Download or read book To Rule the Winds the Evolution of the British Fighter Force Through Two World Wars written by Michael C. Fox and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To Rule the Winds is the story of how a coordinated force of the Royal Air Force's fighter squadrons came into being as Fighter Command in 1936 and what became of it after the Battle of Britain. It is a large story, to be told in a series of volumes. This first volume recounts the origins of military aviation in Britain, up to the beginning of the First World War in the August of 1914. By the 18th and 19th Centuries, balloons had been tried in various conflicts on the Continent of Europe, during Britain's involvements in the Napoleonic wars, the Crimea, South Africa and elsewhere, as well as during the American Civil War. The airplane flights in the USA by the Wright brothers from December 1903 changed the direction of military aviation. It would not be until 1908 that similar flights would begin in Britain, some way behind flights by aeronauts in Europe and especially France that culminated, momentously, in Blériot's crossing of the English Channel in 1909 that proved beyond doubt that Britain could be invaded by air. Thereafter, although the British military authorities did not with alacrity embrace airplanes as weapons of war, at least a start was made that enabled a small force of miscellaneous and unarmed airplanes to take the Field with the British Army in 1914 - a force that would evolve in the course of the Great War into the Royal Air Force. The theme of the whole series is the evolution of a force of airplanes first adapted and later designed to fight in the air against other airplanes - the 'Scout' or 'Fighter'. Covering a period in which the type did not really exist, this first volume explores the origins of that force: the Royal Aircraft Factory; the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers; the Royal Flying Corps; disaffection with airships; early development of airplanes for war; problems with monoplanes; aerial gunnery and wireless experiments; the foundations of an Air Ministry; preparations for aerial defense. Although the origins of the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force have been the subjects of works by numerous other authors referenced in this volume, the series is based primarily upon original material in the National Archives, Parliamentary reports and papers, as well as contemporary military and aviation journals. Using such material, the author offers a more focused story than has appeared hitherto of the evolution of a fighter force that contributed so much to the continued independence of the British nation. The illustrated work is fully referenced, includes a comprehensive bibliography and a detailed index.

Download or read book To Rule the Winds the Evolution of the British Fighter Force Through Two World Wars written by Michael C. Fox and published by Helion. This book was released on 2023-05-31 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This second Volume in the To Rule the Winds series deals with the evolution of the Royal Flying Corps through the First World War and its transformation, in 1918, into the Royal Air Force. It focuses on the migration of the Army's Air Service - and to some extent the Navy's separate Air Service - towards a British Air Force intended to wipe the enemy's Air Service from the sky and provide an aerial umbrella under which the Army's Expeditionary Force on the ground could eventually move forward to victory. While the resulting Air Force was not entirely successful in the grand objective of ruling the air, it did enough. But to do so, it had to change fundamentally. In August 1914 the British Air Service - or, at least, the Army's Wing of it - that went to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force comprised four squadrons populated with a small collection of slow and unarmed reconnaissance airplanes, typically the Royal Aircraft Factory's B.E.2 types, plus an even smaller scattering of somewhat faster but still unarmed single seater scouting airplanes like the Bristol Scout and sundry Blériot types. There was no specialization worth the name: the airplanes of the Military Wing were just about all that were flyable; there was no plan for the future, precious little in the way of reserves and no duty other than to watch the enemy's forces on the ground. When the War ended in November 1918 there was a national, a Royal, Air Force of many squadrons: the Royal Naval Air Service had been (at least in principle and temporarily) rolled in; there were still the squadrons of reconnaissance machines, but faster, armed for defense and more robust. There were squadrons of bombing machines: like the reconnaissance machines, but more powerful and capable of carrying heavy bomb loads over distances that made strategic bombing a practical proposition. Finally, there were fighter squadrons, something of a real innovation, fast and maneuverable mostly single seater gun platforms. Although an Independent bomber force was created during 1918 there was not, even by the war's end, a fighter force - just squadrons. This volume continues the underlying theme of the whole series: the development of the fighter force - a coordinated group of fighting squadrons adapted and later designed primarily to fight in the air against other airplanes.

