Download or read book RAF Liberators Over Burma written by Bill Kirkness and published by . This book was released on 2017-10-26 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Aboard RAF B-24 Liberators, wireless operator/air gunner Bill Kirkness DFM flew a tour of ops against Japanese targets in Burma. His memoir is a compelling, dignified account of an average man's war from 1942 into 1944 in England, the Mediterranean, Africa, and India. Researcher Matt Poole seamlessly weaves historical detail into Bill's narrative.
Download or read book B 24 Bridge Busters written by Colin Pateman and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2017-01-20 with total page 185 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: B-24 Bridge Busters: RAF Liberators over Burma and Thailand provides a gripping and detailed account of RAF Liberator missions against the Japanese in Asia. British and Commonwealth aircrews displayed great gallantry in many instances on low-level precise bombing sorties destroying specific targets, including a great number of bridges constructed by the Japanese in their conquest to reach India. A number of detailed accounts are based upon personal flying logbooks and other unique material originating from the pilots and aircrews. 159 Squadron was the first four engined heavy bomber squadron which flew from India and operated over Burma. They instigated greater accuracy in destroying a multitude of vital targets. The legendary film The Bridge over the River Kwai (1957) evokes images that are historically set in celluloid; however, that blockbusting film had separated fact from fiction and this book examines the true events that took place through Bridge Busting , including techniques developed and deployed by the RAF against the Japanese.
Download or read book RAF Liberators Over Burma written by Bill Kirkness and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2017-11-07 with total page 409 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The RAF air war versus Japan in the Far East is grossly under-represented in print; the Kirkness memoir lessens this gap with its valuable contributionsThirty-two combat ops may seem like too many to individually chronicle in a single memoir; however, each op’s narrative is compellingly, and uniquely, presented and the cumulative result is that Kirkness’ final, harrowing, op is the most riveting of them allLavishly illustrated with previously unpublished photographs RAF wireless operator/air gunner Bill ‘Enoch’ Kirkness flew thirty-two B-24 Liberator bomber sorties, twenty-eight of which were against Japanese targets in Burma. He was credited with downing the night fighter that killed a crewmate and severely damaged his Liberator; his aircraft’s crash landing abruptly ending his first tour. Bill was subsequently awarded a Distinguished Flying Medal. His memoir of Wellington ferry flights, Liberator training, and ops with 159 Squadron typifies aspects of the human spirit, which any young man immersed within such a conflict would have likely experienced. Bill wore his heart, not just his sergeant’s stripes, on his sleeve. His story is a compelling, dignified account of an average man’s war from 1942 into 1944 in the UK, the Mediterranean, Africa, and onwards through his first operational tour based in India. Matt Poole, an expert on 159 Squadron and RAF Liberator activities against the Japanese, seamlessly enhances Bill’s narrative with added historical detail. Although Bill passed away in 1994, Matt vowed, in retirement, to help bring the memoir to a wider audience.
Download or read book The Special Operations Executive SOE in Burma written by Richard Duckett and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2017-10-30 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the mountains and jungles of occupied Burma during World War II, British special forces launched a series of secret operations, assisted by parts of the Burmese population. The men of the SOE, trained in sabotage and guerrilla warfare, worked in the jungle, deep behind enemy lines, to frustrate the puppet Burmese government of Ba Maw and continue the fight against Hirohito's Japan in a theatre starved of resources. Here, Richard Duckett uses newly declassified documents from the National Archives to reveal for the first time the extent of British special forces' involvement - from the 1941 operations until beyond Burma's independence from the British Empire in 1948. Duckett argues convincingly that `Operation Character' and `Operation Billet' - large SOE missions launched in support of General Slim's XIV Army offensive to liberate Burma - rank among the most militarily significant of the SOE's secret missions. Featuring a wealth of photographs and accompanying material never before published, including direct testimony recorded by veterans of the campaign and maps from the SOE files, The SOE in Burma tells a compelling story of courage and struggle in during World War II
Download or read book Liberators Over the Atlantic written by Jack Colman and published by . This book was released on 2018-01-19 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "[This book] is an informative and personal account of a young man's flying experiences during the Second World War. Growing up in York, Jack Colman achieved his long-held desire to become a pilot by joing the RAF in October 1940, just after his twenty-first birthday. Sent to Canada to learn to fly, he became intrigued by the technical and practical aspects of flying and navigation. Promoted to pilot/navigator, [he] joined Coastal Command on Liberators based in Iceland. The practical difficulties of flying over the North Atlantic and Arctic Ocean protecting the convoys and hunting U-boats are relived as he battled with atrocious weather and navigational uncertainties. His brushes with death - in training and when operational, whether due to mechanical failure, flying into the sea, U-boat gunfire, or running out of fuel in an ever changing hostile environment - are described realistically and calmly."--Book jacket.
