Download or read book The Paris Secret written by Natasha Lester and published by Forever. This book was released on 2020-09-15 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Orphan comes an unforgettable historical novel about a secret collection of Dior gowns that ties back to the first female pilots of WWII and a heartbreaking story of love and sacrifice. England, 1939: The Penrose sisters couldn't be more different. Skye is a daring and brash pilot, and Liberty the one to defy her at every turn. Even if women aren't allowed in the Royal Air Force, Skye is determined to help the war effort. She's thrilled when it reunites her with her childhood soulmate, Nicholas. She's less thrilled to learn Nicholas is now engaged to an enigmatic Frenchwoman named Margaux Jourdan. Paris, 1947: Designer Christian Dior unveils his glamorous first collection to a world weary of war and grief. He names his debut fragrance Miss Dior in tribute to his beloved sister Catherine, who forged a friendship with Skye and Margaux through her work with the French Resistance. Present Day: Fashion conservator Kat Jourdan discovers a priceless collection of Dior gowns in her grandmother's vacant cottage. As she delves into the mystery of their origin, Kat begins to doubt everything she thought she knew about her beloved grandmother.

Download or read book Flying the SR 71 Blackbird written by Richard H. Graham and published by Motorbooks. This book was released on 2019-10-08 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For anyone who has ever wondered what it's like to fly the SR-71 on a secret Mach 3 reconnaissance mission, this book has the answer. Completely redesigned and updated with photos from author Colonel Richard H. Graham's personal archive, as well as a new introduction, Flying the SR-71 Blackbird details what an SR-71 mission entailed, from planning to donning a pressure suit to returning to base. The Lockheed SR-71, unofficially known as the Blackbird, was an advanced, long-range, Mach 3 strategic reconnaissance aircraft developed by Lockheed Skunk Works. The aircraft flew so fast and high that not one was ever shot down, even by a missile. SR-71 pilot and instructor Colonel Richard Graham offers a rare cockpit perspective on how regular Air Force pilots and navigators transformed themselves into SR-71 Blackbird crews, turning their unique aviation talents to account in an unprecedented way. Arguably the world's foremost expert on piloting the Blackbird, Graham takes readers along on an operational mission that only a few Air Force pilots have ever experienced.

Download or read book The Pilot s Wife written by Anita Shreve and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2014-11-27 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Oprah's Book Club selection, this gripping and powerfully wrought novel from the bestselling author of The Weight of Water is a stunning meditation on grief, betrayal and 'the ultimate unknowability of those closest to us' (Daily Telegraph) Who can guess what a woman will do when the unthinkable becomes her reality? Being married to a pilot has taught Kathryn Lyons to be ready for emergencies, but nothing has prepared her for the late-night knock on her door and the news of her husband's fatal crash. As Kathryn struggles through her grief, she is forced to confront disturbing rumours about the man she loved and the life that she took for granted. Torn between her impulse to protect her husband's memory and her desire to know the truth, Kathryn sets off to find out if she ever really knew the man who was her husband. In her determination to test the truth of her marriage, she faces shocking revelations about the secrets a man can keep and the actions a woman is willing to take. 'Enthralling' -Anita Brookner, author of the Booker Prize-winning Hotel du Lac 'Compellingly told, brilliantly observed, lyrically written and when you get to the last page you simply want to run out and buy everything she's ever written' -Sunday Independent

