Download or read book Vulcan 607 written by Rowland White and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012 with total page 580 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was to be one of the most ambitious operations since 617 Squadron bounced their revolutionary bombs into the dams of the Ruhr Valley in 1943... When Argentine forces invaded the Falklands in the early hours of 2 April 1982, Britain's military chiefs were faced with a real-life Mission Impossible.
Download or read book Vulcan 607 written by Rowland White and published by Bantam Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was to be one of the most ambitious operations since 617 Squadron bounced their revolutionary bombs into the dams of the Ruhr Valley in 1943...When Argentine forces invaded the Falklands in the early hours of 2 April 1982, Britain's military chiefs were faced with a real-life Mission Impossible. Its opening shot, they decided, would be Operation Black Buck: to strike a body blow at the occupying army, and make them realize that nothing was safe - not even Buenos Aires...The idea was simple: to destroy the vital landing strip at Port Stanley. The reality was more comlicated. The only aircraft that could possibly do the job was three months from being scrapped, and the distance it had to travel was four thousand miles beyond its maximum range. It would take fifteen Victor tankers and seventeen separate in-flight refuellings to get one Avro Vulcan B2 over the target, and give its crew any chance of coming back alive.Yet less than a month later, a formation of elderly British jets was launched from a remote island aribase to carry out the longest-range air attack in history. At the tip of the spear was a single aircraft, six men, and twenty-one thousand-pound bombs, facing a hornet's nest of modern weaponry: the radar-guided guns and missiles of the Argentine defences. There would be no second chances...It was the end of an era - the last time the RAF flew heavy bombers into combat before they were replaced by their digital, fly-by-wire, laser-guided successors. There were many who believed it couldn't be done.Drawing on extensive interviews with the combatants, Falklands residents and British High Command, and with unprecedented access to comtemporary military records, Rowland White takes us, for the first time, to the beating heart of the legendary raid. Vulcan 607 is a story of ingenuity, courage and sheer bloody-mindedness that's destined to become a classic.
Download or read book Vulcan Boys written by Tony Blackman and published by Grub Street Publishers. This book was released on 2015-07-19 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An in-depth look at these Cold War–era bombers, in the words of those who flew them—includes photos. The Vulcan, the second of the three V bombers built to guard the United Kingdom during the Cold War, has become an aviation icon like the Spitfire, its delta shape as instantly recognizable as the howling noise it makes when the engines are opened for takeoff. Vulcan Boys is the first book about this bomber recounted completely firsthand by the operators themselves. It tells the story of the aircraft from its design conception through the Cold War, when it played out its most important job as Britain’s nuclear deterrent; it also reveals the significant role its bombs and missiles played in liberating the Falkland Islands, for which it gained much celebrity. These individual accounts detail how hours at a time were spent waiting to be scrambled to defend the country in the event of a third world war, and how pilots’ aggressive skills were honed by carrying out Lone Ranger sorties flying to the United States and westward around the world, and taking part in Giant Voice and Red Flag, competitive exercises against the US Strategic Air Command. The attacks in the Falklands using Shrike missiles are described accurately and in great detail for the first time, including the landing at Rio de Janeiro alongside a vivid account of Black Buck 2. Vulcan Boys is a fascinating and completely authentic read reminding us of the Cold War, how it was fought, and the considerable effort required to prevent all-out nuclear war.
Download or read book The Big Book of Flight written by Rowland White and published by Bantam Press. This book was released on 2014-05 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Everybody dreams of flying. For as long as we've been able to look up and see the birds we've wanted to join them. But our efforts to do so have not always been as elegant or accomplished. Instead, there's been danger, excitement, courage and brilliance. The Big Book of Flight is a celebration of it all, and a lot more besides, packed with derring-do stories of aviation's pioneers as well as fascinating profiles of remarkable planes, from Spitfires to Space Shuttles (and a number of other wondrous projects that never quite got off the drawing board). Along with a unique collection of fantastic flight trivia, crucial questions are also addressed: What's so scary about the Bermuda Triangle? Why does airline food taste so bad? And how do you make the perfect paper dart? With stunning photographs and illustrations throughout, The Big Book of Flight promises to surprise, entertain and fire the imaginations of anyone with their head in the clouds.
Download or read book Harrier 809 written by Rowland White and published by Random House. This book was released on 2020-10-15 with total page 461 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Utterly brilliant: a fantastically exciting book... This really does read like the best kind of thriller. His best book yet' James Holland, author of Normandy '44 April 1982. Argentina invades the Falkland Islands. In response, Britain despatches a naval task force. Eight thousand miles from home, its fate hinges on just twenty Sea Harriers against the two hundred-strong might of the Argentine Air Force. The odds against them are overwhelming. The MoD's own estimates suggest that half the Harriers will be lost in the opening days of the conflict. They need backup. Within three weeks 809 Naval Air Squadron is reformed, trained and heading south, ready for war. Not since World War Two had so much been expected of such a small band of pilots.
