Download or read book The Dakota Hunter written by Hans Wiesman and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2015-03-19 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A tale of a lifelong passion for a WWII aircraft that changed the author’s life: “It is almost like an adventure novel except it is true” (Air Classics). This book tells the story of a Dutch boy who grew up during the 1950s in postwar Borneo, where he had frequent encounters with an airplane, the Douglas DC-3, a.k.a. the C-47 Skytrain or Dakota, of World War II fame. For a young boy living in a remote jungle community, the aircraft reached the proportions of a romantic icon as the essential lifeline to a bigger world for him, the beginning of a special bond. In 1957, his family left the island and all its residual wreckage of World War II, and he attended college in The Hague. After graduation, he started a career as a corporate executive—and met the aircraft again during business trips to the Americas. His childhood passion for the Dakota flared up anew, and the fascination pulled like a magnet. As if predestined, or maybe just looking for an excuse to come closer, he began a business to salvage and convert Dakota parts, which meant first of all finding them. As the demand for these war relic parts and cockpits soared, he began to travel the world to track down surplus, crashed, or derelict Dakotas. He ventured deeper and deeper into remote mountains, jungles, savannas, and the seas where the planes are found, usually as ghostly wrecks but sometimes still in full commercial operation. In hunting the mythical Dakota, he often encountered intimidating or dicey situations in countries plagued by wars or revolts, others by arms and narcotics trafficking, warlords, and conmen. The stories of these expeditions take the reader to some of the remotest spots in the world, but once there, one is often greeted by the comfort of what was once the West’s apex in transportation—however now haunted by the courageous airmen of the past.

Download or read book Douglas C 47 Skytrain Dakota written by Adrian M. Balch and published by . This book was released on 2022 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The DC 3 written by Peter M. Bowers and published by Aero Publishers (CA). This book was released on 1986 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Eagles Over Husky written by Alexander Fitzgerald-Black and published by Wolverhampton Military Studies. This book was released on 2018-02-15 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the summer of 1943, the United Nations began Operation HUSKY, the invasion of Sicily. The Eagles over HUSKY - the airmen of the Allied air forces - played a crucial role in the assault. The Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica provided a significant part of the Axis force meant to defend the island and throw the Allies back into the sea. The Allied air forces foiled this effort and inflicted losses on a German Air Force badly needed on other fronts. Raids on mainland Italian railway transport crippled Axis resupply efforts. The same strikes brought pressure on the Italian state to denounce Fascism and join the Allied side. Army commanders relied heavily on tactical air power to destroy Axis forces in Sicily. The result was a strategic victory which forced Nazi Germany to stand alone in defense of southern Europe. Most histories of the campaign focus on the escape of German forces across the Strait of Messina. Eagles over Husky challenges the notion that the Allied militaries bungled total victory in Sicily. It assesses one of the greatest air battles of the Second World War. This is a topic that has been relatively unexamined by historians of the campaign, who tend to focus on army matters. Eagles over Husky tells the integrated story of the air war waged during the Battle of Sicily. The author draws upon experiences, perspectives, and sources from both Allied and Axis camps to inform the analysis and enhance the narrative.

Download or read book The Secret War in the Balkans written by Richard H. Kraemer and published by Author House. This book was released on 2010-07-27 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: World War II was the most important event of the twentieth century. Sixty three nations took part, engaging more than 100 million soldiers, sailors, and airmen. All of the major campaigns of that war have been thoroughly covered in print and film with one exception, the secret war in the Balkans. While raids by bombers and fighter attacks were routinely reported by both military and civilian news media, the nocturnal activities of the 60th Troop Carrier Group supplying the Balkan guerrillas remained “Top Secret.” Beginning in March 1944, the 60th carried 7,000 tons of weapons and equipment to secret drop and landing zones in Axis-held territory in the Balkans. With this equipment, the guerrillas tied down half a million Axis troops prior to the D-Day landings in Normandy on June 6, 1944. What if the 60th Troop Carrier Group or the guerrillas had not done their job? Adolf Hitler would have been able to move eight or ten divisions to western France prior to D-Day. No on can say with certainty, but this writer’s judgment is that the landings may well have failed. At the very least, the war would have been much longer and much more destructive. The importance of the Balkan supply drops to Allied victory in Europe has never been adequately recognized. The Secret War in the Balkans provides this heretofore missing chapter in the story of World War II.

Download or read book Dakota Hercules and Caribore in Australian Service written by Stewart Wilson and published by Motorbooks International. This book was released on 1990 with total page 222 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book 80 Years a Tribute to the Pby Catalina written by Hans Wiesman and published by Avion Ventures Bv.. This book was released on 2018-04-15 with total page 300 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes the Saga of the best Flying Boat ever made, the Consolidated PBY Catalina. This iconic WWII Sea Patrol Bomber evokes strong nostalgia related to its wartime heroic role as a Rescue aircraft in search for downed crews and as a ship convoy guard against the ever-looming Submarine attacks.

Download or read book Legend written by Philip Kaplan and published by Peter Livanos and Philip Kaplan. This book was released on 2009-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this title, 'Legend', the wartime and post-war history of a significant surviving veteran of that war, the C-47A N1844A is traced, along with the pre-war, wartime and post-war story of the fabulous DC-3/C-47 Dakota type.

