Download or read book Defiant Blenheim and Havoc Aces written by Andrew Thomas and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-11-20 with total page 223 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Blenheim IF flew some of Fighter Command's early offensive operations, and the type soon proved vulnerable when pitted against single-seat fighters. However, for much of 1940 the Blenheim fighter squadrons provided the RAF's main long-range convoy escort and nightfighter capability. In the mid-1930s, in an attempt to capitalise on its expertise in power-operated gun turrets, the Boulton Paul Company developed the Defiant, a single-engined fighter in which all the armament was concentrated in the turret behind the pilot. Intended as a 'bomber destroyer', the Defiant had its combat debut over Dunkirk, and initially achieved some considerable success. A number of American-built aircraft called Douglas DB-7 light bombers (named Havoc by the RAF), were fitted with radar for nightfighter duties and others successfully replaced the Blenheim as night intruders. A total of 11 pilots claimed five or more victories when flying these three types to become aces, whilst no fewer than 33 who became aces claimed at least part of their scores when flying the Blenheim, Defiant or Havoc.
Download or read book To Fly a Blenheim written by Graham Warner and published by . This book was released on 2003-03-01 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Defiant Blenheim and Havoc Aces written by Andrew Thomas and published by Bloomsbury Publishing. This book was released on 2012-11-20 with total page 97 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Blenheim IF flew some of Fighter Command's early offensive operations, and the type soon proved vulnerable when pitted against single-seat fighters. However, for much of 1940 the Blenheim fighter squadrons provided the RAF's main long-range convoy escort and nightfighter capability. In the mid-1930s, in an attempt to capitalise on its expertise in power-operated gun turrets, the Boulton Paul Company developed the Defiant, a single-engined fighter in which all the armament was concentrated in the turret behind the pilot. Intended as a 'bomber destroyer', the Defiant had its combat debut over Dunkirk, and initially achieved some considerable success. A number of American-built aircraft called Douglas DB-7 light bombers (named Havoc by the RAF), were fitted with radar for nightfighter duties and others successfully replaced the Blenheim as night intruders. A total of 11 pilots claimed five or more victories when flying these three types to become aces, whilst no fewer than 33 who became aces claimed at least part of their scores when flying the Blenheim, Defiant or Havoc.
Download or read book Dark Peak Aircraft Wrecks 1 written by Ron Collier and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 1995-03-20 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Civil and military aircraft types are represented, from biplanes to modern jet fighters. This is an invaluable guide for walkers and ramblers, as well as for all those interested in flying and the history of aviation.
Download or read book Six Weeks of Blenheim Summer written by Alastair Panton and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2018-05-03 with total page 139 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'DESERVES TO JOIN REACH FOR THE SKY AND THE LAST ENEMY AS ONE OF THE GREAT RAF BOOKS OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR' - ANDREW ROBERTS As I write, I can clearly recall the stinging heat of aburning Blenheim, smells, tastes, expressions, sounds of voices and, most ofall, fear gripping deep in me. Flying Officer Alastair Panton was just twenty-three when his squadron deployed across the Channel in the defence of France. They were desparate days. Pushed back to the beaches as the German blitzkrieg rolled through the Low Countries and into France, by June 4th 1940 the evacuation ofthe Allies from Dunkirk was complete. A little over two weeks later France surrendered. Flying vital, dangerous, low-level missions throughout the campaign in support of the troops on the ground, Panton's beloved but unarmed Bristol Blenheim was easy meat for the marauding Messerschmitts. At the height of fighting he was losing two of his small squadron's crews to the enemy every day. Discovered in a box by his grandchildren after his death in 2002, Alastair Panton's Six Weeks of Blenheim Summeris a lostclassic. One of the most moving, vivid and powerful accounts of war inthe air ever written. And an unforgettable testament to the courage, stoicism, camaraderie and humanity of Britain's greatest generation. 'THE BEST ACCOUNT OF THE CHAOS AND CONFUSION OF WAR OUTSIDE THE PAGES OF EVELYN WAUGH' BORIS JOHNSON 'ONE CAN'T HELP FEELING AWE AND REVERENCE. THERE ARE ENOUGHEDVENTURES HERE FOR A LIFETIME' LOUIS DE BERNIERES 'SIMPLY WONDERFUL. ONE OF THE BEST ACCOUNTS OF WWii I HAVE EVER READ' JOHN NICHOL