Download or read book Empire of the Clouds written by James Hamilton-Paterson and published by Faber & Faber. This book was released on 2010-10-07 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 1945 Britain was the world's leading designer and builder of aircraft - a world-class achievement that was not mere rhetoric. And what aircraft they were. The sleek Comet, the first jet airliner. The awesome delta-winged Vulcan, an intercontinental bomber that could be thrown about the sky like a fighter. The Hawker Hunter, the most beautiful fighter-jet ever built and the Lightning, which could zoom ten miles above the clouds in a couple of minutes and whose pilots rated flying it as better than sex. How did Britain so lose the plot that today there is not a single aircraft manufacturer of any significance in the country? What became of the great industry of de Havilland or Handley Page? And what was it like to be alive in that marvellous post-war moment when innovative new British aircraft made their debut, and pilots were the rock stars of the age? James Hamilton-Paterson captures that season of glory in a compelling book that fuses his own memories of being a schoolboy plane spotter with a ruefully realistic history of British decline - its loss of self confidence and power. It is the story of great and charismatic machines and the men who flew them: heroes such as Bill Waterton, Neville Duke, John Derry and Bill Beaumont who took inconceivable risks, so that we could fly without a second thought.
Download or read book Vulcan 607 written by Rowland White and published by Bantam Press. This book was released on 2006 with total page 410 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dramatic account of the last British bomber raid — the long-range attack on Stanley airfield that opened the Falklands War. Before dawn on May 1st, 1982, a lone RAF Vulcan B2 bomber made its way towards the runway at Port Stanley airport. It was aiming to strike the first blow of Britain’s campaign to retake the Falklands. The flight was the culmination of a huge military effort and was the longest-range attack in aviation history. It was also the last time that the RAF flew heavy bombers into combat, before the old techniques and equipment were replaced with the digital, fly-by-wire, precision-guided weaponry of modern warfare. When war broke out, the Vulcan was already facing retirement. The aircraft had to be completely overhauled, and the story of how a seemingly endless list of problems and unexpected difficulties was overcome is a story of true British ingenuity. The mission came perilously close to disaster. Two Vulcan bombers took off in the late evening of April 30th to begin a twelve-hour round trip to the Falklands. Within minutes of take-off, the lead Vulcan was forced to turn back because of mechanical difficulties, leaving Vulcan 607 and her crew alone to undertake a mission.Vulcan 607is the dramatic retelling of this singular mission. Using extensive interviews with the combatants, residents of Stanley, and military command, Rowland White has reconstructed the flight and its preparation in gripping detail. From the Hardcover edition.
Download or read book Storm Front written by Rowland White and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012 with total page 545 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title explores how, in 1970, a communist rebellion in the south of Oman threatened not only the stability of the Arabian Peninsula but more importantly the vital oil routes through the Persian Gulf. Within six months, the SAS arrived to lead a fierce secret war against the rebels.
Download or read book Vulcan 607 written by Rowland White and published by . This book was released on 2017-11-16 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THE THRILLING #1 BESTSELLING STORY OF ONE OF THE GREATEST COMBAT MISSIONS EVER FLOWN Shoulder to shoulder with Strategic Air Command B-52s throughout the Cold War, the big delta-winged Vulcans of the Britain's V-bomber force faced down the Soviet threat to the West. In 1982 they were just months from retirement when they flew in anger for the first time. It was a to be a record-breaking mission of breathtaking audacity: a single bomber launched from a remote island airbase to carry out what would be the longest-range air attack in history. An eight thousand mile round trip. Her crew of six would be flying into a hornet's nest of modern weaponry: radar-guided anti-aircraft guns and missiles. There would be no second chances. Vulcan 607 tells the gripping true story of that legendary raid for the first time - an operation that many thought would turn out to be a real life Mission Impossible. 'A masterwork of narrative history' Clive Cussler 'Vulcan 607 deserves to become an aviation classic' Len Deighton 'White's gripping narrative reads like a suspense thriller, yet every word is true' Stephen Coonts 'I read the book in one sitting ... an utterly compelling war story, brilliantly written' Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and the Madman