Download or read book The Royal Air Force During the World Wars written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2018-03-22 with total page 192 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes accounts of fighting *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading One of the most important breakthroughs in military technology associated with World War I, and certainly the one that continues to capture the public imagination, was the use of airplanes, which were a virtual novelty a decade before. While the war quickly ground to a halt in its first few months, the skies above the Western Front became increasingly busy. The great powers had already been acquiring aircraft for potential uses, but given that aerial warfare had never been a major component of any conflict, it's understandable that few on either side had any idea what the planes were capable of doing. Furthermore, at the start of the war, all sides' aircraft were ill-equipped for combat mostly because the idea that planes might somehow fight was still a novel one, and the adaptations had not yet been developed that would allow the aerial battles later in the war. The Royal Air Force (RAF), Britain's legendary air arm, was born in the skies above the First World War. The British had previously used balloons for spotting and reconnaissance for decades, and in the years leading up to the war, planes started seeing military use. They mostly provided reconnaissance, though experiments were made in using them offensively. During the Boer War of 1899-1902, the British Army used the crews of helium-filled balloons to plot and help target artillery fire. But these were small, tentative steps. The first patent to fit a machine gun to a plane, taken out in 1910, had not yet led to active fighting vehicles, and there was no doctrine, no tactics, and no combat between massed air fleets. That changed during World War I, as the skies above the Western Front became the crucible in which the preceding fragments of aerial warfare were smelted in the white hot heat of war. For the British, this meant the creation of a large and unified flying force which by 1918 would become the RAF. A generation later, the RAF would get the lion's share of the credit for preventing Nazi Germany from conquering Britain in World War II. With the comfort of hindsight, historians now suggest that the picture was actually more complex than that, but the Battle of Britain, fought throughout the summer and early autumn of 1940, was unquestionably epic in scope. The largest air campaign in history at the time, the vaunted Nazi Luftwaffe sought to smash the RAF as a prelude to German invasion, leaving the British public and its pilots engaged in what they believed was a desperate fight for national survival. That's what it looked like to the rest of the world too, as free men everywhere held their breaths. Could these pilots, many not yet old enough to shave, avoid the fate of Poland and France? The fate of the free world, at least as Europe knew it, hung in the balance over the skies of Britain during those tense months. Of course, the RAF was also instrumental in other ways during the war. The RAF supported Allied forces all over the world, from Norway to Burma to Tunisia, and the RAF conducted devastating bombing campaigns against German industry and cities. In the end, the Allies emerged victorious, even as Britain fell behind other leading nations in air technology. World War II witnessed the birth of the jet age, a future glimpsed briefly in the spectacular but doomed appearance of the Messerschmitt Me 262 near the war's end, and Britain would be the only nation other than Germany with a jet fighter in combat by the time World War II was through. The Royal Air Force during the World Wars: The History and Legacy of British Air Power in World War I and World War II examines the creation and evolution of the RAF over the course of World War I and World War II. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the RAF like never before.

Download or read book A Concise History of the U S Air Force written by Stephen Lee McFarland and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 1997 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Except in a few instances, since World War II no American soldier or sailor has been attacked by enemy air power. Conversely, no enemy soldier orsailor has acted in combat without being attacked or at least threatened by American air power. Aviators have brought the air weapon to bear against enemies while denying them the same prerogative. This is the legacy of the U.S. AirForce, purchased at great cost in both human and material resources.More often than not, aerial pioneers had to fight technological ignorance, bureaucratic opposition, public apathy, and disagreement over purpose.Every step in the evolution of air power led into new and untrodden territory, driven by humanitarian impulses; by the search for higher, faster, and farther flight; or by the conviction that the air way was the best way. Warriors have always coveted the high ground. If technology permitted them to reach it, men, women andan air force held and exploited it-from Thomas Selfridge, first among so many who gave that "last full measure of devotion"; to Women's Airforce Service Pilot Ann Baumgartner, who broke social barriers to become the first Americanwoman to pilot a jet; to Benjamin Davis, who broke racial barriers to become the first African American to command a flying group; to Chuck Yeager, a one-time non-commissioned flight officer who was the first to exceed the speed of sound; to John Levitow, who earned the Medal of Honor by throwing himself over a live flare to save his gunship crew; to John Warden, who began a revolution in air power thought and strategy that was put to spectacular use in the Gulf War.Industrialization has brought total war and air power has brought the means to overfly an enemy's defenses and attack its sources of power directly. Americans have perceived air power from the start as a more efficient means of waging war and as a symbol of the nation's commitment to technology to master challenges, minimize casualties, and defeat adversaries.