Download or read book The Bristol Blenheim written by Graham Warner and published by Crecy Publishing. This book was released on 2002 with total page 664 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Graham Warner is well known as the driving force behind the restoration of a Bristol Blenheim to airworthy status - not once, but twice - resulting in Spirit of Britain First taking to the skies above Duxford in 1987 and again in 1993. In The Bristol Blenheim, he draws on his unsurpassed knowledge of the aircraft to give a truly comprehensive account of its origins, development and frontline service. His account covers the Blenheim's service from the outbreak of war to the Battle of Britain and beyond, both in European and Far Eastern theatres of war. It includes details of not only the well-known Middle East campaigns in the Western Desert and from Malta, but also the lesser-known operations in Iraq, Syria and East Africa. Privately commissioned by Lord Rothermere as a personal aircraft in 1934, the prototype of the Blenheim named 'Britain First' was gifted to the Air Ministry because he feared that Britain was falling behind Germany in aircraft development. Military production gathered pace and by the time war broke out in 1939 there were more Blenheims serving in the RAF than any other aircraft.It played a vital and wide-ranging role in the early years of the war and was used as a day and night bomber, for low-level attacks on enemy troops and shipping, as a night fighter, long range day fighter and in reconnaissance. Losses were high and the bravery of the Blenheim crews unsurpassed as the aircraft was often sent on missions for which it was unsuited. The burden of the early war years fell heavily on the Blenheim and it served with distinction. Yet, it is remembered less than the Spitfire and the Lancaster, until now.
Download or read book The Boys of Shakespeare s School in the Second World War written by Richard Pearson and published by Casemate Publishers. This book was released on 2013-06-19 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The story of the King Edward VI grammar school in Stratford-upon-Avon and its sacrifice in the Second World War . . . a heavy price for just one school.” —War History Online Like the Great War generation before them, the Old Boys of King Edward VI School, Stratford-upon-Avon, (known as Shakespeare’s School) answered the Nations call to arms in 1939. Over the next six years, no less than fifty-two of these young men fought and died for their Country. This evocative and carefully researched book tells each one’s story. The author paints a picture of the character of the individual concerned, along with his family background, his contribution to the School and, most importantly, his war service and the circumstances of his death. Some perished in lonely cockpits during the Battle of Britain and the Bombing campaign. Others fought and died at sea whether on Atlantic convoys, the Mediterranean campaign or in the Far East. The soldiers among them fell in the glare of the Western Desert fighting the Germans and Italians and in the unforgiving jungles of Burma repulsing the Japanese. In one case, death came in a German concentration camp. Who can tell what influence the strong ethos of this small grammar school with its enduring values of decency and comradeship had played during the years of hostilities on both those who made the supreme sacrifice and others who were fortunate enough to survive? What is certain is that the example set by those former members of Shakespeare’s School whose stories are told in this book must never be forgotten by their successors.
Download or read book The Fatal Englishman written by Sebastian Faulks and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2009-07-01 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Fatal Englishman, his first work of nonfiction, Sebastian Faulks explores the lives of three remarkable men. Each had the seeds of greatness; each was a beacon to his generation and left something of value behind; yet each one died tragically young. Christopher Wood, only twenty-nine when he killed himself, was a painter who lived most of his short life in the beau monde of 1920s Paris, where his charm, good looks, and the dissolute life that followed them sometimes frustrated his ambition and achievement as an artist. Richard Hillary was a WWII fighter pilot who wrote a classic account of his experiences, The Last Enemy, but died in a mysterious training accident while defying doctor’s orders to stay grounded after horrific burn injuries; he was twenty-three. Jeremy Wolfenden, hailed by his contemporaries as the brightest Englishman of his generation, rejected the call of academia to become a hack journalist in Cold War Moscow. A spy, alcoholic, and open homosexual at a time when such activity was still illegal, he died at the age of thirty-one, a victim of his own recklessness and of the peculiar pressures of his time. Through the lives of these doomed young men, Faulks paints an oblique portrait of English society as it changed in the twentieth century, from the Victorian era to the modern world.