Download or read book Douglas C 47 Skytrain written by and published by . This book was released on 2019 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Description: A Douglas C-47 Skytrain in the air. "C-47 Plane (troop) transport." Location unknown.

Download or read book The Dakota Hunter written by Hans Wiesman and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2015-03-19 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book tells the story of a Dutch boy who grew up during the 1950s in post-war Borneo, where he had frequent encounters with an airplane, the Douglas DC-3, aka the C-47 Skytrain or Dakota of World War II fame. For a young boy living in a remote jungle community, the aircraft reached the proportions of a romantic icon, as the essential lifeline to a bigger world for him, the beginning of a special bond. In 1957 his family left the island, and all its residual wreckage of World War II, and he attended college in The Hague. After graduation he started a career as a corporate executive, and met the aircraft again during business trips to the Americas. His childhood passion for the Dakota flared up anew, and the fascination pulled like a magnet. As if predestined, or maybe just looking for an alibi to come closer, he began a business to salvage and convert Dakota parts, which meant first of all finding them. As the demand for these war relic parts and cockpits soared, he began to travel the world to track down surplus, crashed or derelict Dakotas. He ventured deeper and deeper into remote mountains, jungles, savannas and the seas where the planes are found, usually as ghostly wrecks but sometimes still in full commercial operation. In hunting the mythical Dakota he often encountered intimidating or dicey situations in countries plagued by wars or revolts, others by arms and narcotics trafficking, warlords and con men. This book describes his multiple expeditions in search of the remains of the Dakota legend. It takes the reader to some of the remotest spots in the world, but once there one is often greeted by the comfort of what was once the WestÍs apex in transportation„however now haunted by the courageous airmen of the past.

Download or read book McDonnell Douglas written by Bill Yenne and published by Crescent. This book was released on 1985 with total page 268 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Douglas DC 3 written by Henry M. Holden and published by . This book was released on 1991 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Together We Fly written by Julie Boatman Filucci and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Weaving together the narratives of engineers, pilots, mechanics, soldiers, and passengers, this chronicle illustrates the history of the Douglas DC-3. Beginning with creator Donald Douglas, this narrative runs through the airplane's development and initial flight test, through its service in World War II and Vietnam, to its current status as an air show favorite"--

Download or read book Skytrain written by Philip Kaplan and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2018-07-31 with total page 385 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The legendary Douglas DC-3 airliner was a technological breakthrough that changed the course of both civilian and military aviation. In the 1930s, passenger air travel was expensive, uncomfortable, and frequently unreliable. That began to change with the appearance of the handsome, thoroughly modern DC-3, the twenty-one-passenger twin-engine propeller-driven creation of Donald Douglas and his young California company. The first production models were sold to airlines for $90,000. The price climbed to $115,000 just before the United States entered the Second World War in December 1941. The new plane quickly became a favorite of passengers the world over, and it became the first truly profitable plane for the industry. The threat posed by the coming war made the US Army realize that a military version could handle the vital troop and cargo transport capability soon to be needed. The C-47 Skytrain was born and evolved into specialized versions with many nicknames: Gooney Bird, Dakota, and Puff the Magic Dragon. In WWII, General Dwight Eisenhower was so impressed he referenced it in his famous comment: ?The four pieces of equipment the most vital to Allied success in Africa and Europe were the bulldozer, the jeep, the two-and-a-half-ton truck, and the Douglas C-47.? Skytrain celebrates the long and distinguished career of this great plane.

Download or read book Gunships written by Wayne Mutza and published by Specialty Press (MN). This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gunships: The Story of Spooky, Shadow, Stinger, and Spectre tells the dramatic story of transforming military cargo transports into deadly ground-attack aircraft used by the U.S. and other countries in worldwide conflicts from the Vietnam War to the Middle East today. This comprehensive and detailed accounting of gunships begins with piston-powered, WWII-era C-47s and progresses to the four-engine turboprop C-130 Hercules, showing how gunships evolved from using 20mm miniguns to 105mm Howitzers with digital-age Battle Management Centers housed onboard. These highly effective airplanes made history by removing the safe haven of night operations from the enemy, and allowing strategic victory that might not have otherwise been possible. Author Wayne Mutza not only carefully researched all of these aircraft and their paths to reality, but also tells the tale of the brave and persevering men who believed in this unique weapon system and who saw its development through to the end. This book features a wealth of outstanding color photographs, many of which have never before been published, and also contains detailed appendices documenting gunship production data, combat units, and aircraft losses.

Download or read book The Thirsty 13th written by Seth P. Washburne and published by . This book was released on 2011-01-01 with total page 778 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Douglas R4D 8 C 117D Super Gooney written by Steve Ginter and published by Naval Fighters. This book was released on 2013 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This aircraft was used as a transport, VIP carrier, station hack, a trainer with VT-29, and its usage in Antarctica with VX-6 from 1952 into the 1980s. The DC-3S was a Douglas venture to add capability and life to the post-war fleet of surplus DC-3s, C-47s and R4Ds. It was an remanufactured aircraft with a stretched fuselage, new taller and wider tail group, new square tip outer wings, larger engines and fully enclosed main gear housings. It did not find favor with the airlines which instead turned to Convairs and Martins, but found a home in the Navy and Marines. 96 aircraft were eventually re-manufactured as R4D-8s and 4 as R4D-8Zs.