Download or read book The Flying Tigers written by Sam Kleiner and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2022-03-01 with total page 321 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The thrilling story behind the American pilots who were secretly recruited to defend the nation’s desperate Chinese allies before Pearl Harbor and ended up on the front lines of the war against the Japanese in the Pacific. Sam Kleiner’s The Flying Tigers uncovers the hidden story of the group of young American men and women who crossed the Pacific before Pearl Harbor to risk their lives defending China. Led by legendary army pilot Claire Chennault, these men left behind an America still at peace in the summer of 1941 using false identities to travel across the Pacific to a run-down airbase in the jungles of Burma. In the wake of the disaster at Pearl Harbor this motley crew was the first group of Americans to take on the Japanese in combat, shooting down hundreds of Japanese aircraft in the skies over Burma, Thailand, and China. At a time when the Allies were being defeated across the globe, the Flying Tigers’ exploits gave hope to Americans and Chinese alike. Kleiner takes readers into the cockpits of their iconic shark-nosed P-40 planes—one of the most familiar images of the war—as the Tigers perform nail-biting missions against the Japanese. He profiles the outsize personalities involved in the operation, including Chennault, whose aggressive tactics went against the prevailing wisdom of military strategy; Greg “Pappy” Boyington, the man who would become the nation’s most beloved pilot until he was shot down and became a POW; Emma Foster, one of the nurses in the unit who had a passionate romance with a pilot named John Petach; and Madame Chiang Kai-shek herself, who first brought Chennault to China and who would come to visit these young Americans. A dramatic story of a covert operation whose very existence would have scandalized an isolationist United States, The Flying Tigers is the unforgettable account of a group of Americans whose heroism changed the world, and who cemented an alliance between the United States and China as both nations fought against seemingly insurmountable odds.

Download or read book My Secret War written by Richard S. Drury and published by St Martins Press. This book was released on 1989-02-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This first-hand account of pilot Richard Drury captures the eerie beauty of Asia and the ugliness of war as aerial missions of raw courage were carried out in a war that officially did not exist. A classic true-life account of combat-action and adventure in the air over Laos.

Download or read book Sled Driver written by Brian Shul and published by Lickle Pub Incorporated. This book was released on 1991 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: No aircraft ever captured the curiosity & fascination of the public like the SR-71 Blackbird. Nicknamed "The Sled" by those few who flew it, the aircraft was shrouded in secrecy from its inception. Entering the U.S. Air Force inventory in 1966, the SR-71 was the fastest, highest flying jet aircraft in the world. Now for the first time, a Blackbird pilot shares his unique experience of what it was like to fly this legend of aviation history. Through the words & photographs of retired Major Brian Shul, we enter the world of the "Sled Driver." Major Shul gives us insight on all phases of flying, including the humbling experience of simulator training, the physiological stresses of wearing a space suit for long hours, & the intensity & magic of flying 80,000 feet above the Earth's surface at 2000 miles per hour. SLED DRIVER takes the reader through riveting accounts of the rigors of initial training, the gamut of emotions experienced while flying over hostile territory, & the sheer joy of displaying the jet at some of the world's largest airshows. Illustrated with rare photographs, seen here for the first time, SLED DRIVER captures the mystique & magnificence of this most unique of all aircraft.

Download or read book The Pilot s Wife written by Anita Shreve and published by Back Bay Books. This book was released on 2007-07-31 with total page 208 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anita Shreve's hauntingly beautiful #1 bestseller and Oprah's Book Club selection about tragedy, grief, betrayal, and the 'impossibility of knowing another person.' As a pilot's wife, Kathryn has learned to expect both intense exhilaration and long periods alone, but nothing has prepared her for a late-night knock that lets her know her husband has died in a crash. Until now, Kathryn Lyons's life has been peaceful if unextraordinary: a satisfying job teaching high school in the New England mill town of her childhood; a picture-perfect home by the ocean; a precocious, independent-minded fifteen-year-old daughter; and a happy marriage whose occasional dull passages she attributes to the unavoidable deadening of time. As Kathryn struggles with her grief, she descends into a maelstrom of publicity stirred up by the modern hunger for the details of tragedy. Even before the plane is located in waters off the Irish coast, the relentless scrutiny of her husband's life begins to bring a bizarre personal mystery into focus. Could there be any truth to the increasingly disturbing rumors that he had a secret life?

