshire) Squadron.By the beginning of 1942, when Johnnie's diary begins, Fighter Command was pursuing an offensive policy during daylight hours, 'reaching out' and taking the war to the Germans in France. It was also a period in which the Focke-Wulf Fw outclassed the Spitfire Mk.V. In Johnnie's words, the Fw 190 'drove us back to the coast and, for the first time, pilots lost confidence in the Spitfire'. As well as his participation in Rhubarb and Circus sorties, Johnnie was also involved in Operation Jubilee on 19 August 1942.In this diary, published here for the first time, we get a glimpse of the real Johnnie, and what it was really like to live and breathe air-fighting during one of the European air war's most interesting years: 1942. Presented on a day-by-day basis, each of Johnnie's entries is supported by an informative narrative written by the renowned aviation historian Dilip Sarkar, drawing upon official documents and his interviews and correspondence with the great man.As would be expected, Johnnie's diary also includes numerous personal references. This diary, therefore, is a unique insight into how fighter pilots lived, loved - and died.
Download or read book May Your Luck Be Phenomenal written by Geoffrey George Thomas and published by . This book was released on 1999 with total page 144 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Spitfire Diary written by E. A. W. Ted Smith and published by Eakin Press. This book was released on 2018-08-05 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A former R.A.F. pilot tells the true story of air-to-ground combat in World War II. Before his eighteenth birthday E.A.W. "Ted" Smith was in the British Royal Air Force where he served five years on over thirty RAF bases in South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, England, Scotland, France, Belgium, and Holland. Joining the RAF 127 Squadron after D-Day as a fighter and bomber pilot, he flew Spitfire aircraft on ninety missions, a third of which were bombing attacks while the land forces were beating back the German army beyond the Rhine. Following the war in 1946, he became one of the world's first jet pilots, flying Gloucester Meteors on 74 Squadron. Smith kept a diary of his exploits in World War II, and this was the basis for Spitfire Diaries. Smith immigrated to the United States in 1948 and eventually became the general manager of Lady Bird Johnson's radio stations, KLBJ-AM and KLBJ-FM in December of 1980 in Austin, Texas.
Download or read book Spitfire Diary written by E. A. W. Smith and published by Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum. This book was released on 1995-11-01 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Diary of a Night Bomber Pilot WWI written by Clive Semple and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2008-03-28 with total page 402 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Flying at 18, demobbed at 20, Semple's astonishing experience has been meticulously put into context. How do you fly a Handley Page across France in total darkness? The answer is the 'Lighthouse system', just one of the revelations in this unique record of ingenuity and courage.
Download or read book From Spitfire to Focke Wulf written by Herbert Leonard Thorne and published by . This book was released on 2023 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An insightful look into the life of a wartime test pilot. 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 The Making of a Spitfire Pilot written by Gay Murphy and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2016-03-18 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The In Memorium contains a brief biography of each of the 19 members of 54 Squadron who were killed in Australia during 1942-1945.