Download or read book Spitfire written by JOHN. NICHOL and published by . This book was released on 2018-05-17 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'The best book you will ever read about Britain's greatest warplane.' Patrick Bishop, bestselling author of Fighter Boys. 'A rich and heartfelt tribute to this most iconic British machine. By focussing on the men (and women) who flew the Spitfire, John Nichol has brought a fresh and powerful perspective to the story. And by recording their bravery, humility, camaraderie, tragedy and sheer joy in flying their beloved Spits he has done them - and us - a valuable service' Rowland White, bestselling author of Vulcan 606 'A superb and compelling book. Brilliantly written with some incredible and astonishing stories; it is gripping, moving, emotional and sometimes humorous - just perfect' Squadron Leader (Ret) Clive Rowley, former Officer Commanding RAF Battle Of Britain Memorial Flight 'A superb journey through the remarkable tale of that British icon, the Spitfire. Brilliantly and engagingly written, this is the most readable story of the aircraft and her pilots that I have ever had the pleasure to read in a period spanning some forty-odd years of personal study and research. Truly stunning.' Andy Saunders, Editor, Britain at War Magazine. 'This is not just a tale of heroism in the skies . . . This is a tale of victory . . . Magnificently told in lip-biting detail' - Daily Mail (The Red Line) The perfect complementary narrative to the bestselling memoir by Geoffrey Wellum - First Light. Achtung, Spitfire! The iconic Spitfire found fame during the darkest early days of World War II. But what happened to the redoubtable fighter and its crews beyond the Battle of Britain, and why is it still so loved today? In late spring 1940, Nazi Germany's domination of Europe had looked unstoppable. With the British Isles in easy reach since the fall of France, Adolf Hitler was convinced that Great Britain would be defeated in the skies over her southern coast, confident his Messerschmitts and Heinkels would outclass anything the Royal Air Force threw at them. What Hitler hadn't planned for was the agility and resilience of a marvel of British engineering that would quickly pass into legend - the Spitfire. Bestselling author John Nichol's passionate portrait of this magnificent fighter aircraft, its many innovations and updates, and the people who flew and loved them, carries the reader beyond the dogfights over Kent and Sussex. Spanning the full global reach of the Spitfire's deployment during WWII, from Malta to North Africa and the Far East, then over the D-Day beaches, it is always accessible, effortlessly entertaining and full of extraordinary spirit. Here are edge-of-the-seat stories and heart-stopping first-hand accounts of battling pilots forced to bail out over occupied territory; of sacrifice and wartime love; of aristocratic female flyers, and of the mechanics who braved the Nazi onslaught to keep the aircraft in battle-ready condition. Nichol takes the reader on a hair-raising, nail-biting and moving wartime history of the iconic Spitfire populated by a cast of redoubtable, heroic characters that make you want to stand up and cheer. 'A rich and heartfelt tribute to this most iconic British machine. By focussing on the men (and women) who flew the Spitfire, John Nichol has brought a fresh and powerful perspective to the story.' - Rowland White - author of Vulcan 607
Download or read book Sea Harrier Over the Falklands written by Commander 'Sharkey' Ward, DSC, AFC, RN and published by Pen and Sword. This book was released on 1993-08-05 with total page 326 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sharkey Ward commanded 801 Naval Air Squadron, "HMS Invincible", during the Falkland War of April to June 1982, and was senior Sea Harrier adviser to the command on the tactics, direction and progress of the air war. He flew over 60 war missions, achieved three air-to air kills, and took part in or witnessed a total of ten kills; he was also the leading night pilot, and was decorated with the Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry. But what, after all, could 20 Sea Harriers, operating from a flight-deck bucketing about in the South Atlantic, do against more than 200 Argentine military aircraft flown by pilots who, as the raids against the British shipping proved, displayed enormous skill and almost suicidal gallantry? The world knows the answer - now. What is puzzling, therefore, is this book's truthful depiction of the attitudes of some senior non-flying naval officers, and of the RAF, towards the men (and indeed the machine) that made possible the victory in the Falklands. This first-hand account charts, in detail, the naval pilots' journey to the South Atlantic, and how they took on and triumphantly conquered the challenges they faced. It is a dramatic story, leavened with accounts of the air-to-air fighting and of life in a squadron at sea and on a war footing. But it is also a tale of inter-Service rivalry, bureaucratic interference, and the less-than-generous attitudes of a number of senior commanders who should certainly have known better; indeed, some of them might even have lost the war through a lack of understanding of air warfare. The author attempts to put the record straight.
Download or read book Scram written by Harry Benson and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-03-15 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In April 1982 Harry Benson was a 21-year-old Royal Navy commando helicopter pilot, fresh out of training and one of the youngest helicopter pilots to serve in the Falklands War. These pilots, nicknamed 'junglies', flew most of the land-based missions in the Falklands in their Sea King and Wessex helicopters. Much of what happened in the war - the politics, task force ships, Sea Harriers, landings, Paras and Marines - is well-known and documented. But almost nothing is known of the young commando helicopter pilots and aircrewmen who made it all happen on land and sea. This is their 'Boys Own' story, told for the very first time. Harry Benson has interviewed forty of his former colleagues for the book creating a tale of skill, initiative, resourcefulness, humour, luck, and adventure. This is a fast-paced, meticulously researched and compelling account written by someone who was there, in the cockpit of a Wessex helicopter. If you liked Apache, Vulcan 607 and Chickenhawk, you'll love Scram! The word "Scram" was used to warn other junglies to go to ground or risk being shot down by their own side as Argentinean jets blasted through 'bomb alley'.