Download or read book RAF Fighter Pilots Over Burma written by Norman Franks and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 2014-01-22 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is a recognized fact that, had the war gone badly for the Allies on the India/Burma front, and had the Japanese succeeded in invading the Indian Continent, the outcome of the war would have been entirely different. Yet despite this, the campaign on the Burma front is offered surprisingly scant coverage in the majority of photo-history books. This new book, from respected military historian and author Norman Franks, attempts to redress the balance, noting the importance of this particular aerial conflict within the wider context of the Second World War.Franks takes as his focus the pilots, aircraft and landscapes that characterized the campaign. Photographs acquired during the course of an intensive research period are consolidated into a volume that is sure to make for a popular addition to the established Images of War series. Many unpublished photographs feature, each one offering a new insight into the conflict as it unfolded over Burmese skies. The archive offers a wealth of dynamic images of RAF Hurricanes and Spitfires in flight, with shots of both the aircraft and the pilots employed during this challenging conflict. To fly and fight in Burma, pilots really had to be at the top of their game. The Japanese enemy certainly weren't the only problem to contend with; weather, poor food, incredible heat and all its attendant maladies, jungle diseases, tigers, elephants, fevers... The Japanese were the real enemy but the British pilots had so much more to deal with. And they did it for years. In Britain, a pilot could look forward to a break from operations every six months or so on average. In Burma, pilots first employed in 1941 were still flying operations in 1944. The collection represents a determination on the author's part to record the part played by these resilient and skilled RAF fighter pilots, the contribution that they paid in supporting General Slim's 14th Army and the part they ultimately played in defeating the Japanese attempts to break through into India. These efforts, all paramount and imperative to success, are celebrated here in words and images in a volume sure to appeal to Spitfire and Hurricane enthusiasts, as well as the more general reader.
Download or read book B 24 Liberator Units of the CBI written by Edward M. Young and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-11-20 with total page 214 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The B-24 Liberator was the mainstay of the US Army Air Force's strategic bombing effort in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theatre from 1942 until the end of the war in 1945. With longer range and a greater load-carrying capacity than the B-17, the B-24 was well-suited to the demands of the CBI. The CBI's two air forces, the Tenth in India and the Fourteenth in China, each had one heavy bomb group equipped with Liberators. These two groups, the 7th and the 308th, carried the war to the Japanese across China and South East Asia, flying over some of the most difficult terrain in the world. The 308th had the added burden of having to carry its own fuel and bombs over the Himalayan 'Hump' from India to China in support of its missions. Despite the hardships and extreme distances from sources of supply, both units compiled a notable record, each winning two Distinguished Unit Citations.
Download or read book B 24 Liberator Units of the Pacific War written by Robert F Dorr and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-12-20 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ever present in the Pacific from Pearl Harbor to VJ-Day, the B-24 Liberator proved to be the staple heavy bomber of the campaign. From its ignominious beginnings in the Allied rout in the Philippines and the Dutch East Indies, the bomber weathered the Japanese storm with a handful of bomb groups, which played a crucial role in checking the enemy's progress firstly in New Guinea, and then actively participating in the 'island hopping' campaign through the south-west Pacific.
