Download or read book Hurricane written by John Dibbs and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-05-18 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2017 marks the 80th anniversary of the remarkable Hawker Hurricane formally entering service. The RAF's first monoplane fighter, it dragged the Air Force into a position where it could defend Britain in her 'hour of need'. The true workhorse of the RAF, the Hurricane came into its own in the hot summer months of 1940 valiantly defending the skies above Britain. Outnumbering Spitfires three to one, the Hurricane also downed far more enemy aircraft. Without the obvious elegance of the Me 109 or the Spitfire, the Hurricane was nonetheless beloved by its pilots for its ability to simultaneously take a battering and inflict serious damage from its remarkably stable gun platform. This stunning new book reveals the Hurricane in all its glory – from fascinating first-hand accounts from the men who flew her to the truly breathtaking images from John Dibbs of the Hurricanes still in flight today. This lavish, fully illustrated edition is a must-have for all fans of aviation history.
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 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 Hurricane written by Bloomsbury Publishing and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2018-04-19 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This remarkable aircraft, designed and built to combat the emerging fighter strength of the Axis nations in the lead-up to World War II, made its name in the air battles over Britain and France in the first years of the war. Beloved by its pilots for its stable firing platform and reputation as a rugged survivor, the Hawker Hurricane quickly became the backbone of the RAF, scoring more kills than the more glamorous Spitfire in the Battle of Britain. This compact volume draws on a wealth of research, artwork and contemporary photographs, as well as images of surviving Hurricanes in flight today, to present a complete guide to this classic fighter aircraft.
Download or read book They Gave Me a Hurricane written by Charles Palliser and published by Fighting High Publishing. This book was released on 2012-08-19 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As a teenager ‘Tich’ Palliser became ‘hooked on this flying game’ and aspired to take to the skies. The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve provided the opportunity and a few months before the Second World War broke out the Yorkshire-born novice was called-up to learn and develop his skills as a combat fighter pilot. In August 1940 the young sergeant aviator, at the controls of a Hawker Hurricane, entered the ferocious aerial melees of the Battle of Britain, fighting for his life, and his colleague’s lives, as he became one of Churchill’s ‘Few’ in the defense of his homeland. Tich met with some combat success but also witnessed the attrition of war at a personal level, losing many squadron friends. Indeed in December 1940 Tich fell victim to enemy fighters. Tich was commissioned in April 1941 and arrived in Malta a month later to play his part in the defense of the beleaguered island. Steadily his score of combat kills rose. He passed the ‘ace’ status and early in 1942 was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Soon after he took up instructing duties, and for the remainder of the war, despite the continual threat of sabotage, Tich passed on his hard-won experience to novice pilots in South Africa. This is Tich’s story in his own words, illustrated with numerous previously unpublished photographs, as the reader accompanies him through the physical tensions and emotional trials of being a Second World War fighter pilot. Tich provides an intimate account of squadron life, including the acquaintances made and coping with the loss of friends. They Gave Me a Hurricane is an extraordinary, gripping, and enthralling account, as told by one of the RAF’s ‘ace’ fighter pilots – a fitting tribute to an outstanding airman and well respected veteran.
Download or read book Hurricane Pilot The Wartime Letters of W O Harry L Gill D F M 1940 1943 written by and published by . This book was released on 2011 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Harry L. Gill, of Fredericton, New Brunswick, enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force in 1940 at the age of 18. During his short but adventure-filled career, he flew a Hurricane fighter bomber over France, England, and India and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal. In 1943 his airplane was shot down over Burma, and he died in the crash. Hurricane Pilot captures the perspective of a young man in the middle of a war in Europe and Asia. Drawing extensively on Gill's correspondence with his parents and his siblings, this very personal account of war shows how Gill was transformed from a small-town boy to a mature fighter pilot serving in a global war on another continent. His letters depict the enthusiasm of youth, a strong sense of humour, his plans for the future, and this continuing attachment to home. Hurricane Pilot is volume ten in the New Brunswick Military Heritage Series.