Download or read book Ask the Pilot written by Patrick Smith and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2004 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Though we routinely take to the air, for many of us flying remains a mystery. Few of us understand the how and why of jetting from New York to London in six hours. How does a plane stay in the air? Can turbulence bring it down? What is windshear? How good are the security checks? Patrick Smith, an airline pilot and author of Salon.com's popular column, "Ask the Pilot," unravels the secrets and tells you all there is to know about the strange and fascinating world of commercial flight. He offers: A nuts and bolts explanation of how planes fly Insights into safety and security Straight talk about turbulence, air traffic control, windshear, and crashes The history, color, and controversy of the world's airlines The awe and oddity of being a pilot The poetry and drama of airplanes, airports, and traveling abroad In a series of frank, often funny explanations and essays, Smith speaks eloquently to our fears and curiosities, incorporating anecdotes, memoir, and a life's passion for flight. He tackles our toughest concerns, debunks conspiracy theories and myths, and in a rarely heard voice dares to return a dash of romance and glamour to air travel.

Download or read book The Secrets of Flight written by Maggie Leffler and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-05-03 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This captivating, breakout novel—told in alternating viewpoints—brings readers from the skies of World War II to the present day, where a woman is prepared to tell her secrets at last. Estranged from her family since just after World War II, Mary Browning has spent her entire adult life hiding from her past. Now eighty-seven years old and a widow, she is still haunted by secrets and fading memories of the family she left behind. Her one outlet is the writing group she’s presided over for a decade, though she’s never written a word herself. When a new member walks in—a fifteen-year-old girl who reminds her so much of her beloved sister Sarah—Mary is certain fate delivered Elyse Strickler to her for a reason. Mary hires the serious-eyed teenager to type her story about a daring female pilot who, during World War II, left home for the sky and gambled everything for her dreams—including her own identity. As they begin to unravel the web of Mary’s past, Mary and Elyse form an unlikely friendship. Together they discover it’s never too late for second chances and that sometimes forgiveness is all it takes for life to take flight in the most unexpected ways.

Download or read book Flying Through Midnight written by John T. Halliday and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2007-02-06 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this compelling account, Halliday takes readers inside a top-secret air base and into the cockpit of an antiquated plane that was a lifeline for special forces on the ground in 1970 Laos during the Vietnam War.

Download or read book Secrets in the Mist written by Morgan L. Busse and published by Enclave Escape. This book was released on 2021-08-10 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What's lurking in the Mist is the least of their worries... In a world where humanity lives in the sky to escape a deadly mist below, Cass's only goal is survival. That is, until she finds a job on the airship Daedalus as a diver. Now she explores ruined cities, looking for treasure and people's lost heirlooms until a young man hires her to find the impossible: a way to eradicate the Mist. Theodore Winchester is a member of one of the Five Families that rule the skies. Following in his father's footsteps, he searches for the source of the Mist and hopes to stop the purges used to control overpopulation. But what he finds are horrifying secrets and lethal ambition. If he continues his quest, it could mean his own death. The Mist is rising and soon the world will be enveloped in its deadly embrace, turning what's left of humanity into the undead.

Download or read book Crossed written by Ally Condie and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2013-03-12 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The highly anticipated second book in the New York Times bestselling Matched trilogy! Perfect for fans of 1984, Brave New World, Black Mirror, and The Handmaid’s Tale. Chasing down an uncertain future, Cassia makes her way to the Outer Provinces in pursuit of Ky--taken by Society to his certain death--only to find that he has escaped into the majestic, but treacherous, canyons. On this wild frontier are glimmers of a different life . . . and the enthralling promise of rebellion. But even as Cassia sacrifices everything to reunite with Ky, ingenious surprises from Xander may change the game. On the edge of Society, nothing is as expected, and crosses and double crosses make Cassia's path more twisted than ever. Look for the epic series finale, REACHED!