Download or read book Bristol Blenheim written by Theo Boiten and published by Crowood Press (UK). This book was released on 1998 with total page 200 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bristol Blenheim Boiten The Blenheim was revolutionary when it first entered service in 1935. Although often under-rated, itwas faster than many contemporary fighters, featured retractable undercarriage, variable pitch prop s, and was an all-metal monocoque design. During WWII the Blenheim was the only British airplane to fight in all theaters and in all commands. This superb volume charts the development and operationalhistory of this revolutionary airplane, and is extensively illustrated in 2 archive photographs. Hd bd., 8 1/2"x 11", 192 pgs., 2 bandw ill.
Download or read book At the End of Darwin Road written by Fiona Kidman and published by Penguin Random House New Zealand Limited. This book was released on 2011-11-01 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An evocative memoir about the emergence of a pre-eminent writer in a changing world 'What I have to tell is largely a personal narrative about how I came to inhabit a fictional world' This absorbing memoir explores the first half of writer Fiona Kidman's life, notably in Kerikeri amid the 'sharp citric scent of orange groves, bright heat and . . . the shadow of Asia' - at the end of Darwin Road. From the distance of France, where Kidman spent time as the Katherine Mansfield Fellow in Menton, she reconsiders the past, weaving personal reflection and experience with the history of the places where she lived, particularly the fascinating northern settlements of Kerikeri and Waipu, and further south the cities of Rotorua and Wellington. Her story crosses paths with those of numerous different New Zealanders, from the Tuhoe prophet Rua Kenana, to descendants of the migration from Scotland led by a charismatic Presbyterian minister, to other writers and significant friends. We learn of Kidman's struggles to establish herself as a writer and to become part of different communities, and how each worked their way into her fiction. At the End of Darwin Road is a vivid memoir of place and family, and of becoming a writer: 'I was certain that . . . I would continue to write, if possible, every day of my life.'
Download or read book The Natural History of Blenheim s High Park written by Aljos Farjon and published by Pelagic Publishing Ltd. This book was released on 2024-08-08 with total page 619 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: High Park, at Blenheim in Oxfordshire UK, is a SSSI of great significance for its numerous ancient oaks and the organisms associated with these trees. This book gives a detailed, lavishly illustrated and thoroughly researched description of the biodiversity and natural history of what is by several measures the most significant site for ancient oaks in Europe. It draws together the expertise of more 60 specialists, and reports on the results of in-depth surveys of High Park. Chapters cover different groups, including: flora (including bryophytes), fungi, lichens, molluscs, arachnids, flies, hymenoptera, butterflies, moths, beetles – with a special focus on saproxylic species, bugs, reptiles and amphibians, birds and mammals. Despite their undoubted importance, very few sites with ancient oaks in England, the most important European country for these magnificent trees, have seen a comprehensive published account, adding to the value of this study. Several of the contributing authors describe their survey techniques in some detail, some of which are not widely known. Records are analysed in the various chapters and often compared with data from other similar sites. Overall, the book gives encouraging evidence of the great biodiversity still to be found in England, and should help to stimulate similar efforts to uncover the biodiversity and describe the natural history of ancient parkland and woodland, so that conservation of these sites can be based on firm scientific data.
Download or read book A Spitfire Pilot s Story written by Dennis Newton and published by Amberley Publishing Limited. This book was released on 2016-06-15 with total page 501 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A family-authorised biography of Pat Hughes, one of the top-scoring aces of the Battle of Britain.
Download or read book Six Weeks of Blenheim Summer written by Alastair Panton and published by Biteback Publishing. This book was released on 2014-07-22 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Six Weeks of Blenheim Summer is a vivid and lyrical memoir of life as an RAF reconnaissance pilot in France during the hellish summer of 1940. It brings to life the fear, loneliness and pain that Alastair Panton and his comrades came to live with during those long weeks, as well as the bravery, camaraderie and humanity that made those unpredictable days more bearable. The aeroplane Panton captained throughout this intense period was a Bristol Blenheim Mark IV. He saw the Blenheim as his friend and saviour. It was the vehicle from which he and his crew were able to spot the enemy and save lives, repeatedly withstanding shooting and bombardment to facilitate dramatic landings and rescues. Yet despite these heroic adventures, culminating in his being shot down a fourth time, captured and made a prisoner of war, Panton describes Six Weeks of Blenheim Summer as a story of failure. Whilst he survived, so many of his friends and comrades did not, and this grief never left him. Panton's extraordinary book, written in the aftermath of the war but discovered posthumously, is edited and introduced by his granddaughter Victoria Panton Bacon. A candid and gripping read, this is very much the story of a pilot and his plane.
Download or read book The Mammoth Book of Fighter Pilots written by Jon E. Lewis and published by Robinson. This book was released on 2011-08-04 with total page 482 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From yesteryear's flying aces to today's top guns... Veteran anthologist Jon E. Lewis has assembled firsthand accounts from all the great military campaigns of aerial warfare, including World Wars I and II, the Spanish Civil War, Korea, Vietnam, the Falklands, the Gulf, and Bosnia. Page after exciting page of this singular collection brings into vivid play the exploits of such legendary pilots as Manfred von Richtofen, Eddie Rickenbacker, Douglas Bader, and Johnnie Johnson; the Luftwaffe World War II aces Heinz Knoke, Gerd Barkhorn, and Johannes Steinhoff; and forty other brave airmen from America, Britain, France, Japan, Russia, and North Korea. Here, too, are the planes in which these pilots flew into modern historythe Spitfire, the Mustang, the Me 109, the Zero, the F-16, the MiG, and the Harrier. Together with the death-defying drama of combat, this volume vividly captures other facets of the fighter pilot's life, including the perils of bailing out in enemy territory, the daily horrors of internment in a Japanese POW camp, and a harrowing account of being shot down in a blazing Spitfire. The true-life aerial combat adventures in this stirring collection provide a vicarious, adrenaline-fueled expedition into the shell-blasted skies of war in the twentieth century.
Download or read book Coastal Dawn written by Andrew Bird and published by Grub Street Publishing. This book was released on 2012-10-24 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1940, the defense of Great Britain rested with a handful of volunteer aircrew, Churchills few. Overshadowed in later folklore by the more famous Spitfire and Hurricane pilots, there were other pilots, observers and air gunners just as courageous flying the Bristol Blenheim MKIV-F. The future of the country and arguably that of the free world depended also on their skill, morale and sacrifice. Remarkably little has been chronicled of these men and their aircraft the Trade Protection squadrons formed by Hugh Dowding allotted to 11 Group in October 1939. The aircrafts range and endurance made it suitable for defense of coastal shipping against attack on the southern and eastern shores of Britain, and for operations further afield. Indeed during bitter fighting casualties among Numbers 235, 236, 248 and 254 Squadron Blenheims were high on operations over Norway, Holland, France, Dunkirk and then the Battle of Britain where the Blenheims were completely outclassed by Messerschmitt 109 and 110 fighters and fell easy victims, scythed from the sky. But the record of the aircraft and their crew was an immensely proud one. Drawing on contemporary diaries, periodicals, letters, logbooks, memoirs and interviews with survivors, lauded historian Andy Bird reassesses the vital role they played and repositions it in history. In doing so, he justifiably embraces the heroes we have left behind.
Download or read book They Stand Beside Us written by Neil Brinded and published by Paragon Publishing. This book was released on 2020-11 with total page 350 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The path of countless ages has been trod By many a scholar now forgotten, save For the inscribed tombstone of his grave (If not already sunken ‘neath the sod). And if these men be now mere names or less, They’ve done their share to keep the School alive, And uphold that tradition we derive From those men in the days of Good Queen Bess; And we must let our fame be ne’er outshone, Holding aloft the school’s honour and name, That she may continue to rise in fame, Surpassing heights attained in years now gone. However, this our work cannot be done Unless a share is taken by each one. — Flight Lieutenant Benjamin Robinson DFC RAF, former CRGS pupil, Killed in Action over Germany, 17th June 1944.
Download or read book What Were They Like to Fly written by Derrick Harry Clarke and published by . This book was released on 1964 with total page 170 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