Download or read book Red Star and Roundel written by Phil Wilkinson and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2019-11-03 with total page 642 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Red Star and the Roundel are the symbols of organisations that share a century of existence, a century with a full quota of conflict as well as harmony. The Russian red star has maintained its impact in the hundred years since the Revolution. The Royal Air Force's red white and blue roundel has seen action in the air world-wide for the same period. Phil Wilkinson had forty years of Royal Air Force service--the final three and a half were in Russia. With this unusual double qualification, he examines the dynamics of the Russia-RAF relationship, sometimes as allies, sometimes as adversaries. Drawing on personal reminiscences, and on the recollections of surviving veterans of RAF service in Russia during the Second World War, as well as on official records from throughout this shared century, the narrative is sometimes light-hearted, sometimes sombre. It goes from brutal combat in the early years, to language difficulties later on; from innocent misunderstandings to deliberate deception; from cultural contrasts to aesthetic links. Perhaps the narrative's most worthwhile effect will be to draw the reader's comment: "Well, I didn't know that before." There is still a lot to learn--a century's worth.
Download or read book The Kalahari Killings written by Jonathan Laverick and published by The History Press. This book was released on 2015-05-04 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On 4 October 1943, two trainee RAF pilots, Walter Adamson and Gordon Edwards, took off from Kumalo in Zimbabwe. Some time later they were forced to land in Botswana. They climbed out unscathed, left a note, and disappeared. What happened next would entail ethno-archaeological investigation, a sensational murder trial with worldwide media coverage – and an astonishing outcome – that led to a profound change in the lives of the Tyua Bush people. The airmen had been murdered by bullet and axe – but why? Twai Twai Molele, the leader of the group of eight killers charged, was known to be a witchdoctor and a bottle allegedly containing human fat was found in his possession ... Following the trial the Tyuas' guns were confiscated and their ageless, nomadic hunting life began to die out. The murders offered an excuse for British-protected cattle farmers to remove them from their lands. Reopening this extraordinary case, Jonathan Laverick reviews the evidence to uncover the true story.
Download or read book RAF Bomber Command Strike Hard Strike Sure 1936 1945 written by Ron Mackay and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2022-03-31 with total page 716 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: -> Historically rich in detail with previously unpublished photographs from private archives -> Researched and written by an aviation and military historian renowned author -> Essential for military/historians, modellers, flight-sim enthusiasts (War Thunder, IL-2 Sturmovik: Great Battles and DCS) and those interested in the complexities of aircraft design and production during the Second World War ‘They sowed the wind and now they are going to reap the whirlwind.’ Arthur ‘Bomber’ Harris The concept of an aerial campaign on a nation’s industrial and military might was advocated by Britain before the start of the First World War; however, a stringent post-war economy ensured that the creation of Bomber Command in 1936 witnessed a daunting disparity between the aim of striking at an adversary’s ability to sustain itself and the means to do so. From 1939 to 1942, Bomber Command was very weak in terms of human and material losses. The navigational means with which to accurately guide bombers to targets was almost completely lacking while the enemy defensive network inflicted serious casualties. Consequently, the punishment handed out was minimal. The resurgence of Bomber Command’s fortunes coincided with the appointment of Sir Arthur Harris. The advent of four-engine designs such as the Avro Lancaster and Handley Page Halifax ensured that a greatly increased bomb tonnage could be delivered. Also, electronic aids such as Gee, Oboe and H2S simplified the task in finding targets. Therefore, by 1944-1945, the RAF’s bombers pulverised Hitler’s Third Reich. Although flak and night-fighters took a heavy toll on the bombers, the RAF’s nocturnal offensive in conjunction with the USAAF’s daylight assaults crippled Germany’s ability to fight back.
