Download or read book Fighter Pilot written by Helen Doe and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2015-05-15 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A family-authorised biography of one of the top-scoring aces of the Battle of Britain.
Download or read book Life as a Battle of Britain Pilot written by Jonathan Falconer and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2011-09-16 with total page 45 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Southern England. Late summer 1940. The nation is fighting for its very survival and the Luftwaffe's aerial offensive is unrelenting. All that lies between invasion and salvation for Britain is the 'thin blue line' of RAF Fighter Command and its pilots. This newly illustrated anniversary edition of Life as a Battle of Britain Pilot reveals what it was like to fly a fighter plane in the Battle of Britain. Who were the Spitfire and Hurricane pilots of 1940? How did they spend a typical day? And when pitched together in combat at 30,000 feet, which was the better machine - Spitfire or Me109? Read Life as a Battle of Britain Pilot and then ask yourself: would I have been up to the job?
Download or read book Life and Death in the Battle of Britain written by Guy Mayfield and published by Imperial War Museum. This book was released on 2016-11-10 with total page 176 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Guy Mayfield was the Station Chaplain at RAF Duxford during the Battle of Britain. His diary is a moving account of the war fought by the young pilots during that summer of 1940, providing a unique and intimate insight into one of the most pivotal moments in British history. Frequently speaking to pilots who knew they may not survive the next 24 hours, Mayfield’s diary provides a vivid account of the fears and hopes of the young men who risked their lives daily for the defense of Britain. Interspersed with photographs of the men and contextual narrative by IWM historian Carl Warner, this book brings a compelling and direct new perspective to this historic battle.
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 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 Fighter Boy written by Barry Sutton and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2010-05-15 with total page 232 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Battle of Britain memoir of Hurricane pilot Barry Sutton, DFC.
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 Fighter Pilot written by George Barclay and published by Crecy Pub. This book was released on 1994 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Few written by Dilip Sarkar and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2009-09-15 with total page 511 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The history of the Battle of Britain in the words of the pilots from a unique archive of first hand accounts.
Download or read book Last of the Few written by Max Arthur and published by Skyhorse. This book was released on 2011-08-01 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: After the fall of France in May 1940, the British Expeditionary Force was miraculously evacuated from Dunkirk. Britain now stood alone to face Hitler’s inevitable invasion attempt. For the German army to land across the channel, Hitler needed mastery of the skies—the Royal Air Force would have to be broken. So every day throughout the summer, German bombers pounded the RAF air bases in the southern counties. Greatly outnumbered by the Luftwaffe, the pilots of RAF Fighter Command scrambled as many as five times a day, and civilians watched skies crisscrossed with the contrails from the constant dogfights between Spitfires and Me-109s. Britain’s very freedom depended on the outcome of that summer’s battle: Its air defenses were badly battered and nearly broken, but against all odds, “The Few,” as they came to be known, bought Britain’s freedom—many with their lives. More than a fifth of the British and Allied pilots died during the Battle of Britain. These are the personal accounts of the pilots who fought and survived that battle. Their stories are as riveting, as vivid, and as poignant as they were seventy years ago. We will not see their like again.
Download or read book Battle of Britain Broadcaster written by Robert Gardner and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2019-09-30 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The unique story of a radio broadcasting pioneer and war correspondent, told with affection by his son.” —Firetrench With the outbreak of World War II, Charles Gardner became one of the first BBC war correspondents and was posted to France to cover the RAF’s AASF (Advanced Air Strike Force). He made numerous broadcasts interviewing many fighter pilots after engagements with the Germans and recalling stories of raids, bomb attacks and eventually the Blitzkrieg when they all were evacuated from France. In late 1940 he was commissioned in the RAF as a pilot and flew Catalina flying boats of Coastal Command. After support missions over the Atlantic protecting supply convoys from America, his squadron was deployed to Ceylon which was under threat from the Japanese navy. Gardner was later recruited by Lord Mountbatten, to help report the exploits of the British 14th Army in Burma. He both broadcast and filed countless reports of their astonishing bravery in beating the Japanese in jungle conditions and monsoon weather. After the war, Gardner became the BBC air correspondent from 1946-1953. As such, he became known as “The Voice of the Air,” witnessing and recording the greatest days in British aviation history. But perhaps he will best be remembered for his 1940 eye-witness account of an air battle over the English Channel when German dive bombers unsuccessfully attacked a British convoy but were driven off by RAF fighters. That broadcast is still played frequently today.