Download or read book Fly Until You Die written by Chia Youyee Vang and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-03-05 with total page 233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the Vietnam War, the US Air Force secretly trained pilots from Laos, skirting Lao neutrality in order to bolster the Royal Lao Air Force and their own war efforts. Beginning in 1964, this covert project, "Water Pump," operated out of Udorn Airbase in Thailand with the support of the CIA. This Secret War required recruits from Vietnam-border region willing to take great risks--a demand that was met by the marginalized Hmong ethnic minority. Soon, dozens of Hmong men were training at Water Pump and providing air support to the US-sponsored clandestine army in Laos. Short and problematic training that resulted in varied skill levels, ground fire, dangerous topography, bad weather conditions, and poor aircraft quality, however, led to a nearly 50 percent casualty rate, and those pilots who survived mostly sought refuge in the United States after the war. Drawing from numerous oral history interviews, Fly Until You Die brings their stories to light for the first time--in the words of those who lived it.

Download or read book Firefly written by Richard E Diller and published by . This book was released on 2013-08-21 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is 1969 and Dick Diller is on his way to flying warplanes in the Vietnam conflict. He is commissioned to fly A-1 Skyraiders in sometimes harrowing nighttime missions over Laos--surviving not only the danger of the missions he flew, but also the bureaucracy of the air force, from fitness testing to additional duties assigned, to attacking impossible-to-find targets in the dead of night--with minimal fuel supplies.At once entertaining and riveting, as well as thought-provoking, "Firefly" is the story of one man's journey in a world at war, and a day-to-day description of the fighting force that was flying A-1 Skyraiders in combat. "Firefly" contains actual transcriptions of dialogue of pilots locating a target and making a strike in northern Laos."Firefly" is the only book to have been written about the night mission over Laos during the Vietnam conflict, and so fills a niche in the literature of the era.

Download or read book The Secret Life of Captain X written by MrsXNomore and published by . This book was released on 2014-05-05 with total page 244 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Her marriage to successful airline pilot Captain X seemed like a dream come true. In reality, it was a nightmare.From the second they met, Captain X swept MrsXNomore off her feet, constantly showering her with gifts, flattery and attention. He never left her side unless he was working his scheduled flights. Expertly he gained her complete trust and love. Soon they married, often traveling the world on Major Airways.Early on she underwent the physical and emotional stress of infertility and adoption with little help from her husband. Things were not adding up. She ignored the red flags, his controlling ways and anger, putting his abuse somewhere in the back of her mind. After all, everyone who met charming Captain X told her "How lucky you are to be married to him "Captain X doted on their child, as if in a parenting competition. His erratic work schedule, their few friends, distant family, and his evasiveness about finances left MrsXNomore in a constant state of confusion. Isolated from friends and family, and plagued with serious medical conditions, she was in no state to address these issues.Enduring three surgeries in fourteen months, she received no empathy whatsoever from Captain X. Worn down, her life was filled with his constant mixed messages. Claiming she needed mental help, Captain X pushed her into therapy, resulting in more confusion.Insisting on reviewing family finances, disbelief set in. Captain X had plunged them into serious debt, often using her name, ruining her credit. In what appeared to be a sincere apology, he begged for forgiveness, promising to make everything right. Instead, he filed for divorce.Shocked, she constantly searched for answers and found them in Captain X's computer. She discovered he was member of a secret brotherhood involving prostitution, locally and internationally during their entire marriage. When she confronted him, he immediately moved out of their family home, taking their child. She was a now a victim of parental alienation.Tormented, thoughts of suicide crept into her head. Months became years spent trying to understand what had happened to her. What kind of man was he? Why didn't she know the man she married? Thankfully she found answers. Captain X is a socialized psychopath. MrsXNomore always believed there was good in everyone, but now she understood that's not so. The realization was frightening.Recognizing that psychopaths (also known as sociopaths) often return to their past victims to inflict further pain, she fled the country to be far away from him, heal and write. Struggling to undo the parental alienation, to get her child back into her life, was just one more obstacle to overcome.Like most people, MrsXNomore thought the label "psychopath" meant someone was a murderer. Ted Bundy came to mind. She had no idea psychopaths could be socialized and live among us, skillfully masking their psychopathy while manipulating and controlling people's lives.MrsXNomore learned that his devaluation and discarding of her, along with their high conflict divorce, parental alienation, and subsequent frivolous litigations were commonplace when dealing with a psychopath. As a result, she no longer has any contact with him.Since experts estimate as many as 4% of people are psychopaths, a chapter titled Understanding & Avoiding Psychopaths helps readers recognize and avoid these untreatable social predators without conscience. A final chapter, Suggested Reading and Viewing, provides readers with resources to learn more about psychopathy.A memoir written straight from the heart, you will long to comfort MrsXNomore while admiring her determination to get her child back into her life while surviving the aftermath of her life with a psychopath.