Download or read book Nightstalkers written by Richard Phillip Lawless and published by Casemate. This book was released on 2023-02-23 with total page 425 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Never-before-told story of the 868th Bomb Squadron, the Nightstalkers, who paired cutting-edge technology with daring—launching single-aircraft night-time missions stalking the Japanese in the Pacific. In August 1943, a highly classified US Army Air Force unit, code-named the “Wright Project,” departed Langley Field for Guadalcanal in the South Pacific to join the fight against the Empire of Japan. Operating independently, under sealed orders drafted at the highest levels of Army Air Force, the Wright Project was unique, both in terms of the war-fighting capabilities provided by classified systems the ten B-24 Liberators of this small group of airmen brought to the war, and in the success these “crash-built” technologies allowed. The Wright airmen would fly only at night, usually as lone hunters of enemy ships. In so doing they would pave the way for the United States to enter and dominate a new dimension of war in the air for generations to come. This is their story, from humble beginnings at MIT’s Radiation Lab and hunting U-boats off America’s eastern shore, through to the campaigns of the war in the Pacific in their two-year march toward Tokyo. The Wright Project would prove itself to be a combat leader many times over and an outstanding technology innovator, evolving to become the 868th Bomb Squadron. Along the way the unit would be embraced by unique personalities and the dynamic leadership, from Army Air Force General Hap Arnold through combat commanders who flew the missions. In this account, the reader will meet radar warfare pioneers and squadron leaders who were never satisfied that they had pushed the men, the aircraft, and the technologies to the full limit of their possibilities. Comprehensive and highly personal, this story can now be revealed for the very first time, based on official sources, and interviews with the young men who flew into the night.
Download or read book Rare Birds written by Charles R. G. Bain and published by . This book was released on 2016-05-26 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stories of rare airplanes used by Allied and Axis nations during World War II, including plane specifications and photographs.
Download or read book High Hulls written by Charles R. G. Bain and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2018-11-27 with total page 574 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For a time, the flying boat was seen as the way of the future. These aircraft, so strange and foreign to the modern mind, once criss-crossed the world and fulfilled essential military roles. In his latest book for Fonthill, Charles Bain looks at the golden age of the flying boat, when these sometimes strange and often beautiful vessels spanned the globe. These vessels-a combination of ship and airplane-found themselves working as patrol aircraft, passenger aircraft, transports, and even as combat aircraft. This volume contains their stories, from memorable aircraft such as the Short Sunderland and Boeing 314 Clipper, to the craft that roamed the Pacific Theatre of the Second World War, to forgotten giants from Saunders-Roe and even strange jet fighters that once landed like ducks. It even includes the flying boat that has not let time get in the way of doing its job-the Martin Mars. Each of these aircraft has a story worthy of the telling, and often a memorable role to play in the history of aviation. `High Hulls' delves deeply into a long-vanished part of aviation's golden age.
Download or read book The Army Air Forces in World War II Men and planes written by and published by . This book was released on 1948 with total page 920 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Beaufighters Over Sea Sand and Steaming Jungles written by Jack Colman and published by Fonthill Media. This book was released on 2019-12-08 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In October 1943, Jack Colman changed from Liberators to Beaufighters and was selected for Torbeau training in Scotland. He joined a strike wing at North Coates attacking North Sea convoys off the coast of Holland. Later, Jack and his Beaufighter were sent to the Far East where he was deployed to fly out of Assam over Burma supporting the Forgotten Army. Midway through the tour, they converted to Mosquitoes - a change he was not particularly happy about. After a short rest converting pilots to Mosquitoes, he felt lucky to be put in charge of a small unit flying service personnel to various venues in southern India. Jack's enthusiasm for flying is maintained and his lucky escapes documented. His fascination with the cultural and social experiences gained in India leaves its mark as he comments on the privileges he experiences, now as a commissioned officer, and of the wealth chasm between the princes and the poor of India. This is a book not just about flying but how one man and his comrades lived through those unique and special times.
Download or read book Beaufighters Over Burma No 27 Squadron RAF 1942 1945 written by David J. Innes and published by . This book was released on 1985 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