Download or read book Into the Black written by Rowland White and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-04-19 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Using interviews, NASA oral histories, and recently declassified material, [this book] reveals the dramatic untold story of the first space shuttle and the dedicated people who brought the United States into the next stage of space exploration"--Dust jacket flap.
Download or read book 617 written by Tim Bouquet and published by Orion. This book was released on 2012-12-27 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The inside story of today's Dambusters, 617 Squadron RAF, at war in Afghanistan. In May 1943, 617 Squadron RAF executed one of the most daring operations in military history as bombers mounted a raid against hydro-electric dams in Germany. 617 Squadron became a Second World War legend. Nearly 70 years later, in April 2011, a new generation of elite flyers, now flying supersonic Tornado GR4 bombers, was deployed to Afghanistan - their mission: to provide close air support to troops on the ground. Tim Bouquet was given unprecedented access to 617's pre-deployment training and blistering tour in Afghanistan. From dramatic air strikes to the life-and-death search for IEDs and low-flying shows of force designed to drive insurgents from civilian cover, he tracked every mission - and the skill, resilience, banter and exceptional airmanship that saw 617 through.
Download or read book F 4 Phantom written by Robert Prest and published by . This book was released on 2017-04-21 with total page 236 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'A stone cold classic. One of the best military aviaton memoirs ever written' Rowland White, author of Vulcan 607 'I only have to think Speed, and I am at 600 knots in seconds. Think Height and I am gazing down from a eight-mile-high perch within one minute. Think Freedom and I am wrested away from a dank, cold world, cloudbase at 300 feet, through a brief shock of cloud to emerge into a golden blue world, another dimension, crystal clear for miles and miles' Fighter Pilot. Robert Prest had never wanted to be anything else. And even as a boy he had set his sights on flying the awesome McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom. The big, twin-engined interceptor offered an irresistible combination of charisma, power and performance. Air combat, strike, gunnery, bombing and rocketry, the F-4 was jack-of-all-trades, master of most. From the lonely pursuit of Soviet intruders out over the North Sea and strength-sapping high-g dogfights, to maintaining Quick Reaction Alert on Germany's Eastern border, ready to scramble Battle Flight at a moment's notice, Prest and his fellow aviators stood toe-to-toe with a powerful opponent. But the defence of the West came at a cost, and comrades in arms would pay with their lives. No other book so vividly brings to life the high-pressure, high stakes, high-speed world of an RAF fighter pilot on the Cold War frontline. But it's more than that. In capturing a sense of the wonder and magic of flying, Prest's book ranks aviation classics from writers like Saint-ExupEry, Richard Bach, Cecil Lewis and Ernest Gann. 'The best book I've ever read about flying fast jets for the Cold War RAF. Both thrilling and elegaic, F-4 Phantom makes poetry of complex, exacting world of the fighter pilot. This is as close as you'll ever get to flying the Phantom yourself.' Rowland White, author of Vulcan 607 'What First Light does for Spitfires and the Battle of Britain, Robert Prest does for the F-4 Phantom in RAF service ... Superbly written.' Royal Aeronautical Society Insight Perfect for fans of books like Skyfaring, Apache, First Light, Tornado Down, Fate is the Hunter or Sagittarius Rising
Download or read book Phoenix Squadron written by Rowland White and published by Random House. This book was released on 2011-06-30 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: January 1972: the tiny outpost of British Honduras is threatened with imminent invasion by battle-hardened, US-trained Guatemalan paratroops. Britain's response must be immediate and decisive. But there is only one deterrent the government can offer: HMS Ark Royal, once the Navy's most powerful warship, now a white elephant on the verge of being scrapped. To save the small colony, she must launch a pair of Buccaneer fighter bombers on an unprecedented long-range mission. But first the old carrier must make a high-speed, 1,500 mile dash across the Atlantic towards the Gulf of Mexico. The odds of arriving in time are very slim indeed... Drawing on extensive first-hand accounts and previously unseen, classified documents, Rowland White has pieced together one of the most audacious and thrilling missions of post-war British military history.
Download or read book The Hurricats written by Ralph Barker and published by Arcadia Publishing (SC). This book was released on 2000 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Beskriver hvorledes den engelske Fleet Air Arm forsøgte at beskytte egen konvojsejlads ved at benytte skibsbaserede jagerfly med katapultstart.