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 Arise to Conquer written by I.R. Gleed and published by Air World. This book was released on 2022-06-20 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Born in 1916, after learning to fly as a civilian, Ian Richard Gleed was granted a RAF commission in 1936. He completed training on Christmas Day that year, being posted to 46 Squadron which was equipped with the Gloster Gauntlet. Through much of his RAF service the diminutive Gleed was known as ‘Widge’, short for ‘Wizard Midget’ on account of his excessive use of the word ‘wizard’ to describe something ‘topper’, and his short stature. Rising from Flight to Squadron Commander in short order, and later taking over the Ibsley Spitfire Wing in 1941, Gleed was enormously popular with his peers. Indeed, Wing Commander ‘Bunny’ Currant once described Gleed as a ‘pocket-sized man with care for others and courage beyond compare’. Having been decorated with the coveted ‘double’ of both DSO and DFC, Wing Commander Gleed went out to lead a wing in Tunisia. It was there that he was shot down and killed on 16 April 1943. By this time, he had achieved the status of being a fighter Ace, having been credited with the destruction of thirteen enemy aircraft. The previous year, Gleed’s wartime memoir, Arise to Conquer, was published by Victor Gollancz. Eloquently written and detailed, this book is a superb first-hand account of one man’s life and times as a fighter pilot – mainly flying the Hawker Hurricane – during the Fall of France, the Battle of Britain and beyond into the night Blitz. Reprinted here in its entirety, and extensively introduced by the renowned aviation historian Dilip Sarkar MBE, FRHistS, this edition of Arise to Conquer is supported by a remarkable set of wartime images. Among Gleed’s Hurricane pilots on 87 Squadron during the Battle of Britain and beyond was Sergeant Laurence ‘Rubber’ Thorogood, a keen photographer who is often mentioned in this book. Along with his Commanding Officer’s words, Rubber’s unique personal photograph album, containing as it does a number of images of Gleed, provides a rare glimpse of a fighter squadron at war during our Darkest – yet Finest – Hour.
Download or read book Hurricane and Spitfire Pilots at War written by Terence Kelly and published by Random House (UK). This book was released on 1986 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book An American Fighter Pilot in the R A F 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 Fighter Pilot written by William R. Dunn and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on 2014-04-23 with total page 345 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This WWII fighter pilot memoir recounts the author’s many exploits as a flying ace during WWII in the Normandy invasions, the Battle for France and beyond. Born in Minneapolis in 1916, William R. Dunn decided to become a fighter pilot at the age of twelve. In 1939 he joined the Canadian Army and was soon transferred to the Royal Air Force. As part of the RAF’s famous Eagle Squadron, Dunn was sent to Europe to fight in the Second World War. Flying Hawker Hurricanes and Supermarine Spitfires, he was the first Eagle Squadron pilot to shoot down an enemy aircraft. When he later transferred to the US Army Air Forces, he became the first American ace of the war. Lieutenant Colonel Dunn saw action in the Normandy invasion and in Patton's sweep across France. Twenty years later he fought again in Vietnam. In this lively memoir, Dunn keenly conveys the fighter pilot's experience of war—the tension of combat, the love of aircraft, the elation of victory, the boisterous comradeship and competition of the pilot brotherhood.
Download or read book Fighters Over Malta written by Brian Cull and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2018-08-17 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All known combat claims and lossesMany personal accounts and memories of the battleIllustrated with new and rarely seen photographs Brian Cull and Frederick Galea’s definitive Fighters over Malta: Gladiators and Hurricanes 1940-1942 is a highly-detailed account of the gallant band of RAF and Commonwealth pilots who flew in defence of Malta between June 1940 and April 1942, when help in the guise of Spitfires finally arrived. Most of the Hurricanes, which held this tiny outpost of the British Empire in the heart of Axis-dominated territory, had been flown from the decks of aircraft carriers or from bases in North Africa, while a handful of fighter pilots arrived by Sunderland flying boats or other aircraft in transit from the UK via Gibraltar. Many of these pilots were inexperienced and quickly paid the supreme price, particularly when Messerschmitt Bf 109 pilots of the elite 7/JG26 arrived in Sicily in early 1941, and later in the year when JG53 made their presence felt. Important personal diaries and journals have come to light, and these have been widely quoted to provide the atmospheric background and thoughts and hopes of Hurricane pilots who defended Malta. Not all diarists survived, but their impressions provide a fitting tribute to their courage, aspirations and fears. Much of the early period of the air defence of Malta is enhanced by the personal experiences of Flt Lt (then Sgt Plt) James Pickering AFC, who flew Hurricanes with 261 Squadron.
Download or read book Duel of Eagles written by Peter Townsend and published by Booksales. This book was released on 2008-05-15 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Former RAF ace chronicles the growth of the Royal Air Force and the Luftwaffe and their decisive engagements during the Battle of Britain in 1940.
Download or read book The Hawker Hurricane written by Francis K. Mason and published by . This book was released on 1962 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Hurricane written by Brian Milton and published by . This book was released on 2011-04 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 2010 is the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. Written by Brian Milton, this volume contains a 'first hand' account of the Hurricane fighter plane in combat.
Download or read book Hawker Hurricane written by Dominique Breffort and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2010-12-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Hawker Hurricane is actually Battle of Britain's number one fighter, even if the Spitfire is better known. Manned by the greatest British, Commonwealth and Allied fighter pilots, the Hurricane has flown its bulky fuselage from the sky of England to the Russian steppes, from the waters of the North Atlantic to the sands of the Western Desert. At last, the extraordinary career, if not the best known, of this unique fighter is given justice by this book.
Download or read book Hurricane Combat written by Ken W. Mackenzie and published by . This book was released on 1987 with total page 190 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Forfatteren skriver om sine oplevelser som pilot i R.A.F. Han fortæller udførligt om 3 år som krigsfange i Tyskland.