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 Command Of The Air written by General Giulio Douhet and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2014-08-15 with total page 620 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the pantheon of air power spokesmen, Giulio Douhet holds center stage. His writings, more often cited than perhaps actually read, appear as excerpts and aphorisms in the writings of numerous other air power spokesmen, advocates-and critics. Though a highly controversial figure, the very controversy that surrounds him offers to us a testimonial of the value and depth of his work, and the need for airmen today to become familiar with his thought. The progressive development of air power to the point where, today, it is more correct to refer to aerospace power has not outdated the notions of Douhet in the slightest In fact, in many ways, the kinds of technological capabilities that we enjoy as a global air power provider attest to the breadth of his vision. Douhet, together with Hugh “Boom” Trenchard of Great Britain and William “Billy” Mitchell of the United States, is justly recognized as one of the three great spokesmen of the early air power era. This reprint is offered in the spirit of continuing the dialogue that Douhet himself so perceptively began with the first edition of this book, published in 1921. Readers may well find much that they disagree with in this book, but also much that is of enduring value. The vital necessity of Douhet’s central vision-that command of the air is all important in modern warfare-has been proven throughout the history of wars in this century, from the fighting over the Somme to the air war over Kuwait and Iraq.

Download or read book The War in the Air 1914 1994 written by Alan Stephens and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains the proceedings of a conference held by the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) in Canberra in 1994. Since its publication by the RAAF's Air Power Studies Center in that year, the book has become a widely used reference at universities, military academies, and other educational institutions around the world. The application of aerospace power has seen significant developments since 1994, most notably through American-led operations in Central Europe and continuing technological advances with weapons, uninhabited vehicles, space-based systems, and information systems. But notwithstanding those developments and the passing of six years, the value of this anthology of airpower in the twentieth century seems undiminished.

Download or read book Biplanes and Bombsights British Bombing in World War I written by George K. Williams and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 492 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This study measures wartime claims against actual results of the British bombing campaign against Germany in the Great War. Components of the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS), the Royal Flying Corps (RFC), and the Royal Air Force (RAF) conducted bombing raids between July 1916 and the Armistice. Specifically, Number 3 Wing (RNAS), 41 Wing of Eighth Brigade (RFC), and the Independent Force (IF) bombed German targets from bases in France. Lessons supposedly gleaned from these campaigns heavily influenced British military aviation, underpinning RAF doctrine up to and into the Second World War. Fundamental discrepancies exist, however, between the official verdict and the first-hand evidence of bombing results gathered by intelligence teams of the RAF and the US Air Service. Results of the British bombing efforts were demonstrably more modest, and costs in casualties and wastage far steeper, than previously acknowledged. A preoccupation with “moral effect” came to dominate the British view of their aerial offensives. Maj Gen Hugh M. Trenchard played a pivotal role in bringing this misperception to the forefront of public consciousness. After the Armistice, the potential of strategic bombing was officially extolled to justify the RAF as an independent service. The Air Ministry’s final report must be evaluated as a partisan manifestation of this crusade and not as a definitive final assessment, as it has been mistakenly accepted previously. This study develops and substantiates a comprehensive evaluation of British long-range bombing in the First World War. Its findings run directly counter to the generally held opinion. Natural limitations, technical shortfalls, and aircrews lacking proficiency acted in concert with German defenses to produce far less results than those claimed.

Download or read book The Paths of Heaven The Evolution of Airpower Theory written by and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Airpower is not widely understood. Even though it has come to play an increasingly important role in both peace and war, the basic concepts that define and govern airpower remain obscure to many people, even to professional military officers. This fact is largely due to fundamental differences of opinion as to whether or not the aircraft has altered the strategies of war or merely its tactics. If the former, then one can see airpower as a revolutionary leap along the continuum of war; but if the latter, then airpower is simply another weapon that joins the arsenal along with the rifle, machine gun, tank, submarine, and radio. This book implicitly assumes that airpower has brought about a revolution in war. It has altered virtually all aspects of war: how it is fought, by whom, against whom, and with what weapons. Flowing from those factors have been changes in training, organization, administration, command and control, and doctrine. War has been fundamentally transformed by the advent of the airplane.

Download or read book Combat Squadrons of the Air Force World War II written by Maurer Maurer and published by . This book was released on 1969 with total page 856 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of squadron histories has been prepared by the USAF Historical Division to complement the Division's book, Air Force Combat Units of World War II. The 1,226 units covered by this volume are the combat (tactical) squadrons that were active between 7 December 1941 and 2 September 1945. Each squadron is traced from its beginning through 5 March 1963, the fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the 1st Aero (later Bombardment) Squadron, the first Army unit to be equipped with aircraft for tactical operations. For each squadron there is a statement of the official lineage and data on the unit's assignments, stations, aircraft and missiles, operations, service streamers, campaign participation, decorations, and emblem.