Download or read book Flying Fighting and Reflection written by Peter Jacobs and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2018-09-30 with total page 393 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the thrilling account of the last remaining Battle of Britain ace fighter pilot, Tom Ginger Neil. Neil was one of an elite band, nicknamed The Few by Winston Churchill, he flew Hurricanes during 141 combat missions in that battle and went on to command the first Spitfire XII squadron during 1942/43 as the RAF went on the offensive in north-west Europe.In this, the only full account of Neil's life to be published in collaboration with his family, we learn how he became a poster boy for the war effort and how he credits his sixth sense for keeping him alive during the Second World War.There was, however, one terrifyingly close brush with death, when in 1940 he had a mid-air collision with another Hurricane. With the rear section of his aircraft gone, the plane was out of control and hurtling to the ground, yet somehow he managed to bail out and miraculously survived with only a minor leg injury.As well as RAF service during the Siege of Malta, Wing Commander Neil, who is now in his late nineties, also served with the Americans during the D-Day landings.During his career, Neil was awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses for the destruction of at least fourteen enemy aircraft, and was a successful test pilot after the war before commanding a jet fighter-reconnaissance squadron in Egypt's troubled Canal Zone during the 1950s for which he was awarded the Air Force Cross.With contributions from the man himself, this book also looks at his life after the RAF and his career as a successful author. For military buffs and novices alike, it is a must-read account of a true war hero.
Download or read book Battle of Britain 1940 written by Dilip Sarkar and published by Air World. This book was released on 2020-05-30 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The summer of 1940 remains a pivotal moment in modern British history – still inspiring immense national pride and a global fascination. The Fall of France was catastrophic. Britain stood alone and within range of German air attack. America, with its vast resources was neutral, Hitler’s forces unbeaten, the outlook for Britain bleak. As Britain’s wartime leader, Winston Churchill, rightly predicted, ‘the Battle of Britain is about to begin’. Famously, Churchill mobilized the English language, emboldening the nation with rousing rhetoric. In this darkest of hours, Churchill told the people that this was, in fact, their ‘Finest Hour’, a time of unprecedented courage and defiance which defined the British people. Connecting the crucial battle with Shakespeare’s heroic Henry V and Agincourt, Churchill also immortalized Fighter Command’s young aircrew as the ‘Few’ – to whom so many owed everything. The Few comprised nearly 3,000 aircrew, 544 of which gave their lives during the Battle of Britain’s sixteen weeks of high drama. Arguably, however, the official dates of 10 July – 31 October 1940 are arbitrary, the fighting actually ongoing before and afterwards. Many gave their lives whose names are not included among the Few, as of course did civilians, seamen, and ground staff – which is not overlooked in this groundbreaking book. In this unique study, veteran historian and author Dilip Sarkar explores the individual stories of a wide selection of those who lost their lives during the ‘Finest Hour’, examining their all-too brief lives and sharing these tragic stories – told here, in full, for the first time. Also included is the story of a German fighter pilot, indicating the breadth of investigation involved. Researched with the full cooperation of the families concerned, this work is a crucial contribution to the Battle of Britain’s bibliography.
Download or read book First Light written by Geoffrey Wellum and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2018-05-17 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Two months before the outbreak of the Second World War, eighteen-year-old Geoffrey Wellum becomes a fighter pilot with the RAF . . . Desperate to get in the air, he makes it through basic training to become the youngest Spitfire pilot in the prestigious 92 Squadron. Thrust into combat almost immediately, Wellum finds himself flying several sorties a day, caught up in terrifying dogfights with German Me 109s. Over the coming months he and his fellow pilots play a crucial role in the Battle of Britain. But of the friends that take to the air alongside Wellum many never return.
Download or read book The RAF Battle of Britain Fighter Pilot s Kitbag written by Mark Hillier and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2018-03-30 with total page 215 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The scenes are familiar ones; the young Brylcream Boys sat at dispersal waiting for the haunting call of Scramble, lounging in their shirt sleeves and fur-lined boots, their leather flying helmets lying limp by their side. But what did the RAF fighter pilots of the Battle of Britain really wear, and what vital items would their kitbags have held?The casual air of the dashing pilots of Fighter Command in the Spitfire Summer of 1940 conceals a necessarily professional approach to their task of holding Hitlers Luftwaffe at bay. Therefore, each item of clothing and equipment they wore and carried had a role and a function, be it for warmth and comfort, communication, or for fighting and survival.All the objects that an RAF fighter pilot was issued with during the Battle of Britain are explored in this book in high-definition color photographs, showing everything from the differing uniforms, to headgear, personal weapons, gloves, goggles, parachute packs and the essential Mae West life jacket. Each item is fully described and its purpose and use explained.Relive Britains finest hour as never before through the actually clothing and accouterments of The Few.
Download or read book Spitfire Voices written by Dilip Sarkar and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2010-09-15 with total page 534 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Spitfire fighter pilots tell their extraordinary stories of combat during the Second World War.