Download or read book American Raiders written by Wolfgang W. E. Samuel and published by Univ. Press of Mississippi. This book was released on 2009-09-18 with total page 639 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At the close of World War II, Allied forces faced frightening new German secret weapons—buzz bombs, V-2's, and the first jet fighters. When Hitler's war machine began to collapse, the race was on to snatch these secrets before the Soviet Red Army found them. The last battle of World War II, then, was not for military victory but for the technology of the Third Reich. In American Raiders: The Race to Capture the Luftwaffe's Secrets, Wolfgang W. E. Samuel assembles from official Air Force records and survivors' interviews the largely untold stories of the disarmament of the once mighty Luftwaffe and of Operation Lusty—the hunt for Nazi technologies. In April 1945 American armies were on the brink of winning their greatest military victory, yet America's technological backwardness was shocking when measured against that of the retreating enemy. Senior officers, including the Commanding General of the Army Air Forces Henry Harley “Hap” Arnold, knew all too well the seemingly overwhelming victory was less than it appeared. There was just too much luck involved in its outcome. Two intrepid American Army Air Forces colonels set out to regain America's technological edge. One, Harold E. Watson, went after the German jets; the other, Donald L. Putt, went after the Nazis' intellectual capital—their world-class scientists. With the help of German and American pilots, Watson brought the jets to America; Putt persevered as well and succeeded in bringing the German scientists to the Army Air Forces' aircraft test and evaluation center at Wright Field. A young P-38 fighter pilot, Lloyd Wenzel, a Texan of German descent, then turned these enemy aliens into productive American citizens—men who built the rockets that took America to the moon, conquered the sound barrier, and laid the foundation for America's civil and military aviation of the future. American Raiders: The Race to Capture the Luftwaffe's Secrets details the contest won, a triumph that shaped America's victories in the Cold War.

Download or read book Bury Us Upside Down written by Rick Newman and published by Presidio Press. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 497 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They had the most dangerous job n the Air Force. Now Bury Us Upside Down reveals the never-before-told story of the Vietnam War’s top-secret jet-fighter outfit–an all-volunteer unit composed of truly extraordinary men who flew missions from which heroes are made. In today’s wars, computers, targeting pods, lasers, and precision-guided bombs help FAC (forward air controller) pilots identify and destroy targets from safe distances. But in the search for enemy traffic on the elusive Ho Chi Minh Trail, always risking enemy fire, capture, and death, pilots had to drop low enough to glimpse the telltale signs of movement such as suspicious dust on treetops or disappearing tire marks on a dirt road (indicating a hidden truck park). Written by an accomplished journalist and veteran, Bury Us Upside Down is the stunning story of these brave Americans, the men who flew in the covert Operation Commando Sabre–or “Misty”–the most innovative air operation of the war. In missions that lasted for hours, the pilots of Misty flew zigzag patterns searching for enemy troops, vehicles, and weapons, without benefit of night-vision goggles, infrared devices, or other now common sensors. What they gained in exhilarating autonomy also cost them: of 157 pilots, 34 were shot down, 3 captured, and 7 killed. Here is a firsthand account of courage and technical mastery under fire. Here, too, is a tale of forbearance and loss, including the experience of the family of a missing Misty flier–Howard K. Williams–as they learn, after twenty-three years, that his remains have been found. Now that bombs are smart and remote sensors are even smarter, the missions that the Mistys flew would now be considered no less than suicidal. Bury Us Upside Down reminds us that for some, such dangers simply came with the territory.