Download or read book The Great Turning Points of British History written by Michael Wood and published by Constable. This book was released on 2013-02-07 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twenty of the most crucial moments in Britain's history. BBC History Magazine asked a selection of leading historians to choose and describe the twenty most important turning points in British history from AD 1000 to 2000. Collected together, their choices present a new way of looking at our nation's story. From the Danish invasion of Britain in 1016, to the Suez crisis in 1956, the key moments include victories (or defeats) both at home and abroad, plague, reform and even revolutions that have reshaped the British way of life. Each contribution brings the past to life, offering new perspectives and food for debate: did the Battle of Agincourt change England's role in Europe? What was the impact of American independence on Britain? Was 1916 more important than 1939? Thought-provoking and inspiring accounts.

Download or read book International Warbirds written by John C. Fredriksen and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2001-08-01 with total page 407 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In depth descriptions and photographs of the aircraft of 21 nations presented with a unique human dimension that goes behind the machines to the people involved. Invaluable for specialists, accessible to enthusiasts, International Warbirds: An Illustrated Guide to World Military Aircraft, 1914–2000 puts the most legendary fighter aircraft of the 20th century developed outside the United States on vivid display. It offers 336 illustrated "biographies" of the most significant warplanes used in squadron service from World War I to the Balkan conflict, including numerous models from Great Britain, France, Russia, and Japan, as well as notable machines from Israel, Canada, China, India, Brazil, and other nations. Entries span the history and scope of military aircraft from bombers and fighters to transports, trainers, reconnaissance craft, sea planes, and helicopters, with each capsule history combining nuts-and-bolts technical data with the story of that model's evolution and use. Together, these portraits offer an exciting, well-researched tribute to visionary designers and builders as well as courageous pilots and crews across the globe, and tell a vivid tale of how air power became such a decisive factor in modern warfare.

Download or read book Air Superiority In World War II And Korea Illustrated Edition written by Richard H. Kohn and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes over 20 illustrations. In November 1981, Lt. Gen. Hans H. Driessnack, Assistant Vice Chief of Staff, asked the Historical Program to assemble a small number of retired officers for a group oral history interview. General Driessnack believed that in reminiscing together, these officers would recall incidents and experiences that might otherwise go unrecorded; by exchanging ideas and questioning each other—in effect, interviewing each other—they would recall material that would be of interest and importance to the Air Force today. General Driessnack also suggested selecting retired officers from the senior statesman conference, a gathering every spring at which retired four-star generals are briefed on Air Force issues and then discuss them with contemporary Air Force leaders. The result is the following interview. The four participants—Gen. James Ferguson, Gen. Robert M. Lee, Gen. William W. Momyer, and Lt. Gen. Elwood R. “Pete” Quesada—gathered on May 21, 1982, around a table in the Vandenberg room at the Bolling Air Force Base Officers’ Club. For approximately two and one half hours they responded to questions sent to them earlier and discussed air superiority in World War II and Korea. Their discussions ranged far and wide: flying in the pre-World War II Army Air Corps, campaigning in North Africa and Western Europe in World War II, planning and participating in the Normandy invasion, using secret intelligence supplied by Ultra, struggling to codify tactical air doctrine in the post-war years, fighting the air battle in Korea, and thinking about the general problem of air superiority throughout their careers. This collective interview is not history but the source material on which history rests; it is a memoir, a first-hand account by air leaders who flew, fought, and commanded tactical air forces in combat.

Download or read book The World War Two Reader written by Gordon Martel and published by Psychology Press. This book was released on 2004 with total page 538 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This comprehensive reader provides an overview of research in the study of the Second World War and includes chapters by some of the best known and most innovative scholars working today. It gives attention to the fighting of the war throughout the world.

Download or read book Long gone the wind 1947 71 in Bengal Usha the Girl written by Rameswar Dutta and published by editionNEXT.com. This book was released on with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who borne most due to Country's partition on Two-Nations Theory? Indeed it is the common people. People in East Bengal were the most sufferers as far as division of Bengal is concerned. In one hand they wiped out their tears and on other hand they started rebuilding their life afresh. The present story depicts struggle of those people. Side by side the socio-political scenario of entire West Bengal that undergone vast changes due to such an unbalanced decision by the big political leaders of the country.

Download or read book Strategy For Defeat The Luftwaffe 1933 1945 Illustrated Edition written by Williamson Murray and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2015-11-06 with total page 883 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Includes the Aerial Warfare In Europe During World War II illustrations pack with over 200 maps, plans, and photos. This book is a comprehensive analysis of an air force, the Luftwaffe, in World War II. It follows the Germans from their prewar preparations to their final defeat. There are many disturbing parallels with our current situation. I urge every student of military science to read it carefully. The lessons of the nature of warfare and the application of airpower can provide the guidance to develop our fighting forces and employment concepts to meet the significant challenges we are certain to face in the future.

Download or read book The Eagle Squadrons written by Vern Haugland and published by . This book was released on 1979 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: